Ray Bowring squatted 500kg - the equivalent weight of a horse or a small car.
"Please don't die" - powerlifter Ray Bowring revealed what he was telling himself as he prepared to lift an astonishing 500kg.
The 23-year-old from Gosport in Hampshire recently won his sixth British title and, in the process, squatted the 500kg weight - the equivalent of lifting a horse or a small car.
He is thought to be the first British lifter to reach the weight in an International Powerlifting Federation (IPF) competition.
Mentored by his father Dean, himself a former powerlifting champion, it is the latest landmark in a career which has taken Bowring from the streets of Gosport to college in the US and powerlifting competitions across the world.
A squat begins with the lifter standing with the bar loaded with weights resting on their shoulders. The lifter then bends their knees and lowers into a squatting position, before returning to an erect stance.
Re-watching the moments leading up to his record-breaking squat at the British Equipped Championships last month, he recalled: "I just didn't think about anything.
"I just thought about my steps for my setup, because I knew that I was strong enough. It's all about the walkout for me.
"Because then as soon as I'm in that position, my body takes over, it's muscle memory at that point.
"That's about what I thought, really, just that and, God, please don't die!
"I had a bunch of people watching me. I had all the boys that I trained with to the side. It was just a good feeling. It's a pinnacle number."
Along with the 500kg squat, a 350kg bench lift and a 372.5kg deadlift, gave him an overall winning total of 1222.5kg.
He is now in elite company - one of only two people in the world believed to have lifted that weight, and also the youngest.
Now 6ft tall and weighing 155kg, Bowring has been powerlifting since his early teens and admits he is "considered a veteran" when he turns up at competitions.
He said he got into the sport, thanks to his father Dean, now his coach, who was himself a world open champion in 2009.
Having completed his 500kg squat, he joked: "I think a lot of people were like, 'you know, big shoes to fill'
"I'm pretty sure he's got to fill my shoes now, if I'm honest."
He said first started powerlifting at a time when he was "gelling" with "kids on a bad path".
"I was always a bit of a fat kid, so I was too heavy for football and my conditioning was never good enough for rugby,
"I think if it wasn't for powerlifting and the boys at the gym and my dad saying 'you should definitely go for this', that's that path I probably would have edged down - that darker path," he added.
He has since completed a sports scholarship at Midland University in Nebraska in the US, something which he said especially "improved dramatically" his bench work.
He said it had left him hungry for more international titles, training for which he fits in around his day job with the NHS.
The secret to his success, he said is "never quitting" while he praises his dad as well as his gym mates for helping him stay in peak condition.
"I sleep good, eat good. A routine is really helpful.
"I've got to give credit to the boys that I train with - make me do that the extra reps, they push me, so it's a really good dynamic."
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