Gene Rychlak bench presses 1005 lbs!

Sami

Originally posted by MacLeod
I believe its the best form of exercise. It works not only your heart and lungs like aerobics but also muscle, tendons, ligaments, nerve endings, bone mass you name it.

You must not forget aerobic exercise though. I was in top shape, on the outside, at 195lb & 8% bodyfat. However, I got tired after a few sprints playing flag football. Even walking to the 6th story at work during fire drill got me breathing a little heavier. I had been lifting weights and not doing much cardio. I won't repeat the same mistake again.

Vitor, I would say he is one of the top strikers in MMA despite his description as BJJ fighter. Tank fight was great, as was numerous others (Scott Ferrozzo, Tra Telligman to name a few) but my favourite is still the beatdown on Wanderlei Silva.

Airplay355

dragon,
it took me about 6 months of serious lifting and 1 football season for my bench to go from 135 to 200. that's not a long time at all, thats why i was surprised at your 225 statistic.

dragon1952

I started lifting around December, and it took from then to now to be able to get over the 300lb mark

Well if you got there that fast that's quite an accomplishment and you must have been a big boy to begin with. By a long time I was talking at least a couple years, and much longer for smaller guys. It took me many years, but then I was a small boned guy and not really training for power. More of a bodybuilding routine. And unless you've got a trainer you can make mistakes for years until you finally figure it out.

Early B.

Just thought I'd mention that at 5'7" and 158 lbs., I'll kick everybody's **** on this forum, including the dog curler.:p

dragon1952

that's not a long time at all, thats why i was surprised at your 225 statistic.

Well if everyone lifted it certainly would be surprising. But what percentage of men even lift at all? Out of the entire world population not many. And remember 'world population' includes
pygmies, dwarfs, Bangladesh, Illinois......(doh! sorry that was just a joke regarding a previous thread!)

landry_p2000

Originally posted by dragon1952
Well if you got there that fast that's quite an accomplishment and you must have been a big boy to begin with. By a long time I was talking at least a couple years, and much longer for smaller guys. It took me many years, but then I was a small boned guy and not really training for power. More of a bodybuilding routine. And unless you've got a trainer you can make mistakes for years until you finally figure it out.

That is true. I come from a family of big boned guys and gals. I am 6ft and about 255lbs. I was at about 285lbs. with no exercise and a horrible diet. I could barely lift any weight at all when I started, and I never played sports. I saw what I wanted to do, and I did it.

Man, Dragon, I hope that I can be in as good a shape as you were at 46 years old. I have dropped two pant sizes, and 30lbs. since December. I plan on getting down to about 220lbs. and a 400lb bench. That is my goal and then I will lift light to maintain my frame and tone.

Airplay355

jdhdiggs,
can you explain that lift you were talking about further? i want to try it.

jdhdiggs

Just google "static contraction" and read up. There is enough info for free that you can get enough of the gist of it to not hurt yourself.

Airplay355

thank ya

Jstas

That 2% figure is dubious at best. I'll bet that there are about 20 times as many guys that can bench 225 pounds. The only reason they aren't counted is because some meathead in a gym is only going on what the published numbers are. There are alot of guys out there who work for a living and do the kind of work that is back-breaking and tiring. At the end of they day, they are either too tired or don't have the time to do any workouts like what was specified in this thread.

I've seen guys that work as mechanics, contractors, landscapers, longshoremen, carpenters and so on and so forth that could easily handle 225 pounds like they were tossing horseshoes. Hell, I've met lumberjacks at the Stihl Outdoor Sports shows that could rip a phone book in half and they do virtually no weight training at all. They just swing 12 pound axes at 16 inch thick pieces of wood and sling 30 pound saws through 24 inch logs for fun! None of them do you want taking a swing at you in a fight either 'cause it'll most likely take your head off if one blow lands good.

Just because only 2% of the general population has ever tried let alone admitted that they can put up 225 pounds doesn't mean they can't. It just means that they most likely don't care to. Hell, I've put up and held up 250 pounds of automatic transmission while my help bolts it into the car. I think the ability of the average guy that has even a modicum of fitness to them can put up the 200-225 pound range of weight if they had to or felt like it.

