Yangsu Ren started powerlifting competitively at 28 years old, and the strength athlete appears to be making up for any perceived lost time in the form of absurd training lifts. On Oct. 26, 2022, Ren shared an Instagram clip of himself capturing a raw 390-kilogram (860-pound) deadlift from a sumo stance, with lifting straps, during a training session. (Note: He did not disclose his body weight for the lift.)
According to Open Powerlifting, the pull is 50.1 kilograms (110.5 pounds) more than his all-time competition best from the 2017 USA Powerlifting Raw National Championships. This deadlift is also 35 kilograms (77.1 pounds) more than Alexis Maher’s current International Powerlifting Federation (IPF) World Record in the 83-kilogram weight class. Ren’s all-time one-rep training best appears to be a 410.5-kilogram pull (905 pounds) from December 2020, when he weighed 196 pounds.
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On an official competitive level, Ren has not formally stepped onto a sanctioned lifting platform in roughly four years since October 2018. At the time of this writing, he’s staying true to that trend and hasn’t alluded to any upcoming contests. That hasn’t stopped the athlete from crushing it in the gym, per his Instagram feed — where it’s apparent he regularly makes it a point to share clips of himself completing massive deadlifts.
Other notable recent deadlift sessions include Ren capturing a 336-kilogram (740-pound) conventional deadlift for three reps in September 2022. With that said and those caveats in mind, here’s an overview of Ren’s all-time competition bests:
Yangsu Ren | All-Time Raw Competition Bests
- Squat — 252.4 kilograms (556.6 pounds)
- Bench Press — 162.5 kilograms (358.2 pounds)
- Deadlift — 340 kilograms (749.5 pounds)
- Total — 737.5 kilograms (1,625.9 pounds)
As for Ren’s competitive history, he enjoyed some peaks and valleys but showed plenty of flashes should he ever return to the stage. Here’s a rundown of some of his notable career results:
Yangsu Ren | Complete Career Results
- 2016 United States Powerlifting Association (USPA) Grinder Open (Raw/Open) — Second place
- 2017 USAPL CA State Games & USA Masters Games (Raw/Open) — First place
- 2017 USAPL Raw National Championships (Raw/Open) — Fifth place
- 2018 USAPL California State Games (Raw/Open) — First place
- 2018 USAPL Raw Nationals (Raw/Open) — Seventh place
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While Ren hasn’t competed as a powerlifter in a little while, he’s still kept busy with other aspects of his life. According to his LinkedIn and social media, Ren has a Ph.D. in genetics from the University of Michigan and currently works with computational biology as a professional.
It seems this prolific deadlifting athlete knows how to rigidly study and maintain his unique power at the same.
Featured image: @deadlift_panda on Instagram
