1,000 Pound Bench Has Been Done

Training Powerlifting
81

Also keep in mind that those who lift in these shirts respect what goes into the larger lifts. You’d think the guys benching 800+ (and no one besides Rychlak has hit 900 or more) would view Rychlak as a joke or something if his lifts weren’t valid. Those that know all there is to know about bench shirts (and have opinions much more valid than ours) aren’t up in arms about records falling because of equipment, nor do they question the strength of the individuals involved. Nor do they think the raw bench record has moved.

When the human element (desire, performance, effort, etc.) gets taken out of shirted bench pressing, it will no longer hold the interest that it does for powerlifters. It’s still there. I promise. Perhaps the records aren’t apples to apples. There’s not much we can do about that at this point. Just accept that the sport has moved on. If you really give a damn about raw lifting, go attend raw meets, compete in them, coach others to do them, etc. But if you only want to bitch and moan on the internet about the purity of something you don’t give a shit about or know shit about, I’d ask that you remain quiet.

82

This thread is out of control! Look, for the most part T-men will compete at anything. If I grab this rubber band off my desk and say i can stretch this rubber band farther without breaking it than you can stretch your rubber band from your desk, I bet some crazy sumbitch will take me up on it. Is that probably the most rediculous endeavor ever? You bet, but it’s all in the name of competition.

I grew up exhibiting dairy cattle at the fair. I know just about every trick in the book to cheat a dairy cow in the show ring. Is that a little ridiculous? Yes. Is that any real measure of the efficiency or ability to make money of that animal. No, almost certainly not, but for the people that won that wasn’t the point. It’s a competition.

It’s the same thing with the lifters. You’ve got some huge strong dudes saying, “Hey, I can lift more than you on this arbitrary lift using this arbitrary equipment, you on?” and thats all there is to it. Thats why we have all the different federations so you can pick and choose what lifts (PL vs. Oly vs. Strongman vs. God knows what else) and what equipment you want to use.

The only thing else I would like to add is about athletic cross over. Just the fact that if you are training for a sport you probably don’t need a bench shirt, unless your sport involves bench pressing and allows you to use a shirt. (Cause I definitely give my props to the big dudes that lift with shirts and all the other gizmos, thats some cool shit.) Plain and simple. For everyday applicability I don’t even use a belt when I lift, sometimes I wear gloves, cause when I work on the farm carrying shit, guess what, I dont wear a belt and rarely wear gloves.

But, as you can probably tell, I’m not a competitive lifter of any kind. So, I’m done with my non sensical and likely incoherent post. If I pissed you off, just grab your rubber band, I’ve got mine ready, we can settle this like men!

83

Don’t any of you people have more pressing shit to worry about? Like your own crappy numbers?

84

[quote]bangs wrote:
Don’t any of you people have more pressing shit to worry about? Like your own crappy numbers?

[/quote]

speak for yourself

85

[quote]TTewell342 wrote:
bangs wrote:
Don’t any of you people have more pressing shit to worry about? Like your own crappy numbers?

speak for yourself [/quote]

I typically do?

86

"Chuck Vogelpohl also helped me greatly, always pushing me to the limit, along with all my Westside training partners, in addition to ambition, determination, and my powerlifting friends from around the world.

But not of this could have happened if powerlifting gear had not evolved to the point where it is today. I went from no knee wraps to Ace bandages, then to horse wraps, then the Canadian wraps such as the TP5000 wraps, to today’s best: Frantz, Inzer, Titan, and Crain. They also have their brand of suits and bench shirts. You can choose from polyester, denim, or canvas. Each Federation has their own rules, so take your pick. This is the U. S. of A., and you have the right to lift in any Federation you choose, whether it is drug-tested or non-tested. At Westside we lift primarily in the APF, IPA, and WPO. It’s not the equipment that makes a champion, but rather your mind. There is really no reason for the controversy over power gear.

When Fred Boldt came to Westside, he used a poly shirt. It took 3 months for him to master a double denim. In his first meet, he did 450, but within a year he made 540 in the same shirt. Where did the 90 pounds come from? Training. People come to Westside all the time to train and learn, and most walk out the door with an all-time PR.

Don’t lie, dudes. You all would love to lift more. The simple fact is a lot of lifters can’t master the gear. For bench shirts, Bill Crawford has the golden hand. For canvas squat suits, Ernie Frantz is the man. At Westside we have the greatest collection of benchers. Four men have held the all-time biggest bench in six weight classes, and I believe another will be added soon.

Our lifters have evolved right along with the sport. Chuck’s squat of 1025 was done in a two-ply squat suit, in keeping with WPO rules. The bench records were done in two-ply shirts."

Louis Simmons 2004

Live, Lift and Love it!