Airplay355

another static contraction question....

do you do all the excercises the same way? and what excercises are you supposed to do? i found what muscles to work but there are plenty of different excercises for each muscle.

say if i were trying to work biceps and doing dumbell or preacher curls, would i hold the weight up, 2 or 4 inches away from a full curl when the bicep is contracted, or 2 or 4 inches from the bicep being completely relaxed?

dragon1952

That 2% figure is dubious at best. I'll bet that there are about 20 times as many guys that can bench 225 pounds.

40%....lol!

I think the ability of the average guy that has even a modicum of fitness to them can put up the 200-225 pound range of weight if they had to or felt like it.

You are so naive, young one :rolleyes: Assuming you're not a lifter already, go to the gym and put 225 on and report back how you did. Take any 10 of your friends with you, and assuming they are not lifters already (or 250 lb Samoans), report back on them also. Chances are most of you couldn't even unrack it alone. I'll wait here. :cool:

BTW, a bench press requires you unrack the weight (you can have help if you like), lower it all the way down till it touches your chest , then push it all the way back up (without help). It doesn't mean holding it up while somebody bolts it in.

jdhdiggs

Originally posted by Airplay355
another static contraction question....

do you do all the excercises the same way? and what excercises are you supposed to do? i found what muscles to work but there are plenty of different excercises for each muscle.

say if i were trying to work biceps and doing dumbell or preacher curls, would i hold the weight up, 2 or 4 inches away from a full curl when the bicep is contracted, or 2 or 4 inches from the bicep being completely relaxed?

For curls, I've done both, but typically the curled up position protects your joints better, arm exteneded for more strength. I never really liked using the technique on curls and used it on rows or lat pull downs instead.

jstas, I seriously suggest you take up dragons suggestion. Just because you could hold up a transmission, doesn't mean you could press that same weight. Hell, if I'm already standing and I just have to "hold" something, I could probably do close to a ton for about a couple seconds or so. (weak hands). On a leg press, I could hold it for a damn long time. Not the same thing as a full range lift.

225 doesn't sound like a lot until your being squished to death by it. As for your longshoreman and lumberjacks, yeah, cause they represent the average human being. :rolleyes: How about accountants, engineers, truck drivers, etc... Most laborors in the US do not do difficult manual labor.

My guess is that most men in the US would struggle to get up 135 or so

jdhdiggs

Oh yeah, airplay, MACHINES ARE YOUR FRIEND. Unless you have someone like Maccloud spotting you, free weights are not the way to go. Leg sleds, hammer machines, etc are the best. Pully machines suck, but are better than free weights for safety reasons.

That said, free weights give you the best results, but are VERY dangerous to use like this without appropriate racking or big spotters.

dragon1952

That said, free weights give you the best results, but are VERY dangerous to use like this without appropriate racking or big spotters.

You got that right! Read on......

Ex-Steelers linebacker dies while lifting weights

Associated Press
Mar. 22, 2005 11:20 AM

PITTSBURGH - David Little, a durable linebacker for the Pittsburgh Steelers who was voted to the Pro Bowl in 1990, died while weightlifting at home in Miami. He was 46.

Little had heart disease, and a cardiac fluttering Thursday caused him to drop 250 pounds of weights on his chest, the coroner said Tuesday. The weights rolled onto his neck and suffocated him, the coroner said.

Little was found by his sons, David Jr. and Darien.

Little played his entire 12-year career in Pittsburgh after he was drafted out of Florida in the seventh round in 1981. He started 125 of the 179 games he played for the Steelers and once played in 89 in a row. His last season in the National Football League was 1992.

His older brother, Larry Little, was an All-Pro guard for the Miami Dolphins.

