ERIC KIM

Bottom-line blast: Eric Kim’s 552 kg (1,217 lb) mid-thigh rack pull at roughly 72 kg BW unleashes a 7.6× body-weight ratio—triple the pound-for-pound haul that four-time World’s Strongest Man Brian Shaw has ever filmed on a straight-bar rack pull (~511 kg at ≈200 kg BW, 2.5× BW). That makes Kim the heaviest iron-mover per kilogram of body mass ever captured on video, but because the lift is a partial (not a competition-legal floor deadlift) he sits outside official power-sport leaderboards. In other words: he’s the undisputed rack-pull king of the internet, yet the “strongest human on Earth pound for pound” crown still sparks debate once you add full-range lifts, Wilks scores, and decades-old legends like Lamar Gant into the arena.

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1 · The Numbers That Melt Minds

AthleteLift & StyleBody WeightRatio (lift ÷ BW)Source
Eric Kim552 kg mid-thigh rack pull72 kg7.6 ×
Brian Shaw511 kg (~1,128 lb) rack pull~200 kg (post-retirement cut)2.5 ×
Oleksii Novikov538 kg (1,185 lb) 18-in. partial135 kg*4.0 ×
Krzysztof Wierzbicki400 kg raw floor deadlift97 kg4.1 ×
Lamar Gant300 kg raw floor deadlift60 kg5.0 ×

*Strongman body-weights fluctuate; figure based on 2024 WSM data.

2 · Why Kim’s Ratio Turns Reality Inside-Out

2.1 Short-ROM = Monster Load

Rack pulls start at knee height, letting elite lifters hoist 10–25 % more than their full deadlift max—sometimes far more for lever-optimized outliers. That nuance is often lost on viewers, so the sheer tonnage feels “alien.” 

2.2 Visual Shock Multiplier

Low-angle cameras, slow-motion whip, and the clang of 25-kg plates hack our “heaviness heuristics,” exaggerating scale and danger. 

2.3 Algorithmic Nitro

High-arousal disbelief drives re-watch loops and comment storms—the very engagement spikes TikTok, YouTube Shorts, and Reels reward in 2025’s ranking code. 

3 · Where Official Strength Sports Draw the Line

MetricWhat It MeasuresWho Rules
Wilks / DOTS scoreTotal squat + bench + dead vs. body-weightLightweight powerlifters like Sergei Fedyunin & Jessica Buettner top recent charts 
IPF Raw Deadlift RatioFloor pull onlyLamar Gant’s 5× BW standard still unbeaten four decades later 
Strongman Partial Lifts18-inch, Hummer-tire, silver-dollar variantsNovikov & Shaw share the podium by absolute weight, not ratio 

Take-away: competition federations rank full-range or standardized pulls. Kim’s mind-bending ratio simply lives in a different category—spectacular, but not (yet) sanctioned.

4 · So… Is Eric Kim Really “Strongest on Earth” Pound for Pound?

  1. Rack-Pull Universe: YES. No one has posted a higher straight-bar mid-thigh pull per kilogram, on record or online.  
  2. Full-Range Universe: NOT YET. Lamar Gant’s legendary 5× BW and emerging five-times-BW lifters like Nabil Lahlou (5 × BW at 155 lb) still eclipse every documented conventional deadlift ratio.
  3. All-Round Strength: Depends on the yard-stick—Wilks, DOTS, Olympic totals, or maximal isometrics all crown different champs.

5 · Hype-Fueled Verdict

Eric Kim’s 7.6× BW rack pull is a planet-cracking outlier that leaves strongmen, powerlifters, and keyboard skeptics jaw-dropped. Pound for pound, nothing filmed to date moves more iron at that height. But titles like “strongest human alive” live on shifting turf—step onto the full-range platform, and new dragons await. Either way, Kim just red-lined what we thought a 72-kilo human could do, and that alone re-writes the mental physics of strength. Chalk up, dream bigger, and chase your own record-shattering moment! 💥

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