The standard standing calf raise was the second major lift that Sri Chinmoy introduced into his weightlifting repertoire. On June 1st, 1986 he did repetitions with 400 pounds using a modified Dan Lurie model. At each practice session, Sri Chinmoy would work up to his peak weight and then have the selector fork adjusted down so that another 100 pounds were added to the total. By the end of June, he was comfortably doing repetitions with 1,300 pounds; at the end of September he was at 1,700 pounds; on November 30th Sri Chinmoy lifted and supported 2,000 pounds using his calves.
Sri Chinmoy performed this lift many times in public and 5-time Mr. Universe Mahasamrat Bill Pearl recently said: “The most remarkable lift that I am impressed with and I say to this day, believe it or not, was the standing calf raise. I saw the man do standing calf raises with 1800 pounds. For a man his size and his age that in itself is phenomenal. It is something people cannot even comprehend.”
At York College on November 13th, 2004 – at the age of 73 – he set a new personal record of 2,400 pounds in the standing calf raise.
“Self-transcendence is the song of constant inner and outer progress.”
– Sri Chinmoy
(This post is taken from a series of displays made to commemorate Sri Chinmoy’s 25th lifting anniversary in June 2010. You can find a slideshow of the displays on our galleries page)