After reading Tate’s excellent article in this week’s issue, I had to ask myself “Is it worth it pursuing a truly huge bench?” I understand that powerlifting is Dave’s life and career, but for the rest of us, what do you think?
If a guy lifts for himself & ONLY for himself, he’d understand completely. A guy who does it for himself, there is a part of him who HAS TO (not ‘would like to’ or ‘prefer to’, etc) constantly test his strength against the iron. For wimps who like to ‘pump up’ and impress all the girls, of course it wouldn’t make any sense.
Nathan Im not sure that’s what the original poster was saying (the part about the “pump up” wimps), for example if you are training for sport performance do you truly need an enormous bench?? Would it really excel you in your sport that much more, obviously not as if it were true wouldn’t the best powerlifers be setting all kinds of records in sport? Maybe I misread Steve69 's post but this is how I took it to mean. If you lift just for the sake of lifting (which is fine, just define your goals) then yes I think pursuing bigger numbers is great.
A big bench doesn’t mean that much to me. I mean why risk pec tears and other injuries just to say you hit a certain number. Big whup. I love lifting but have other interests in life to focus on. It’s just a personal choice and a matter of priorities. No big deal.
I think you guys are exactly what I’m talking about. 600lbs was an itch Tate just had to scratch & he couldn’t have just given up on it. There’s no way he would have let himself stop just because of some injuries. You should read his last ‘Big Woof’ article for more. That’s thee one where he was asked why he keeps going by his doc & just said ‘because this is what we do’. When you do it for yourself, it’s totally an internal thing, when you do it so others will say “wow, you ‘work out’? You’re cool! I ‘work out’ too!” & of course you’ll listen to them when they say that’s enough & stop. When a guy does it just for himself it’s something he HAS TO DO. Even if it means getting injured a bunch of times. & everyone has certain ‘pet lifts’ that they just ‘like’. The guys who train bodyparts & ‘tone’ & ‘shape’ might not understand because they just train parts so it isn’t quite the same, maybe wanting 20" arms is similar. Some want 20" arms or 30" thighs & a 600lb bench press or 800lb squat might not make any sense to the toner crowd, just as going for a burn by waving some light dumbells in the air wouldn’t make any sense to guys who only go for strength.
If yall read the article thoroughly you would notice that he said the reason he tore his pecs was because he was benching incorrectly. Every sport has risks. And yes i do believe it is worth it.
“Is it worth it pursuing a truly huge bench?” I think you’re looking at this the wrong way. The article was a perfect example of determination, of setting and accomplishing a goal. I don’t get the sense that it ever crossed his mind that he might not be able to do it. Through setbacks such as muscle tears and surgeries he kept his sights on his goal. I found it very inspiring.
Nathan: First, I agree with the spirit of everything you say. It’s all about an obsession (and I’m NOT using that word in an unhealthy sense) with a personal goal, which would mean little if anything to anyone else. Hell, even among other power lifters, if I made a 600 bench, others in the sport would of course say, ‘cool, congratulations’ and whatever…then 15 minutes later would say, ‘elegua who?’ When everything’s over, even if you win the olympic gold medal in a sport, once the crowds have dispersed and the endorsement contracts run out in a year or two, it’s only the individual who cares about his or her own accomplishments.
It's not unlike the story from this week's atomic dog -- Yvon Choulinard was a guy who had his own set of dreams and ideals, goals which he aimed to accomplish, and when accomplished, it just meant it was time to set new goals. Everything else...including the financial super-success...was secondary.
So, that said, I'll go into what I found bothersome about your post. This isn't a flame, just an observation. You state, "For wimps who like to 'pump up' and impress all the girls, of course it wouldn't make any sense." While perhaps you are engaging in a defense of your chosen lifestyle and/or goals, I think it's grotesquely inappropriate to imply that there are only two types of trainers, the guys who go for strength and the 'wimps.' BS. It's this kind of BS that pops up on weight training boards all the time, that if anyone posts their stats and if they state their goals are for anything other than gaining a large quantity of muscle, then their training is somehow 'wasted.' It was only when...who was it, I think Chris Shugart, talked about dropping down to the 170's and looking like a CK model rather than a 'meatball' that others felt they had the opportunity to admit their training goals, when otherwise they'd just keep it to themselves to avoid the booring series of replies from the 'weight gainer' crowd. So that's just physique -- there are also the innumerable trainers who aim for long-term health, or sports or career-specific physical goals. A MMA fighter is going to want to have muscle, but there's a major law of diminishing returns when it comes to fighting and bulk...there's a point where the extra weight is going to be a hinderance, not a help. Just look at all the times Mark Coleman embarassed himself by gassing out against much smaller opponents, and getting knocked out by people who could never bench or squat anything close to his training weights. So obviously different goals are important to different people.
So, I hope nobody minds me saying this, because I am NOT denying the importance of anyone's goals...I have across the board admiration for ANYONE who sets ANY form of challenging goal and proceeds to conquer that challenge, even if it takes years. I'm just saying that people should show a bit of class and not knock other people's goals, which may be very challenging to those individuals, even by implication when you're promoting or defending your own goal choices. That also goes for people who might say 'who cares' to this week's 'Road to 600' article...even if you don't give a rat's ass about hitting 600 in anything, look at it as a person who set a goal and followed it even through injuries and surgeries, through years where the goal seemed truly impossible.
It is all individual choice. I have come to believe that weight training is a piece of your life and should enhance the rest of your life. Not be the sole focus of your life.
On the note of a big bench. I was doing reps with 300+ in the bench, when I went to Army Ranger School. And guess what? Not, once during the entire course was I asked to bench bench. Oh being that strong helped with all the push-ups and in the King of the Pit, but looking back now I would have been better off putting my time elsewhere and coming in a little weaker. Best of Luck.
I guess the best thing I could say to answer this post would be this example.When I first started lifting,I used to tell friends, “I just want to bench 200lbs,when I do ,I’ll be happy.” Haha,then it became 250,then 300,now I know I’ll never be satisfied,and I’ll always have a goal,to get stronger,and bigger. 600 may be out of reach(for now)by why not shoot for the most you could do.
Dave set a goal and achieved it (at great cost I might add). IMO that is admirable. I totally disagree with Nathan’s comment about pump up wimps. What ever happened to the concept of T-Men who lift in order to look good nekkid? Nathan’s post implies that some of our mentors here at T-mag are wimps, which I find hard to believe.
My personal goal is to look good nekkid. I've achieved that or so my wife tells me. My next goal is to look damn good nekkid. Will I ever bench 600, not a chance. Do I care, no.