Eddie Hall’s name is etched into sporting folklore for one of the most jaw-dropping achievements in strength history: the first-ever 500kg deadlift.
On July 9, 2016, at the World Deadlift Championships in Leeds, the 2017 World’s Strongest Man defied the limits of human capability, ripping half a tonne of iron from the floor in front of a stunned arena.
The lift left him bleeding from his nose, collapsing unconscious after the bar hit the ground — but it secured him a place in history.
But how does somebody achieve such a monumental feat? After all, Hall was repeatedly told that 500kg could never be lifted, no matter how much training a person did. Even scientists told him it wasn’t possible. However, Hall has revealed the unique mental strategy he used to pull off the seemingly impossible – and it’s not all about pure braun.
Speaking to RSNG, Hall explained how his secret was less about brute force and more about psychological warfare with himself.
When asked how he prepares for maximum effort, Hall replied: “Attacking weights, especially in competitions going for ‘max lifts’ – you’ve got to put yourself in a different place, and I can only describe it as the same as when you hear stories of mothers lifting cars off their own children in accidents – that’s the kind of flip switch you’ve got to learn to control. You’ve got to release a tonne of adrenalin in the split of a second.”
That “flip switch” mentality, Hall says, is what separated him from the rest of the world that night in Leeds.
Hall admitted that his body alone could never have managed the half-tonne deadlift. Instead, he turned to a terrifying mental image to fuel the attempt: “For instance, when I did my final world record deadlift, it wasn’t my body that lifted that weight, it was my mind. I put myself in a position where, in the same way, I was lifting that 500kg weight off one of my kids, and somehow I did it, I put myself in that scenario. I envisioned that weight being a car and one of my children being under the weight.”
In other interviews, Hall has referenced this ability for mothers to use “100% of their muscle fibres”, calling it a “fight or flight” adrenaline response.
Speaking to close friend and fellow strongman Brian Shaw, Hall also revealed a unique technique for getting himself in the headspace for such a feat of strength. Admitting that he was only ever to lift around 457kg at the gym, Hall knew he had to get himself in the right frame of mind to lift 500kg.
“I created a pinch point on my hand, that I did just before I came out to the crowd. And I pinched the back of my hand, and that set me off,” Hall said. “I’m not in the arena, I’m lifting a car off my kids.”
For Hall, the ability to summon that surge of adrenaline in a single moment was the difference between success and failure — between making history and crumbling under the bar.
During an interview on ITV’s This Morning, Hall later revealed that for several weeks after the record-breaking lift, he showed multiple signs of concussion and was unable to remember his wife or son’s name at times.
The feat remains one of the most iconic moments in strength sports. Strongman legends from across the globe praised the lift, with some questioning whether it could ever be surpassed. Of course, it was…
It took four years before anyone surpassed Hall: in 2020, Hafthor Björnsson lifted 501kg in a private event in Iceland. But Hall’s lift retained its aura — performed live, under competition rules, with the world watching, with the man himself even questioning Thor’s attempt at the time.
Fast-forward five years, and Thor now holds the world record for heaviest deadlift pull at an astonishing 510kg – with Hall admitting that it looks like Björnsson has more left in the tank.
However, for Eddie Hall, the 500kg deadlift wasn’t just about raw strength — it was about the mind. By tapping into the primal instinct of saving a child in danger, he unlocked something extraordinary within himself.
That mindset, as much as his training, nutrition, and relentless drive, secured his place in sporting history. And he’ll always be the first person in history to pull the illusive 500kg.
Featured image credit: YouTube/EddieHall/BeastClipsEH
