Kara Bohigian 225x7 Raw Bench

Training Powerlifting
81

[quote]mertdawg wrote:
Not really. In all sports besides powerlifting, national and international commitees have decided what is within the boundaries of “equipment” and what is excessive. 2 foot long spring shoes have allowed people to run sub 3 minute miles. They are not going to be in the olympics any time soon.[/quote]

Wake up and smell the bullshit. How can you possibly say that nearly every sport has NOT shown athletic improvement due to advances in the equipment or facility used? So, Lance Armstrong could ride just as fast using his trusty Huffy 10-speed or that astroturf has not contributed to improved running speed?

[quote]
Some possible rules that I have heard being considered by some feds. One is that you must be able to put on all of your own equipment by yourself, and that there are to be no straps, or mechanisms that can be tightened after it is on. This sounds reasonable. I also don’t accept a squat without a walkout because it is not a squat based on tradition.[/quote]

I can’t even put on a Standard Blast that is 2 sizes too big by myself. How is a person supposed to get the straps up on a squat suit?
Tradition? WTF? Hey, let’s bring back having the goal posts in the middle of the endzone so the players can run into them or do away with the three-point line…after all, it is not the “original” form of the game…

This just shows how very little you know about shirt usage. So, if given the right tricked-out quadruple layer shirt, I can make it bench 800 for me?

82

[quote]supermick wrote:
I have addressed this in several posts, all of which were deleted by the mods. The video, in short, is terrible. The range of motion is terrible, she has the bear handed down to her, falid to lock out and her ass is off the bench. Not kara’s problem but her feds imo.

Yes he did, then he’s gone all high and mighty and doesnt want to play anymore because people are insulting him back. with a lot more wit too i might add.

Thank fuck. I could not care less about your point of view anyway.

What? your making sense there…must be a typo. Now you can still marry your sister if you want.
[/quote]

-The mods are neutral third parties. That you apparently wrote somehting so objectionable they wouldn’t even post it is neither my fault, nor my problem.

-me not responding to insult-only posts is not 'high and mighty" It’s pragmatic. When I get posts such as “You are a total idiot. Ive had two posts removed as no doubt you would have complained regarding them.
Stick to marrying sisters or whatever it is you do round your way”

or

“Why is our gene pool infected with peasants like you???”

and thats the ENTIRE POST then really, theres nothing to say. And not because you have me trapped in the crushing grip of reason.

  • You’ve insulted me with wit? Here are a few of the gems: “you fucking prick” “you are a total idiot” “peasants like you”
    How is that witty? Oh, I know, all the wit was in those delted-by-the-mods posts.
83

Not all powerlifters are demented!!! Kara is amazing, not due to the shirt or the federation, just cause its a little chick benching 4 plates.
I agree that gear is getting out of control, and it aids with lifts, but there are many different federations that allow different types of gear and rules.

There is also a fed. thats 100%RAW, no thats what its called “100%RAW”.

Kara is awesome and crushes everyone with the same rules, just like Priscilia Ribic - 2 great women. but why dont they get big ole’ boob jobs to decrease bar travel even more?

[quote]supermick wrote:
KBCThird wrote:
WideGuy wrote:
I think I could bench 100 lbs more if I set up like that, but I’d probably injure myself so I suppose that’s the whole trick. Am I just sounding retarded here or does anyone agree?

Wide, no, you siad in the first line that youre not a PLer, so i think this is perfectly reasonable. The rules vary by fed, but most say somehting along the lines of “the your upperback and you butt must remain in contact with the bench.” Hers do. You answered your own question tho, most guys dont have the FLEXIBILITY to get an arch like that.

Wideguy had a legit question, but other than him, the responses on this thread are so aggravating. You’re not impressed by some of this? What friggin parts? How many chicks do you know who could bench 225 once, let alone 7 times, raw.

And she moves the bar 6 inches? This is the same crap a guy at work pulled when I was watching a vid of nick wolfe bench 900 “Oh, well look his belly gets in the way, he doesnt move it that far.” I responded, how about we put 900 lbs on a bar and I hand it off to you, just hold it there, thats all. That shut him up. She moves it 6 inches, so friggin what, thats how far it is to her chest.