Ally

87

[quote]ALLY wrote:
"Chuck Vogelpohl also helped me greatly, always pushing me to the limit, along with all my Westside training partners, in addition to ambition, determination, and my powerlifting friends from around the world.

But not of this could have happened if powerlifting gear had not evolved to the point where it is today. I went from no knee wraps to Ace bandages, then to horse wraps, then the Canadian wraps such as the TP5000 wraps, to today’s best: Frantz, Inzer, Titan, and Crain. They also have their brand of suits and bench shirts. You can choose from polyester, denim, or canvas. Each Federation has their own rules, so take your pick. This is the U. S. of A., and you have the right to lift in any Federation you choose, whether it is drug-tested or non-tested. At Westside we lift primarily in the APF, IPA, and WPO. It’s not the equipment that makes a champion, but rather your mind. There is really no reason for the controversy over power gear.

When Fred Boldt came to Westside, he used a poly shirt. It took 3 months for him to master a double denim. In his first meet, he did 450, but within a year he made 540 in the same shirt. Where did the 90 pounds come from? Training. People come to Westside all the time to train and learn, and most walk out the door with an all-time PR.

Don’t lie, dudes. You all would love to lift more. The simple fact is a lot of lifters can’t master the gear. For bench shirts, Bill Crawford has the golden hand. For canvas squat suits, Ernie Frantz is the man. At Westside we have the greatest collection of benchers. Four men have held the all-time biggest bench in six weight classes, and I believe another will be added soon.

Our lifters have evolved right along with the sport. Chuck’s squat of 1025 was done in a two-ply squat suit, in keeping with WPO rules. The bench records were done in two-ply shirts."

Louis Simmons 2004

Live, Lift and Love it!

Ally[/quote]

-Awesome! Well said!

88

Idiots like this is why powerlifting will remain an extreme sport. What do you squat? And yes that matters. I saw childress’s squat in person. It was parallel. It got three white lights from the judges. Many, many squats were red lighted that day. You cannot judge depth from the front. That is why the head judge does not call depth. I hate idiots who know nothing about a subject yet spout their loud mouths off.

Squatting to 90degrees? What has to be 90 degrees? Hips, knees. Do you even know what the rules are?

89

I’m with Goldberg. He took the words right off my keyboard. Anyone who has competed in or even seen a powerlifting meet knows that the side judges have very different things they are looking for than the front judge.

Also re: that “Slate” link, the guy who wrote it obviously has never competed in a powerlifting meet before in his life. He mentioned that the shirt helps you to bounce the bar off your chest. Excuse me? What federation is he lifting in? Bowflex All-Stars?

RIT Jared

90

I dont really understand the argument thats going on here…

Sure bench shirts help, some even help alot… but these guys are the strongest on the planet…

Whats the argument? Surely those fanatically against shirts arent so stupid to say that rylchak is not enourmously monumentally amazingly strong.

The powerlifters arent saying that shirts dont help at all either ofcourese they help…

I dont get the point…

91

How much force can the bench shirt really add. The real question is how much the lifter can raw bench. Unless the shirt is adding 250 pounds to his raw lift he’s still the world’s biggest bencher.

92

Those shoes are basically just meant to be as stiff as possible. They use carbon fiber in the sole now to make the shoe really light and stiff. As shoe that flexes absorbs power, especially if the force on the pedals is very high. I have a pair of Shimano carbon sole bike shoes. I can barely flex the sole more than a few millimeters with my hands.

I saw the OCC Lance episode too. All the bikes they make are bad ass.
Lances bike in their shop - his time trial rig probally cost $15,000-20,000.
You can get 98% of the performance from a simular bike that cost only 3 grand.

93

[quote]Tom_H wrote:
How much force can the bench shirt really add. The real question is how much the lifter can raw bench. Unless the shirt is adding 250 pounds to his raw lift he’s still the world’s biggest bencher.[/quote]

That is your question, not the “real” question.
I know people whose raw bench is 250lbs. less than their shirted bench. Big deal. Means they’re good.

94

[quote]KiloSprinter wrote:

Those shoes are basically just meant to be as stiff as possible. They use carbon fiber in the sole now to make the shoe really light and stiff. As shoe that flexes absorbs power, especially if the force on the pedals is very high. I have a pair of Shimano carbon sole bike shoes. I can barely flex the sole more than a few millimeters with my hands.

I saw the OCC Lance episode too. All the bikes they make are bad ass.
Lances bike in their shop - his time trial rig probally cost $15,000-20,000.
You can get 98% of the performance from a simular bike that cost only 3 grand.[/quote]

Yeah, all OCC’s bikes are badass. I like the Spiderman bike and the NY Jets bikes the best (I’m probably the biggest NY Jets fan in Atlanta, LOL)

That Trek of Lance’s costs 15-20 g’s?!?!?! Shit, I’ll take a Harley Fatboy anyday over the Trek! LOL!

