Ray Orlando Williams is a powerlifter who set the world record for squatting. On October 17th, 2016 he was able to squat 1,005 pounds during USAPL Raw Nationals. It's also an unofficial world record.

Growing up in Demopolis, Alabama, Ray took on a journey participating in athletics, particularly, American football. The sport kept him out of trouble. In middle school, he became notorious for being a troublemaker with constant referrals for his negative behavior.

In High School, his friends and family encouraged him to take the sport of Football to a higher level.

He considered it an easy task being a ball player with consolation and support from everyone every time he would tackle and knock somebody.

Ray Orlando Williams signed up for The University of Tennessee at Martin and made All-American and All-Conference his junior and senior year.

Ray Orlando Williams had the chance to try out for two NFL teams and things didn't work out for Ray. He had the opportunity to play in the Canadian Football League, but he deemed the location too far from his family.

During his middle school years, particularly in the seventh grade, he discovered his passion for weightlifting.

He opined that if he had to be a great ball player, he would also have to be a great weightlifter also.

In his senior year in High School, he and his brother William were the first and second for every record in weightlifting for their high school.

He squatted about 545, benched 440, and hang-cleaned around 315 to 335 pounds.

He began to deadlift until after playing football.

He works out at the Davis Event Center in Fulton, Mississippi, a facility that has an immense weight room. He usually has a partner who assists him, another powerlifter, and they push each other.

It was his brother, William that encouraged him to compete in powerlifting.

He progresses slowly in his powerlifting as he likes to master his moves, an unorthodox way of training, but he gets advice from many other colleagues and professionals, to improve his skills and movements.

His mindset is not to call what he does "training" - he goes into the gym and works out.

He does this in order not to make his efforts into a chore.

He considers the chest and legs to be the hardest to exercise, so his main focus in on the mechanics of the exercises alone.

He had to order a longer bar for his gym in order to stack up more plates.

He practices his core in order to ensure that his squats are in excellent condition.

Monday– Deadlift, all sumo from the floor.Tuesday– Squat, usually it looks something like this:315×5405×1500×1600×1700 5×5He usually works up to 5×10 at 700 as the gym he works out at the bars are not long enough to carry all the weight and that's all that he can get on there.Wednesday– Bench Press:He reps about 450 comfortably for 5 reps of multiple sets. He commits to multiple sets of 5 until he is comfortable with a weight.Thursday– RestFriday– He commits to auxilary work that betters his core lifts. His focus are Curls and Tris. He normally exercises and lifts curls and tris each day.Saturday– Cardio.Sunday– Rest

He has stated that the reason he pushes himself so much in the gym and in competition is due to his daughter.

In 2011 he lost his daughter as she was born prematurely.

She is his motivation to improve his power moves in the gym and in competition.

He says that his diet consists of Cornbread and buttermilk and a good southern food diet provided by his mother and wife.

He avoids fried foods and greasy foods.

His kryptonite is Mountain Dew.