I’d be willing to bet that between a quarter and a half of the guys who post here couldnt hit 405 in a shirt, and yet heres this 140 lb chick, who still looks quite feminine (there’s an understatement,) who does it, and we have nothing but negative things to say about her. Disgusting.

Get the fuck down of your ‘were powerlifters, no one understands us’ high horse and just see what people outside of the sport think about it. If PL ever wants to progress beyond the farce that some of the organisations have become then this is who it needs to appeal too. If not you’ll soon be wearing 5 layer space jackets with fucking leavers in them. Seems like people in the PL clique want their little baby to remain isolated and not progress. Id love to see PL in an olympics one day, but as it stands there is no chance.
Taking nothing away from kara, the feds she lifts in need sorting imo.[/quote]

84

[quote]Antman517 wrote:
mertdawg wrote:
Not really. In all sports besides powerlifting, national and international commitees have decided what is within the boundaries of “equipment” and what is excessive. 2 foot long spring shoes have allowed people to run sub 3 minute miles. They are not going to be in the olympics any time soon.

Wake up and smell the bullshit. How can you possibly say that nearly every sport has NOT shown athletic improvement due to advances in the equipment or facility used? So, Lance Armstrong could ride just as fast using his trusty Huffy 10-speed or that astroturf has not contributed to improved running speed?
[/quote]

No, I’m saying that most sports use discression in allowing equipment. Wooden bats in baseball for example. There are still limits on the gear ratio in cycling I believe. The reverse grip bench gets outlawed because one guy is dominating, and it can be played off as an injury risk.

The squat involves walking out and setting up with a weight. Anyone who does not do that has not completed a powerlift. Even pro golfers have to walk the Master’s.

Javelins have actually changed to bring distances down. And throwers can’t use bungee wrap material to assist in their wind-up.

That just tells you how unnatural it is if you can’t possibly put on a squat suit by yourself.

And as far as the goalposts, are you saying that the walkout has been eliminated because it is dangerous? If people who have never benched 700 raw are doing 1000 with a shirt, then that may be contributing to the danger factor as well. [/quote]

Sorry, but the shirt IS lifting the weight. It is not different than using a bow to shoot an arrow. You do need to pull back, but you are basically storing energy.

This just shows how very little you know about shirt usage. So, if given the right tricked-out quadruple layer shirt, I can make it bench 800 for me?
[/quote]

If you drop 800 pounds on a strong enough trampoline, it will bounce back close to its original height without any force input. Take Rycklak trying to pull 800 down to his chest. The bar sits there an inch and a half off the chest. He is trying to pull it down. All he does is relax and it starts to rise-not push, just relax. He has to start pushing pretty hard and fast to complete the lift for sure. I have watched his video footage and discussed, one on one with some who have trained with him. I know it takes training and strength to master the shirt, it’s just a different kind of strength than bench pressing strength.

If I attach bungee cords across my power rack so that it reduces the downward force to LESS THAT ZERO, so that I actually have to pull the bar down to touch my chest, is that a valid bench press?

I do respect fully equipped lifts and lifters. At least I think I do. I simply prefer the sport of raw powerlifting which is a different sport.

85


http://www.powerskip.de/photogallery.html

Check out the 8 foot high jumps from these guys. For those of you who thing that the equipment is responsible, well I never saw a spring shoe jump by itself. And it took lots of specialized practice in learning the technique.

86

Sorry but there is no way that a woman is pressing 300 without both chemical and shirt assistence. It is simple biology that women do not have testosterone, hence are weaker then men are. While they have decent lower body strength, which is a result of child bearing, their upper body strength lacks.

I have never seen a woman at any of the gyms that I have worked at do more than 185. The one that I saw do 185 was a freak of nature ans very “manly” if you know what I mean.

87

[quote]Julius_Caesar wrote:
Sorry but there is no way that a woman is pressing 300 without both chemical and shirt assistence. It is simple biology that women do not have testosterone, hence are weaker then men are. While they have decent lower body strength, which is a result of child bearing, their upper body strength lacks.

I have never seen a woman at any of the gyms that I have worked at do more than 185. The one that I saw do 185 was a freak of nature.[/quote]

How many powerlifting gyms have you been to?