Little is also survived by his wife, Denise, his mother, daughter and four sisters

Jstas

Originally posted by dragon1952

You are so naive, young one :rolleyes: Assuming you're not a lifter already, go to the gym and put 225 on and report back how you did. Take any 10 of your friends with you, and assuming they are not lifters already (or 250 lb Samoans), report back on them also. Chances are most of you couldn't even unrack it alone. I'll wait here. :cool:

BTW, a bench press requires you unrack the weight (you can have help if you like), lower it all the way down till it touches your chest , then push it all the way back up (without help). It doesn't mean holding it up while somebody bolts it in.

Naive? Huh! Whatever pops. That transmission, it was placed in my hands and I steadied it on my chest, rolled under the car on a creeper and the lifted it into place, set input shaft into the splined hole at the end of the crank, held on to the trans with one hand while I set the torque converter with the other hand then pushed the whole thing into the spot it was supposed to be and held it so that the other person could put the bellhousing bolts in and the crossmember. Go ahead and try it and tell me how you do.

If you want me to go and take 10 of my friends, I can pretty much guarantee that at least 6 of the 10 people that would bother to go would be able to put up 225 pounds. Most of them however would not bother because they don't see any value in proving anything to you and honestly neither do I. This isn't about me and my abilities.I never said I was going to do it. I only offered an instance where I have done similar things with a good amount of weight to which you handily blew off as silliness without knowing what you were talking about. There is nothing for me to prove here. If I can put up a 200+ pound transmission, something I have done on more than one occassion, then I am obviously not in that "average" group by your standards. What would I prove? Beyond that, I am not going to waste my time trying to find 1 person let alone 10 people to go to a gym just to prove some silly internet pissing match.

I may have exagerated with 20 times but I thought I had typed 10. It was a mistake. My opinion still stands and that opinion is that 2% is low, too low. Take it or leave it, I don't care. I have met many people capable of doing it and they aren't powerlifters, bodybuilders or ever regular gym frequenters. Just that alone leads me to believe that the 2% number is low. All I am saying is that the 2% number is what is reported and estimate given the trends that those reports give evidence towards. I think it is an inaccurate figure and doesn't represent the world population accuratly let alone the U.S. population.

landry_p2000

That "1952" in your name wouldn't happen to be your year of birth would it, oh wise one?:D I agree with what you said 100%. I know carpenters and mechanics that can't bench press 225, but, I will say this, I wouldn't screw with em' unless I really had no choice.:eek: These guys have a different kind of strength than weight lifting strength. They have that "turn the wrench" or that "swing the hammer" strength. There is a difference. IMO

jdhdiggs

*tweet*

Flag on the play
Hey, the coach threw out the brown flag
That's right, he threw out the BS flag on that last post...

What did you say you were 5'6" 135lbs and yet you can not only hold 255lbs one handed, but balance it while you fiddle with something else. Right... :rolleyes:

Airplay355

i work out at my school so the amount of weight on teh machines, and the different exercises you can do on the machines are limited. ill just grab some of my friends (who can bench 225) and see if they wanna try something new.

dragon1952

Jstas....I don't care if you prove it either, bro. My only point was that if you haven't done it you have absolutely no idea how hard it is regardless of how easy it may seem. That's all. But if you do happen to make it by the gym one day please try it, as long as you're there anyway.

That "1952" in your name wouldn't happen to be your year of birth would it, oh wise one?

Why yes, it would
1952...Year of the Dragon, and every 12 years thereafter and prior to.
And you're right. It's a different kind of strength. I have small wrists and even though I could bench 300 (at one time) I have a hell of a time with lug nuts and probably couldn't beat my sister in arm wrestling. But I wouldn't mess with anybody regardless of what they did for a living or how much I could lift. You could end up in jail for the rest of your life...then you'd have plenty of people to mess with.
And yes, Dragons are very wise. Most people in jail are probably Pigs and Rats and Snakes, not to say all Pigs, Rats and Snakes are bad of course......some of my best friends are Pigs, Rats and Snakes.....probably even some members of our fine forum

Airplay355

are you supposed to hold the muscle contracted with the heavy weight or are you supposed to put on heavy weight and try to contract the muscle?