Regardless, Lance is an unbelievable athlete.

Later bro’

-Scott

95

Bangs, I mean it would settle who is the strongest bencher in the world, shirt or no shirt.

If this same guy can raw bench more than 713 than he lifts the most with and without a shirt so there is no argument.

I know very little about bench shirts as I only lift raw but is it possible that his shirt can be responsible for nearly 300 pounds of his lift?

Some people posted that they consider the raw record to be the authentic max bench but is it possible that this guy couldn’t push more than 713 raw?

96

yes. it’s possible that Gene may not be able to bench press 713 raw.

97

He couldn’t bench 713lbs au naturel or else he would have already. That’s why he’s going after the suited record.
Give me Olympic lifting anyday, where you actually deadlift, do a real squat and then press. I’d like to see Rychlak try a clean and jerk in his suit.

98

Kefu,
You should tell Gene to his face that he can’t bench 713 and that’s why he is going after the suited record. Or better yet, catch a workout with him.

You can’t compare Oly and PL. They are two different things. Even Shane Hamman said, regarding his switch from PL to OLY, that OLY is 60% technique and 40% strength. Are you sure you know what a clean and jerk is? You state that in OLY lifting you do a deadlift, squat and press. Far from it. In a jerk you actually blast the bar into momentum, then fall underneath it to lock it out. I’m not 100% sure, but I think a press out would disqualify your lift. Why would Rychlak, who competes in PL, give a flying F*** what he could C&J in his suit.

OLY lifting will never improve your PL lifts, but PL lifts will definitely improve your OLY lifts.

99

And are you trying to say he wouldn’t want the unsuited bench press record as well if he thought he was capable of it. If you are, then Mr Rychlak is a very humble man and obviously thinks the suited record is more relevant.
Also, your point about Oly lifting not improving your power lifts is just wrong. If you tried Oly, you would know that. As to whether I know what a clean and jerk is - the jerk part of the lift is basically what you know as a push-press, using the drive of your legs and a split along with the strength of your arms to force the weight overhead. I think you are mistaking it for the snatch where you “blast” yourself in under the weight.
Here’s the encyclopedia definition: ‘The clean and jerk is a type of weightlifting. It is a highly technical lift, one of the two used in Olympic weightlifting. The clean portion of the lift refers to the lifter explosively rowing the weight to chest level, and flipping the arms quickly beneath it to catch the bar. It should end with the elbows extended and the bar pressed to the chest in preparation for the jerk. The jerk portion of the lift is bending the knees slightly, and pushing the bar explosively above the head, locking the elbows and holding the weight at arm’s length. After one or two seconds the lifter then lowers the bar to their chest and back to the floor to repeat the lift if desired. Variants of the jerk include the lunge or split jerk, where the lifter steps forward with one foot and bends the same knee to parallel while the rear leg stays behind the lifter with the leg also bent, and the more modern squat jerk, in which the lifter squats down under the bar and then stands upright again. The main advantage of the split jerk is that it is easier to balance the bar forwards and backwards and the main advantage of the squat jerk is a greater ease of recovery.’

100

[quote]kefu wrote:
He couldn’t bench 713lbs au naturel or else he would have already. That’s why he’s going after the suited record.
Give me Olympic lifting anyday, where you actually deadlift, do a real squat and then press. I’d like to see Rychlak try a clean and jerk in his suit.[/quote]

That is not necessarily true about Gene. You made two assumptions that are not necessarily valid:

  1. Gene gives a rat’s ass about the raw record.

  2. Gene would be able to stay healthy while benching 700+.

Gear was used in the first place to extend powerlifting careers and let people try maximal weights without tearing pecs, destroying shoulders, etc. Then people figured out, “Hey, this tight Inzer blast gave me 10lbs on my bench. How about we try other materials, thicknesses, etc. and get some more weight up!” You have to remember, you’re talking about powerlifters. Of course they’re gonna jack the shirts up. haha.

I know Lattimer has said that after warming up to about 400 raw, he throws on his shirt. He could easily do a lot more than that raw, but why risk it if he can stay healthier in the shirt yet still compete with the big boys? This is why a lot of the top lifters don’t do raw meets - you can’t lift injured.

Also, comparing two different sports is completely irrelevant. I’d also like to see Rychlak try to dunk, but that has no bearing on the conversation. By the same token, I’d love to see some O-lifters try powerlifting in gear. For one, I think a lot of them would notice that it’s a different sport, but I honestly think O-lifting is a great background for powerlifting (sorry to differ from Scott). Obviously not so much for the bench, but for the deadlift primarily and the squat. I think this is why a lot of European lifters are excellent deadlifters.