88

Man, there are so many arguments going on at once in this thread I don’t even know where to start. I’ll just cover some that matter to me I guess, haha.

As for bench ROM, I think if someone can limit the ROM within the rules of their fed, they should be allowed to. If that means someone who is fat and has shorter arms gets an advantage, so be it. You don’t think Shaq has an advantage around the rim in basketball? What about Randy Johnson as a pitcher? If you get fat in order to decrease your ROM on the bench, it will work. But it will kill you in the deadlift. So just like the 6’4" basketball player who is athletic, don’t try to be a center, be a guard (ie compete in all the lifts).

Now, onto the shirts. I think the shirts are ridiculous. I know they are legal, and I know everyone is competing against other lifters with shirts. But I think a piece of equipment that can add 300+ pounds to your lift should not be allowed. Could you imagine Kobe wearing shoes that made him jump a foot higher? Or Pujols using a bat that allowed him to hit the ball 75 feet further? This would never fly and it shouldn’t in powerlifting.

As for the chick in the video, I am impressed regardless of the arch. At least with that arch she is using her body and her muscles to make the lift, not some shirt.

89

[quote]Julius_Caesar wrote:
Sorry but there is no way that a woman is pressing 300 without both chemical and shirt assistence. It is simple biology that women do not have testosterone, hence are weaker then men are. While they have decent lower body strength, which is a result of child bearing, their upper body strength lacks.

I have never seen a woman at any of the gyms that I have worked at do more than 185. The one that I saw do 185 was a freak of nature ans very “manly” if you know what I mean.[/quote]

Right on, man. I saw this lady squirt out a kid and then squat 5 plates with the strength gained from the birth! It was awesome.

90

[quote]mertdawg wrote:
http://www.powerskip.de/photogallery.html

Check out the 8 foot high jumps from these guys. For those of you who thing that the equipment is responsible, well I never saw a spring shoe jump by itself. And it took lots of specialized practice in learning the technique. [/quote]

That lady is 8 feet tall?
Those two kids could rule the high jump and slam dunk contests.

91

[quote]human743 wrote:

Right on, man. I saw this lady squirt out a kid and then squat 5 plates with the strength gained from the birth! It was awesome.[/quote]

It’s more like how women had to use their leg strength to walk up hills and the like with babies in their tummies, on their backs,etc.

92

The typical female in a gym can maybe do 100 if she is strong, maybe 75 is average. The most I saw a bull dike powerlifter do was 185. This was freakish.

Bill Kazmaier did 660 without a shirt and at a bodyweight of maybe 330. He was juiced of course. He was such a freak of nature that scientists studied him to figure out how he possessed such superhuman strength. Now a tiny girl like this does close to 2/3 of Kazmaier’s bench?

C’mon! She is obviously doing test, which changes her biology from female to male and I wouldn’t be surprised if she is getting over 100 from her denim.

93

[quote]KBCThird wrote:
supermick wrote:

and thats the ENTIRE POST then really, theres nothing to say. And not because you have me trapped in the crushing grip of reason.

  • You’ve insulted me with wit? Here are a few of the gems: “you fucking prick” “you are a total idiot” “peasants like you”
    How is that witty? Oh, I know, all the wit was in those delted-by-the-mods posts.[/quote]

you actually havent bothered to read or respond to any of my points (o yeah i know you dont have too). you then call ME a retard, then dismiss MY posts when i insult you back. You obviously spent too much of your youth playing on your own.
Learn to interact instead of mindlessly repeating yourself and failing to address views/issues.
I realise that Americans and Brits a seperated by a common language but your attitude is plain ignorant.

Yeah yeah ‘i dont have to listen blah blah blah’

Idiot.

94

[quote]mertdawg wrote:
TTewell342 wrote:
Are there any powerlifters on here that are going to back me up on the raw benching being harder with the big arch thing? I actually know several powerlifters who just set up with a small arch and feet out because they don’t want their raw numbers to go DOWN!

I’ve never competed, but I have worked on getting my arch up and bringing my grip out to the maximum. At 5-8 I will usually press with the legal maximum, but bring it in to give my wrist a break.

With a minimal (natural) arch, my shoulders feel like they are in a dangerous position at the bottom. My vertical ROM is about 10 inches. I can do 315 this way for 1 perfect paused rep.

