Omaha female powerlifter squats over 600 pounds, breaks world record

OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) - Seven months after her last competition, super heavyweight Bonica Brown traveled to England to compete against the best of the best in the inaugural Sheffield Powerlifting Championships.

On Brown’s second squat of the day, the 34-year-old put up 274 kilograms (604 pounds) to break the world record by one pound. With more left in the tank, on her third and final squat Brown went for more.

“Then my coach was like 280? And I’m like sure let’s go for it! Because we don’t know what my max is. We don’t know what I can do,” said Brown. “When I walked it out — picked up that 280 and do my walk out and everything — you get the commands to squat and then you explode out of the hole and it just came up like butter.”

After breaking her own world record, Brown set just a little earlier in the competition, Brown set another record at 280 kilograms (617 pounds), while still leaving kilos on the table. Next month in Europe at the World Classic Open Powerlifting Championships, known as Classic Worlds, Brown has another chance to make history.

“The next competition I’m going to is Raw Worlds in Malta and so we’re going to go for more than that 280,” said Brown. “You don’t say what you’re going to do. You don’t test the powerlifting gods basically.”

Until then, Brown will continue training at Omaha Barbell and cheering on the next generation of female powerlifters.

“Women and ladies are realizing being slender and pencil thin is not the thing. having some muscle and being muscular — being voluptuous — that is the thing. And it’s like YES!”

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