MacLeod

Im gonna have to agree withcya JD. Im a huge supporter of free weights. If you want to grow and get stronger you have to do freeweights. Machines just dont tax the muscles as much plus there are lots of little stabilizer muscles that dont get touched by machines cause youre not having to stabalize anything. That being said, machines do have their place and are very usefull. Just make sure freeweights are your main focus and youre trying to get stronger on them. Machines come in after the freeweight work is done to further finish off the muscle.

As far as benching 400 pounds in the next year, you might want to extend your expectations a bit my brother.

When I started lifting my bench was 190. It took me a little over 2 years to go from 190-300. It took me another 6 years to go from 300-400 and another 3 years to go from 400-415 and after 2 years Im now at about 425.

The higher you go the harder it gets and the slower gains come (especially when youre natural. If you "cheat" youll get there in less than half the time.) Thats actually a good thing because it allows your body to be able to grow and strengthen so you dont hurt yourself. Thats the main reason why steroid users tear things, they get stronger faster than their body can adapt to.

Airplay355

mac,
genetics and diet have a huge part to play in how fast and how much you will gain in muslce mass. so its hard to accurately judge how fast someone will be able to reach a certain goal.

jdhdiggs

Originally posted by Airplay355
mac,
genetics and diet have a huge part to play in how fast and how much you will gain in muslce mass. so its hard to accurately judge how fast someone will be able to reach a certain goal.

Yup, definately. I gain a ton of strength very quickly, but I don't put on bulk very well at all. I know other guys that lift half as much (weight wise) as I do and look like monsters. It is kind of odd, but I don't mind...

landry_p2000

Originally posted by Airplay355
mac,
genetics and diet have a huge part to play in how fast and how much you will gain in muslce mass. so its hard to accurately judge how fast someone will be able to reach a certain goal.

That is how I see it also. I started out working with 185 and could barely get in 4-6 reps with that in December. I am now at a little over 300. I think that me gaining that fast and adding over 100 pounds to my bench in that short time says that we are very different genetically. I am doing fine with no injuries. I take my time, and stay focused on the goal I have set and I find it to be within reach. This bench is in my home and is accessible to me 24/7. Therefore, the only thing I have to add is motivation.

I went to school in Batesville, MS home of the South Panola Tigers. ( State Champs) They have one of the most rigorous strength training programs I have ever seen. I did not play sports, but I have witnessed my younger cousin @ 14 years old, and 210lbs, bench 305 with ease and do 4-6 reps with 225 in 5 sets. He is the 2nd strongest on the team, and at that age I can barely keep up with him. So the way I see it, it is all about genetics. IMO;)

Added note: I was using the "Ripped Fuels" pills and have stopped all together. I want these gains to be completely natural and self produced. I only used these pills for two weeks, and have flushed the rest down the toilet.:D

VR3

Your cousin is gonna hate himself in the next few years of his life...

Theres no way thats healthy at 14 years old...

I got a feeling he wont get much taller

Sami

Originally posted by Vr3MxStyler2k3
Theres no way thats healthy at 14 years old...

He shouldn't really be even lifting weights at that age.

landry_p2000

Originally posted by Vr3MxStyler2k3
Your cousin is gonna hate himself in the next few years of his life...

Theres no way thats healthy at 14 years old...

I got a feeling he wont get much taller

He is already 6ft tall. How tall does he need to be?

landry_p2000

Originally posted by Sami
He shouldn't really be even lifting weights at that age.

You try telling that to the JV coach at South Panola High.:eek:

I see that you are in Texas. Isn't Texas supposed to be a big football state? I am sure that the junior high athletes ( ages 12-13) have weight trainig before they play high school football.

Sami

I'm not saying they aren't, just that they shouldn't. Skeletal immaturity and improper lifting technique is a dangerous combination.

Weight/strength training is beneficial for a 14y old as his hormones are already circulating but I would not recommend heavy lifting. Getting in great cardiovascular shape is much more important at that point IMO. Trying how much one can lift, either bench/military press or squat, absolutely not.

http://www.tamu.edu/univrel/aggiedaily/news/stories/99/071599-6.html