I just got the new Powerlifting USA in the mail. I about shit… Gene Rychlak JR benched 1005 lbs at the IPA Nationals. He opened with 950, tried 1005 once and missed, then hit it on his second attempt. Three white lights by legitimate judges.
By the few pictures available, I’d say he was around 350 lbs when he lifted this. You have to be a man to get under that kind of weight, much less lift it. He has an Inzer shirt on, but it doesn’t look like denim…
Tell me, y’all : is it the supportive gear, nutrition (anabolics) or training that allows this kind of feat. I am dumbfounded by this incredible lift. It seems like it took forever to break the 800 lb barrier (not counting the questionable 800 lb lift by A. Clark) now, in less than a year, the record has jumped up into the 900 lb range to 1005 lbs. What’s going on ?
Jim Parrish, who reportedly taught Gene how to train with bands says that he (Jim) gets 150 pounds out of his shirt (he benches somewhere in the mid 500s with a shirt). Gene, being bigger, and having a shorter stroke probably gets proportionally more, so 250-300 from his shirt. He adds reinforcement to it around the neck and tightens it up more in the chest area. He also trains with the shirt all the time. Still suggests low 700s raw which is right around the raw record. I would honestly say that if you look at the 1005 bench, you have to agree that thats at least 60% training and hard work (600 pounds), 30 percent equiptment AND hard work in learning how to use it (300 pounds) and no more than 10% anabolics. A 350 pound guy (or 300 without anabolics)with decent structure should be able to bench press 600 pounds raw with 10 years of intelligent and dedicated training in my opinion.
I’d say that our training techniques have improved considerably in the past couple of years.Yea, there are drugs and shirts and stuff too, But holy shit man, look at how far training has come.Look at where we’re posting this b.s. session. We have come a long way since DeLorme’s 3 sets of 10.
Atreides:
Gene hasn’t seen 318 in a long time, when he was with me, I took him from 365 to 345 with a lot of sled pulling. I got him conditioned and all 3 lift’s shot up. Word I got is that he’s closer to 375-385!
tighten up his shirt, develop some band strength another 100 pounds would be a piece of cake and that would be even more impressive! But what do I know, I only bench 530!
It seems that, at these weights, we will soon see the limits of the human body, ie : bones failing during lifts, catastrophic joint failures… You know, injuries besides a torn pec. The performance enhancers, training and supportive gear has taken the level so high that the bodies limitations will soon rear it’s ugly head for these elite lifters.