When he pulled 200 kilograms, Bruce felt nothing and completed a textbook trap-bar deadlift.
At 250 kilograms, Bruce started to feel that something was off. Why did this feel so easy?
Then the big guy beside him loaded 300 kilograms onto the barbell. Bruce was caught in a bind—he couldn't exactly say he'd never successfully pulled 300 kilograms before, could he?
So he decided to give it a try even if he couldn't do it. Embarrassment was embarrassment; it wasn't like this would be the first or second time.
With that thought, Bruce gripped the bar, straightened his back, braced his core, and exerted force. The barbell rose easily off the ground.
Bruce's eyes widened slightly. He lowered his gaze in disbelief, and he even had time to hesitate for two seconds before finishing the standard deadlift motion.
"Ha, look at this kid. He's showing off his muscles for us." One of the hulking men laughed. "Looks like we need to make things harder for him."
The plates were raised directly to 350 kilograms. Bruce hesitated as he gripped the bar. That weight was far beyond his deadlift limit, and he had no desire to rupture a blood vessel and get carried away on the spot.
He decided to give it everything he had. If it truly felt beyond his limit, he would just give up. Pulling 300 kilograms at his body weight was already impressive enough, and everyone else was around that level. Surely no one would laugh at him.
He braced his core again, and the muscles throughout his body swelled. Before Bruce could even react, the barbell rose off the ground again in another perfect trap-bar deadlift.
Cheers immediately erupted around him. The big guy who had previously pulled 320 kilograms seemed unconvinced. He stepped forward and