With a near maximal arch I’m at 340-350. With just a little extra set-up, I get 360. I hold myself to having my feet completely flat on the floor-not up on the toes, as well as butt in “contact” with the bench (usually just grazing it). The added set-up here is to reach behind me to the end of the bench and rotate under my scapula, and pin them to the bench this way. This gives me 10 more pounds.

I tried used single ply shirt once and got 400, and with much less shoulder strain. I know a guy who got 100 pounds with a single ply shirt the first time he tried it. I know people benching in the 350-390 range who get 520-540 with a very heavy duty shirt.

I also know that if I were going to bench with my old single ply shirt, It would greatly simplify my training. I would never have a problem getting the weight started, and I could focus all of my efforts into speed and lockout. If I went back to a raw bench, I know that my strength off of the chest would have dropped off. It still might be a good break to use a shirt to give your shoulders a break from time to time.

I don’t think its the ROM that makes a difference. My shoulders are in a more stable position because my upper arm never breaks 90 degrees with an arch. Also, you can get the lats into it better with an arch. Also you can put more pressure on your upper back which helps you keep the shoulders under the bar.

[/quote]

The point I was trying to make was that the raw and shirted lifts are two different lifts. The optimal groove for a raw bench isn’t the same as the optimal groove for a shirt bench. The groove is usually higher, around the sternum. You don’t see a ton of big archers in raw benching. They just lay down and do it. I use a shirt groove all the time because my focus is on improving my shirted lift! It must pay off, I bench 400 raw and have a 250 lb carryover. Go ahead flame me, but I have worked my ass off to get my technique that good.

95

[quote]human743 wrote:
mertdawg wrote:
http://www.powerskip.de/photogallery.html

Check out the 8 foot high jumps from these guys. For those of you who thing that the equipment is responsible, well I never saw a spring shoe jump by itself. And it took lots of specialized practice in learning the technique.

That lady is 8 feet tall?
Those two kids could rule the high jump and slam dunk contests.
[/quote]

Their mid-points are close to 8 feet. If they took a dive from that position they could come close to getting over a bar that high. Just get the right shoes/shirt I guess.

96

[quote]Julius_Caesar wrote:
The typical female in a gym can maybe do 100 if she is strong, maybe 75 is average. The most I saw a bull dike powerlifter do was 185. This was freakish.

Bill Kazmaier did 660 without a shirt and at a bodyweight of maybe 330. He was juiced of course. He was such a freak of nature that scientists studied him to figure out how he possessed such superhuman strength. Now a tiny girl like this does close to 2/3 of Kazmaier’s bench?

C’mon! She is obviously doing test, which changes her biology from female to male and I wouldn’t be surprised if she is getting over 100 from her denim.[/quote]

From what I have read, Kaz used almost no arch, used a grip that was close (for him), paused almost 3 seconds on the chest and pressed from the middle of the chest with elbows out. I read that he even paused his squats for a full second at the bottom (which he did practically straight up and down with a shoulder width stance).

97

[quote]TTewell342 wrote:
The point I was trying to make was that the raw and shirted lifts are two different lifts. The optimal groove for a raw bench isn’t the same as the optimal groove for a shirt bench. The groove is usually higher, around the sternum. You don’t see a ton of big archers in raw benching. They just lay down and do it. I use a shirt groove all the time because my focus is on improving my shirted lift! It must pay off, I bench 400 raw and have a 250 lb carryover. Go ahead flame me, but I have worked my ass off to get my technique that good.[/quote]

Well, I get more with a greater arch raw-that’s all. Training with a shirt requires a lot in terms of building technique, but for me, lifting even with a light shirt is so much easier on the shoulders than raw. It would save me a lot in terms of recuperation. I don’t have the experience to say “what if” with any authority here, but my short experience with a shirt turned on some lights as far as why the Westside system works so well. Speed and partials, speed and partials. Without a shirt, I can do speed work and it doesn’t matter if I can’t get the bar off my chest with any authority.

