Vedad is a journalist specializing in strength sports, with three years of experience covering powerlifting, Olympic weightlifting, strongman, armwrestling and bodybuilding. He is a lifelong fitness...
Determining strength has always been a difficult topic since all athletes vary in size. So, to solve the issue, people invented weight classes, grouping people of approximate size together. Still, it is always more impressive when a lighter athlete lifts massive weights. Most recently, Phillip Herndon has achieved a lift that makes him one of the greatest powerlifters ever. This is because he just became the lightest person to squat 1,000 pounds with knee wraps.
Phillip Herndon competed at the 2023 IPA Strength Spectacular, which took place on June 25th in Pennsylvania, and made history. Weighing in at only 263.3 pounds, Phillip squatted 1,000 pounds using only a pair of knee wraps, a lifting belt, and wrist wraps. Thus, he became the lightest person to achieve this milestone, with the lift coming out to 3.8x his bodyweight.
“1000lb squat lightest person(263.3lbs) to do it in wraps.
3 week prep for this meet i was surprised this even happened.”
Phillip Herndon was placed in the 275-pound weight class due to his bodyweight of 263.3 pounds. However, he did not set a World Record since that belongs to Zahir Khudayarov, who squatted 1,058.2 pounds at the 2017 FPO WABDL World Cup & SM penkkipunnerrus/maastanosto.
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However, Zahir Khudayarov weighed 273.1 pounds at the time of his record-setting performance. So, Zahir was the lightest man to squat 1,000 pounds, until Phillip Herndon achieved the milestone with 10 pounds less bodyweight.
After claiming the new achievement, Phillip Herndon went on to win the competition and claim the prize of $2,500. As per Phillip, his full performance was as follows:
The 2023 IPA Strength Spectacular was Phillip Herndon’s 42nd-sanctioned appearance and his 28th victory. However, the most notable fact about this competition was that Phillip Herndon came in with just three weeks of preparation. So, he still has much more room to improve.
Data source: OpenPowerlifting. Data through July 25, 2026.
Phillip Herndon will now continue preparing for his next appearance, which will take place in 19 weeks. So, he plans on making some more history at the 2023 WRPF American Pro, which is also one of the biggest competitions of the season. In addition, since he was able to become the lightest person to squat 1,000 pounds with only three weeks of preparation, Phillip hopes to accomplish even more with five months to prepare.
If you have any questions or need further clarification about this news, please leave a comment below, and Vedad will get back to you as soon as possible.
Vedad is a journalist specializing in strength sports, with three years of experience covering powerlifting, Olympic weightlifting, strongman, armwrestling and bodybuilding. He is a lifelong fitness enthusiast, passionate about all aspects of strength training. Vedad's in-depth knowledge of training methodologies and dedication to constant research fuel his insightful and engaging reporting. He works hard to deliver accurate content while continuously seeking to improve his craft.
