Don Reinhoudt

Donald C. Reinhoudt (March 5, 1945 – July 3, 2023) was an American powerlifter and strongman.

Reinhoudt competed in six Olympic weightlifting competitions, including the 1967 Junior Nationals.

After experimenting with weightlifting, Reinhoudt began powerlifting in 1969.

For the young Reinhoudt, his powerlifting idols, were Jon Cole, John Kuc and Jim Williams - the all-time great pioneers of the sport.

Reinhoudt took 3rd place in his first International appearance in the Open Division at the inaugural 1972 AAU World Powerlifting Championships with a 2,150 lb total finishing only behind John Kuc and Jim Williams.

He won the IPF World Powerlifting Superheavyweight Championship four consecutive times (1973–1976), and won the World's Strongest Man in 1979.

Widely considered to be one of the greatest powerlifters of all time, Reinhoudt set over forty powerlifting records throughout his career and held all four of the powerlifting records in his day.

His world record raw total of 2391 lbs, set in 1975, stood for 38 years.

At Fredonia High School, Reinhoudt was an All-League basketball player, an All-Western New York football player and an All-Western shot putter.

Reinhoudt began lifting weights when he was an 18-year-old defensive end at Parsons College, a small college in Iowa.

Reinhoudt not only played college football for four years, but was also on the varsity track team.

He went on to finish in 1st place 4 times in a row at the World Powerlifting Championships from 1973 to 1976, also winning the United States National titles during the same span.

He was the only Super Heavyweight to hold IPF World Records in all three lifts (squat, bench press, deadlift) as well as in the Total simultaneously.

He was also the first man to break the 2,400 lb barrier, with a 2,420 lb total (was later downgraded with the actual weight of 2391 pounds or 1084.5 kg), achieved in 1975.

This Total of 2391 lb stood until 2013 as the highest powerlifting total ever achieved without supportive equipment (raw), making Reinhoudt effectively one of the strongest men in the history of powerlifting.

Reinhoudt had all in all three meets, in which he totaled more than 2350 pounds.

Reinhoudt is also one of the few lifters ever to have squatted more than 900 pounds raw (934.5) and bench pressed in excess of 600 pounds raw (607.4).

In 1976, he even attempted a 904-pound deadlift three times in official meets (including at the IPF World Championships) and pulled it up past his knees but could not lock it out completely.

Had he managed it, he would have been the only lifter in history, whose name is registered in all of the three powerlifting hall of fames for the 900 pound raw squat, 600 pound raw bench press and 900 pound deadlift.

Additionally, Reinhoudt often missed other lifts only very closely, which would have been even bigger world records.

For example, one year at the AAU Senior Nationals he bench pressed 620 pounds (raw) to full lockout but got two red lights for raising his toe during the lift.

One time at national championships, Reinhoudt squatted 950 pounds raw without knee wraps, in only a thin Olympic belt.

On November 10, 1976, after winning the IPF World Championships, Reinhoudt retired from powerlifting mainly due to the inconvenience his heavy weight caused to his health, such as shortness of breath and lack of flexibility.

He quickly dropped his weight from 365 to 239 pounds in the time span of only four months.

After retiring from powerlifting in 1976, Reinhoudt was invited to the 1977 World's Strongest Man contest.

While being on a hardcore diet, he had just lost 125 lbs of body weight from 365 to 239.

So he declined but vowed to compete in the following year.

In preparation for his appearance at the 1978 World's Strongest Man, Reinhoudt competed one last time at the Eastern Open in 1977, in the 275-pound class, where he set four world records: At 264 pounds bodyweight he totalled 2000 lb (725/525/750).

He never competed in powerlifting afterwards and put all his energy on lifting for the World's Strongest Man shows.

He competed in the following three competitions from 1978 to 1980.

In 1978 he was leading field over the most part of the competition, but lost the final tug of war by losing balance and finishing 2nd to Bruce Wilhelm.

The following year Reinhoudt won the competition in 1979, beating a young Bill Kazmaier.

He was forced to withdraw from the 1980 World's Strongest Man competition after tearing his biceps and left hamstring, which proved to be career ending injuries.

He retired from competition in August 1980, shortly after this contest.

Powerlifting competition records:

done in official Powerlifting full meets

Career aggregate total (best official lifts) - 2427.4 lb (934.5 + 607.4 + 885.5)

** the former all-time world record in the deadlift was previously held by Jon Cole at 882 pounds; it was surpassed by Bill Kazmaier with 886.26 lb on November 29, 1981.

* surpassed by Mark Henry with 948.0 lbs (430.0 kg) with knee wraps on July 16, 1995.

It didn't count, because it was deemed one inch too high - it would have been the all-time world record until June 2016.