Julius Maddox

Julius Maddox (born: ), also known as Irregular Strength, is an American social media personality and powerlifter who primarily focuses on bench press. Julius is the current unassisted bench press world record holder, bench pressing 782 lbs (355 kg), which took place on February 20, 2021. On YouTube, Julius has accumulated over 85,000 subscribers and 8 million video views. He also has accumulated over 290,000 followers on Instagram, 180,000 followers on TikTok, and over 30,000 followers on Facebook.
==History==
Julius was an athlete in basketball, football and track and field during high school.
For the past 8 years, Julius was involved in criminal activity, was addicted to drugs and was in and out of prison.
===Beginning of powerlifting and first competition===
In 2012, Julius entered a recovery program to prevent facing two 5-year prison sentences. He was privileged to enter a home gym in a basement. After 4 months, Julius bench pressed 505lbs for three reps. Surprising others at the scene, a man told him that not a lot of people can bench press was Julius pressed.
Julius's first bench press competition was in 2013, where he bench pressed 525 lbs despite being in the recovery program.
In a year, Julius added another 100 lbs to his bench press, and continued his powerlifting journey.
===World records===
Julius has held the bench press world record since 2019, he has broken his own world record three times.
His first time breaking the bench press world record was on August 31, 2019, where he bench pressed 740 lbs, breaking previous record holder Kirill Sarychev by 1 lb. Four months later, Julius would bench press 744 lbs on November 17, 2019. On March 7, 2020, Julius bench pressed 770 lbs, breaking his own world record by 26lbs. Despite attempting 800lbs after, Julius went on to bench press 782 lbs on February 21, 2021, which is the current world record.
====Unofficial world record====
On May 10, 2022, Julius bench pressed 795 lbs in the gym.
===All 800lb bench press attempts===
====Attempt 1 - June 20, 2020====
Julius went on to attempt an 800 lb unassisted bench press, a weight that has yet to have been accomplished. The event took place on June 20, 2020 at East Race Muscle Gym in South Bend, Indiana. The event invited many bench press specialists, alongside Julius Maddox, to bench press in competition.
His attempt and the competition was livestreamed on CoreSports, ESPN, Rogue Fitness, and World's Strongest Man's 'Feats Of Strength' series. Legendary powerlifter Ed Coan served as one of the three referees.
Julius Maddox put in his first attempt of 722 lbs (327.5 kg), and jumped to 800.2 lbs (363 kg) to reserve energy. The competition ended controversially. Julius's second attempt of 800lb bench press was misloaded, as one side of the barbell was missing a 25 kilogram disc, which immediately put Julius Maddox off-balance and made his sustain a back injury, shoulder injury, and a swollen hand. Julius was allowed to redo 800 lbs as a second attempt with the plates loaded, but failed to press the weight. He refused to bench press on his last attempt due to the injury from the misload.
====Attempt 2 - August 21, 2021====
Julius's second attempt at 800.2 lbs (363 kg) took place at Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois.
Before the competition, Julius sustained an injury on his pectoralis muscle, and failed to bench press 790 lbs two weeks before the meet with Larry Wheels and John Gaglione.
During the meet, Julius attempted 800.2 lbs twice, and failed. His hand-out spotter was Thomas Davis, one of the eight powerlifters to bench press 700 lbs unassisted.
====Attempt 3 - June 4, 2022====
Julius attempted to break his own world record again, but instead went for 804.8 lbs (365 kg). The event took place at Redcon1 Rage Wars in Nashville, Tennessee.
Julius was unsuccessful, but did bench press 738 lbs as his opening attempt during the meet.
==Personal life==
Julius was born and raised in Kentucky, United States of America. He has a wife named Heaven, and has four children.
Julius's inspiration to bench press was from C.T. Fletcher.
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