[quote]CappedAndPlanIt wrote:
“At one meet, Rychlak had to abandon an 890-pound lift because it wasn’t heavy enough to force the weight down to his pecs.”
Source:
Seriously, is this true?[/quote]
If the bar literally touched his pec, then it would be because his wrist got snapped backwards and he would be in a world of shit. A good, tucked, lat/triceps-dominant groove has you touching right around your heart or lower. Honestly, a lot of us can’t touch a bar to our pecs raw!
The Slate article is intersting on a number of points. It seems John Sanchez was a souce of a lot of the writer’s info.
John is a repository of PL history- indeed, his old site powerliftingevolution.com was an awesome library of old-time strongman and powerlifting picture and articles. However, based on much of his web postings, it seems like John has a distinctly negative opinion on geared lifting. This bias comes through in the Slate article.
Another point of contention is the “when” and “who” of bench shirt invention. As I understand it, Ernie Frantz was making denim shirts years before John Inzer. Does this mean that Ernie “invented” the bench shirt? Not necessarily. But to say that John Inzer invented the bench shirt in 1983 is a little misleading when there has been a creeping gear technology associated with bench-pressing, probably since its inception in the 1950’s.
His ass is a good 5 inches off the bench the whole time.
I am no powerlifting expert, but isn’t that illegal?
It certainly would shorten the ROM. [/quote]
Lot of haters out there. Go lift at a comp or at least watch once. If your ass comes off the bench, or so much as wiggles they won’t give you the lift. Any Fed. Also, he touched, not doing so would not fly in any Fed. He can touch his arms to his sides in that shirt, you don’t do that because then the shirt won’t be set correctly.
You don’t have to like what we do, but at least respect it, just because some Joe puts on a shirt does not mean they will add weight to their raw bench. Like any sport it requires practice.
Good job Ryan. I’m looking forward to seeing if and when Gene will surpass this. You two have a good competition going.
[quote]undeadlift wrote:
greekdawg wrote:
Most people in the know, know that Gene supposedly can’t bench over 600 raw. Do the math.
I used to train at Mendelson’s gym in the past and he would need a shitload of weight just to get it to touch his chest.
He must be the most efficient shirted bencher then. Lol.[/quote]
He is, he is amazing in a shirt. Just think, Mendelson gets 300 plus lbs out of shirt. He’s done 1000+ several times and he holds the record for raw bench (715 lbs)
[quote]greekdawg wrote:
undeadlift wrote:
greekdawg wrote:
Most people in the know, know that Gene supposedly can’t bench over 600 raw. Do the math.
I used to train at Mendelson’s gym in the past and he would need a shitload of weight just to get it to touch his chest.
He must be the most efficient shirted bencher then. Lol.
He is, he is amazing in a shirt. Just think, Mendelson gets 300 plus lbs out of shirt. He’s done 1000+ several times and he holds the record for raw bench (715 lbs)[/quote]
By all accounts Mendy seems to be the worst shirted bencher out there. He’s obviously got the raw power, but just isn’t as consistent or tech as Ryan.
[quote]Hanley wrote:
greekdawg wrote:
undeadlift wrote:
greekdawg wrote:
Most people in the know, know that Gene supposedly can’t bench over 600 raw. Do the math.
I used to train at Mendelson’s gym in the past and he would need a shitload of weight just to get it to touch his chest.
He must be the most efficient shirted bencher then. Lol.
He is, he is amazing in a shirt. Just think, Mendelson gets 300 plus lbs out of shirt. He’s done 1000+ several times and he holds the record for raw bench (715 lbs)
By all accounts Mendy seems to be the worst shirted bencher out there. He’s obviously got the raw power, but just isn’t as consistent or tech as Ryan.[/quote]
Yeah. If Mendy gets shirt fine tuned to perfection, he could bench 1100.
[quote]undeadlift wrote:
Hanley wrote:
greekdawg wrote:
undeadlift wrote:
greekdawg wrote:
Most people in the know, know that Gene supposedly can’t bench over 600 raw. Do the math.
I used to train at Mendelson’s gym in the past and he would need a shitload of weight just to get it to touch his chest.
He must be the most efficient shirted bencher then. Lol.
He is, he is amazing in a shirt. Just think, Mendelson gets 300 plus lbs out of shirt. He’s done 1000+ several times and he holds the record for raw bench (715 lbs)
By all accounts Mendy seems to be the worst shirted bencher out there. He’s obviously got the raw power, but just isn’t as consistent or tech as Ryan.
Yeah. If Mendy gets shirt fine tuned to perfection, he could bench 1100.[/quote]
Yeah and if Ryan brings his lockout up he’ll go over 11 too.
And if Gene finally decides to compete again and hit a lift he could put up 1000+ again.
They could all happen, but I don’t think the Mendy one is too likely to be honest! Sad to see cos he’s a real monster.
[quote]Hanley wrote:
undeadlift wrote:
Hanley wrote:
greekdawg wrote:
undeadlift wrote:
greekdawg wrote:
Most people in the know, know that Gene supposedly can’t bench over 600 raw. Do the math.
I used to train at Mendelson’s gym in the past and he would need a shitload of weight just to get it to touch his chest.
He must be the most efficient shirted bencher then. Lol.
He is, he is amazing in a shirt. Just think, Mendelson gets 300 plus lbs out of shirt. He’s done 1000+ several times and he holds the record for raw bench (715 lbs)
By all accounts Mendy seems to be the worst shirted bencher out there. He’s obviously got the raw power, but just isn’t as consistent or tech as Ryan.
Yeah. If Mendy gets shirt fine tuned to perfection, he could bench 1100.
Yeah and if Ryan brings his lockout up he’ll go over 11 too.
And if Gene finally decides to compete again and hit a lift he could put up 1000+ again.
They could all happen, but I don’t think the Mendy one is too likely to be honest! Sad to see cos he’s a real monster.[/quote]
You’ve hit it spot on Hanley. Geared lifting and raw lifting are two different animals.
Props to Mendy for having the biggest raw bench ever, but usually strong raw lifters have a hard time in the gear, because its all technique like you said.