The Cuban athlete and coach Lilian M. Zamora Alonso, known as "Lilita" and residing in Miami, set a Guinness World Record by lifting 289.90 kg (639 pounds) in the Heaviest Weighted Hip Thrust (female).
The official attempt took place on March 27, 2026, at a gym in Miami, but Lilian announced the achievement on Instagram on August 11, after keeping the secret for three months while Guinness World Records processed and approved her record.
"Three months ago, I stood in front of that bar with a dream that I had unknowingly been building for years. That day I lifted 639 lb, and a three-month wait began during which I practically had to keep one of the biggest secrets of my life," he wrote in his post.
The weighted hip thrust is a strength exercise focused on the glutes. The athlete pushes a barbell loaded with plates upward through hip extension, with their back resting on a bench.
Guinness World Records maintains an official category for this discipline in both the female and male divisions. The previous record was 274.42 kg (605 pounds), set by Kaitlyn Callo in San Francisco in August 2024.
To reach 639 pounds, Lilian had to completely redesign her nutrition and training method. She explained in a video that at the beginning of her preparation, her maximum was 635 pounds for one repetition. She had to abandon the sets of eight to twelve repetitions aimed at hypertrophy to specifically focus on strength, progressively approaching her maximum repetition.
It was accompanied by a diet high in protein and carbohydrates to recover quickly and perform with increasingly heavier loads.
Lilian has spent nearly a decade in the training world and has established herself as a fitness trainer and digital content creator in Miami. She views this achievement as a starting point: "I feel that it is the beginning of something much bigger."
In 2025, another Cuban athlete, Jhoen Lefont, set a new world record that allowed him to maintain his record with Guinness for ball control in water. In total, he has over a dozen world records, 10 of which are recognized by Guinness World Records.
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