“How Is This Possible”: Elite Powerlifter Once Pretended to Be a Beginner at the Gym and Shocked Everyone in the End

Internet celebrity Vladimir Shmondenko, also known as Anatoly, is a Ukrainian bodybuilding community favorite because of his viral prank videos. Most of his videos include Anatoly pretending to be a gym rookie while doing impressively large lifts. Anatoly is a powerlifter by career, but he spends much of his time creating content for his YouTube channel and other social media accounts, which he updates on a regular basis.

In early 2023, Anatoly posted a video on YouTube in which he acted like a gym newbie, making the regulars’ heads spin. Almost 3.3 million people have seen this video, making it a clear success.

Making people have second thoughts in the gym

In the video, as soon as Anatoly stepped foot in the gym, he began picking up his targets. He performed the dumbbell chest press, deadlift, bench press, and hammer curls in the video. To convince the trainers that he is new to the gym, he first fails to do the standard routines with reduced weight.

Yet he insisted that he must train harder for a powerlifting competition in a matter of weeks. The coaches listened to him and then explained that he would need years of consistent practice to reach his goals. Yet they didn’t realize they were being pranked by a real powerlifter.

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When he deadlifted a barbell with around five weights on each side, he utterly shocked his trainer. The man next to him was also astounded, remembering that this was the same guy who had previously failed at deadlifting with a standard barbell. He proceeds to execute hammer curls with 77-pound weights, absolutely shocking the woman teaching him the fundamentals.

Even his trainer was taken aback as he effortlessly completed five sets of repetitions with the barbell loaded with big weights. Anatoly grabbed 94-pound dumbbells and surprised the instructor when he performed a flawless chest press.

The only thing the coach could muster was a single word: “How is this possible, bro?” The newcomer’s effortless performance with the hefty weights stunned everyone. After that, Anatoly also told the trainers that he was making a prank video and showed the cameras to them.

In the conclusion of the video, after pranking the coaches, Anatoly expresses his gratitude to the instructors who allowed him to do so, as well as his ongoing supporters.

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