That time I spotted a guy who put up 405 lbs

This isn't a dream, it actually happened in real life.
I repeat, this isn't a dream, it actually happened in real life.

I am a total workout junkie, so every day I go to the gym to exercise. I was warming up for a set of bench pressing when a man walks up to me and asks, "Can I get a spot?"


Being the helpful and courteous person I am, I reply, "Sure"


To say this guy was big would be like saying that Michael Jordan was all right at basketball or that Mt McKinley is kinda tall. Now I've never been to a live WWE Fight, but this man was definitively the most muscular person I have ever seen in person. His biceps probably had diameters of 12 inches and his chest could easily been mistaken for a medium sized tree trunk. This man was huge.


I walk over to his bench to see exactly what I got myself into. I look at the bar to see four plates on each side. 8 Plates in total. 8 PLATES. I ask him, "How much weight is that?"


He replies non-chalantly, "About 405 pounds."


Four hundred and five pounds?!?! I tried to think what else weighs four hundred and five pounds. Do dolphins weigh that much? I was dumbstruck.


I asked, "What should I do?"


He anwered, "Just help me if I can't get it, or it falls or something"


I thought, 'that weighs just under three times my own body weight. If that thing falls, the odds of me being able to pick it up are about as good as the Cubs winning the world series.'


My body-builder friend cranked up his death metal and took his position on the bench and I took mine behind the bar. He raised his hands up slowly together and moved the tips of his fingers slowly across the bar. When each hand arrived at at the proper location, he slowly wrapped his fingers around the bar and stayed motionless for ten seconds.


After a deep inhale, he exhaled violently and threw the massive weight up into the air. In one powerful motion he dropped it and thrust it back up just as quickly. He held it in the air for a second and dropped in back on the rack. I felt the ground shake.


He thanked me and I responed, "Any time" and returned back to my bar with 25s.