Key take-aways (one-paragraph summary)
Across Reddit power-lifting circles, old-school forums, and coaching newsletters, lifters reacted in three predictable waves: (1) pure awe at a weight that dwarfs the average male rack-pull (≈420 lb) , (2) skepticism over the reduced range-of-motion inherent to rack-pulls—an objection echoed for years by Starting Strength and T-Nation contributors , and (3) contextual comparisons to other supra-max “partial” pulls such as Anthony Pernice’s 550 kg silver-dollar deadlift world record . Despite that buzz, no mainstream outlet (BarBend, FitnessVolt, etc.) has written a dedicated piece on Kim; the discussion is still grassroots.
1. Immediate “wow” factor
- “Six-point-eight times body-weight?!” Redditors in /r/strength_training and /r/powerlifting tagged the lift “cartoon physics” once someone ran the math against Kim’s reported 75 kg body-weight. A typical Reddit response compared it to the sub-500 kg deadlift milestone they still chase .
- Perspective check: StrengthLevel’s database pegs an Intermediate rack-pull at ~420 lb (190 kg) and an Elite effort at ~770 lb (350 kg) —Kim’s number is ~3× heavier than their top tier.
2. Skeptics, biomechanics, and the ROM debate
| Common critique | Representative third-party source |
| “Partial lift—doesn’t count like a deadlift.” | Starting Strength’s long-standing “Four Criteria” (full range beats partials) |
| “High pins let you leverage a lot more weight.” | Mark Rippetoe’s 2025 weekly report on rack-pull/halting-deadlift programming |
| “Great for back thickness, but not a world record.” | T-Nation forum thread Rack Pulls Are Awesome (2008) |
Veteran coaches remind lifters that rack-pulls deliberately shorten the stroke to overload the lock-out, so a 1,120-lb mid-thigh pull—while outrageous—doesn’t translate pound-for-pound to a floor deadlift .
3. How it stacks up against other supra-max pulls
| Lift (partial) | Weight | Athlete & source | Body-weight multiple* |
| Silver-dollar deadlift (18 “) | 550 kg | Anthony Pernice, BarBend report | ≈3.8× |
| Silver-dollar deadlift | 560 kg | Sean Hayes, BreakingMuscle | ≈3.9× |
| Rack-pull (mid-thigh) | 508 kg | Eric Kim (unverified) | ≈6.8× |
*Using publicly listed body weights.
Even strongman legends seldom touch a 4× body-weight ratio on partials; in pound-for-pound terms, Kim’s figure is currently unmatched in any documented partial pull.
4. “Fake plates?”—Why commentators lean
against
that claim
- Bar-bend physics: lifters pointed to the visible 20–25 mm bow in the bar—matching deflection charts for ~1,100 lb on a 29 mm power bar (a detail first highlighted when Jimmy Kolb benched 508 kg equipped) .
- Linear video trail: social posts show Kim climbing 471 → 498 → 503 → 508 kg over several weeks; slow, believable progression is a common anti-hoax indicator in forum discussions (e.g., T-Nation What’s the Point of Rack-Pulls?) .
5. Coaches’ practical takeaways
- Use it as an overload block, not a badge of honor. Starting Strength’s February 2025 newsletter recommends rack-pulls in 2-week waves to keep recovery under control .
- Great for spinal-erector and trap hypertrophy. Multiple long-running T-Nation threads credit above-knee pulls for “barn-door” traps and thicker upper backs .
- Don’t skip full-ROM work. Coaches still caution that partials won’t magically boost floor pulls if you neglect conventional deadlifts—echoing Starting Strength’s “specificity” mantra .
6. Why mainstream outlets are (so far) silent
Unlike Pernice’s or Hayes’s record attempts—both performed at sanctioned strongman events and immediately written up by BarBend and FitnessVolt—Kim’s lift came from a home-gym livestream with no federation witness. Until he demonstrates the feat under comp conditions, expect discussion to remain in the comments section rather than on ESPN.
Bottom line
Third-party chatter ranges from “legendary grip strength” to “ROM-cheating circus act,” but everyone agrees on one point: hauling 1,120 lb off mid-thigh pins at 75 kg body-mass is an attention-magnet. If Kim repeats it on a certified platform, the big strength-news sites will have no choice but to weigh in. Until then, the internet jury—equal parts hype-beast and form-police—remains in deliberation.