98

[quote]Adamsson wrote:
tom63 wrote:
Adamsson wrote:
“The IPF is a joke”…? :wink:

  1. in IPF the percentage of drugged athletes is far less than in non-tested feds. There is not only black white, there are a few grays…

    And you know this how? A top USAPL official has contacted at least one person I know that competes in the WPO about entering the USAPL. He was told he would be shown how to get around the drug testing.

I have very serious doubts the IPF is drug free.

Ok, someone obviously didn’t get my point. Ofcourse one can get around drug tests, ester free roids on a regular basis, preferably while training in a gym where testing doesen’t happen too often is a quite safe way of doing this, that was not my point.

My point is that the AMOUNT of drug free lifters is higher in IPF than in many other feds. There is not just “black” and “white”, “drug free” or “drugged”… there is quite a few greys in between the extremes, and IPF is a quite light shade of gray compared to WPO…[/quote]

How do you know the % is higher unless all are tested randomly with no previous announcement?

If you have a major IPF affiliated official recruiting a WPO lifter and telling him he can help him beat the test, it doesn’t look good to me.

99

[quote]supermick wrote:
you actually havent bothered to read or respond to any of my points (o yeah i know you dont have too). you then call ME a retard, then dismiss MY posts when i insult you back. You obviously spent too much of your youth playing on your own.
Learn to interact instead of mindlessly repeating yourself and failing to address views/issues.
I realise that Americans and Brits a seperated by a common language but your attitude is plain ignorant.

Yeah yeah ‘i dont have to listen blah blah blah’

Idiot.[/quote]

Untrue, I HAVE responded to your points.
-You said “just see what people outside of the sport think about it.”
I challenged you to provide a reason why powerlifters should care about the opinions of non-powerlifters

-You said “Id love to see PL in an olympics one day, but as it stands there is no chance.”
I pointed out that new sports aren’t being ADDED anyway, and even if they were, again, why should powerlifters conform to an OUTSIDE influence?

-You said “many feds accept and pass poor lifts that wouldnt pass in the IPF nevermind for the ‘average’ guy in the gym”
and I responded that the IPF has its own set of problems: 900 not touching in a single ply, drugged lifters passing drug tests, etc

-You said “Why not aim for the olympics? Surely this is a sign a sport has been taken seriously by governing bodies outside of its existance”
and I responded that I guess ballroom dancing was a legit sport - yes, that has been a medal sport in the olypics

So really, what points have you made that I haven’t addressed? Were they in one of your top secret, deleted posts?

100

[quote]TheBodyGuard wrote:
KBCThird wrote:
WideGuy wrote:
I think I could bench 100 lbs more if I set up like that, but I’d probably injure myself so I suppose that’s the whole trick. Am I just sounding retarded here or does anyone agree?

Wide, no, you siad in the first line that youre not a PLer, so i think this is perfectly reasonable. The rules vary by fed, but most say somehting along the lines of “the your upperback and you butt must remain in contact with the bench.” Hers do. You answered your own question tho, most guys dont have the FLEXIBILITY to get an arch like that.

Wideguy had a legit question, but other than him, the responses on this thread are so aggravating. You’re not impressed by some of this? What friggin parts? How many chicks do you know who could bench 225 once, let alone 7 times, raw.

And she moves the bar 6 inches? This is the same crap a guy at work pulled when I was watching a vid of nick wolfe bench 900 “Oh, well look his belly gets in the way, he doesnt move it that far.” I responded, how about we put 900 lbs on a bar and I hand it off to you, just hold it there, thats all. That shut him up. She moves it 6 inches, so friggin what, thats how far it is to her chest.

I’d be willing to bet that between a quarter and a half of the guys who post here couldnt hit 405 in a shirt, and yet heres this 140 lb chick, who still looks quite feminine (there’s an understatement,) who does it, and we have nothing but negative things to say about her. Disgusting.

You’re fucking kidding me right? Only a quarter to half can’t hit 405 in a shirt here? I bet you 90% or more here can’t. I’d bet real good money on it.

[/quote]

The girl is quite strong, but not as strong as the weight would have you believe. The current state of powerlifting is an absolute joke with the so called gear they wear. I was involved with the sport beginning in 1969, when most would wear a pair of gym shorts and a cotton t-shirt. It was pretty obvious then who was the stronger person in whatever lift. If that girl weighed 140 in that picture then somebody better calibrate the scales.