Gene Rychlak bombs at the Olympia

[HULKAMANIA]

Hey guys, NO ONE IS CLAIMING THAT SHIRTED BENCHERS DON'T WORK HARD!

and also, NO ONE IS CLAIMING THAT GENE DOESN'T HAVE GUTS, A KILLER WORK ETHIC, OR ATHLETIC MERIT.

We're saying the whole concept of bench shirts sucks. It hurts the sport.

 

[eljamaiquino]

Personally I don't "like" them either, but I won't for a minute give Gene anything but credit for being the best in world (by far) at what it is he does.


Everyone in the world has the same access to the same equipment and no one has come with in 100 lbs of Gene. Only one other man on the planet has even benched 900.


Most powerlifting federations permit shirts so you can't fault the individual lifters for using them. Do you see college baseball players using wooden bats because the don't want to cheat, or do see Mario Lemiux not using a curved stick because he feels it gives him an advantage?


People like to see big benches, long home runs, more goals scored in hockey, more touchdowns in football, so the powers that be in those sports change the rules to give the people what they want.

Bench shirts, moving the fences closer in baseball fields, two line passes, more restricitve rules for cornerbacks, its all the same thing.

I have never heard Gene claim that he is the strongest man in the world, or even the strongest bencher period. He simply claims what he is - the best shirted bencher ever. If anyone has heard him say something else - I would be interested to see it.


Gene is a blue-collar hard working guy like the vast majority of other powerlifters. If the fact that he can bench press 1000lbs allows him to earn a few extra dollars in a sport where the top guys get peanuts, then more power to him. When Gene won the 2004 Arnold Classic - he won $2500 - that didn't even cover paying his spotters and his travel to the event.

It has been stated on some boards that Rychlak uses a "special" shirt.
Most people consider it illegal because it got turned down at shirt check during a WPO event (I believe at the Arnold) and since the APF/WPO allows most anything people assume the thing must've been way heinous (I.E extra layers, multimultiply neck, grid stitching everywhere, reinforced everything, etc.)

You can't compare a guy using a "special" shirt at extreme bodyfat levels to guys like Ed Coan, Kazmeir, mendelson, etc. The lift should be called something else. Its not a "bench press" anymore.... Oh yeah..What's Rychlak's Dead and Squat numbers again? :icon_twis

 

[nudge119]

You can't compare a guy using a "special" shirt at extreme bodyfat levels to guys like Ed Coan, Kazmeir, mendelson, etc. The lift should be called something else. Its not a "bench press" anymore.... Oh yeah..What's Rychlak's Dead and Squat numbers again? :icon_twis

Gene has squatted 1005 pounds back in 2003, but he was fat back then too, so it can't really be called a squat.

 

[CarnalSalvation]

What Huklamania said.

Gene obviously is a dedicated powerlifter, works extremely hard at what eh does, and understands the nature of sacrifice for success.

But at the same time he is one of the most visible advertisements for increased use of gear, loose judging etc. and those are bad things for powerlifting.

Here is my ideal federation:
-Belt/Wraps only (I am iffy on knee wraps, but some people swear they help prevent knee injuries, and I only get like 10lbs out of mine, so hey, whatever)
-Monolift not squat stands (once again, an injury prevention issue, more people get hurt walking squats out than any other point. "Propping" ones feet against the sides of the monolift would be illegal however)
-No sumo pulling, hands outside legs damnit! this is not a second squat event!
-Due to benches being raw, they would not be paused, but would go by the "motionless bar" rule, as in there doesn't have to be any set pause, the bar just has to "stop" long enough for the ref to see you have control and aren't bouncing. That's how they did it before shirts.
-Judging somewhere between teh IPF and IPA, I don't get why nobody can have judging in the middle. It's all too strict, too loose, or too inconsistent. Especially with squat depth.

 

[ENTROPY]

Here is my ideal federation:
-Belt/Wraps only (I am iffy on knee wraps, but some people swear they help prevent knee injuries, and I only get like 10lbs out of mine, so hey, whatever)
-Monolift not squat stands (once again, an injury prevention issue, more people get hurt walking squats out than any other point. "Propping" ones feet against the sides of the monolift would be illegal however)
-No sumo pulling, hands outside legs damnit! this is not a second squat event!
-Due to benches being raw, they would not be paused, but would go by the "motionless bar" rule, as in there doesn't have to be any set pause, the bar just has to "stop" long enough for the ref to see you have control and aren't bouncing. That's how they did it before shirts.
-Judging somewhere between teh IPF and IPA, I don't get why nobody can have judging in the middle. It's all too strict, too loose, or too inconsistent. Especially with squat depth.

Excellent! I'm saving this post to one of my files...

I personally consider lifting equipment gay as fuck (belts included) and are simply expressed excuses for not being able to lift a given weight.

That said, both this and Nudge's defense of lifting gear are excellent posts!!!

 

[eljamaiquino]

Gene has squatted 1005 pounds back in 2003, but he was fat back then too, so it can't really be called a squat.

Gene's squat and deadlift are 1005 and 715.


Also, Ed Coan made his return to the sport at this meet as well, doing it "unequipped" since his knee injury. Ed "toyed" with a 760 squat, 500 bench, and 705 deadlift and all were "unequipped".

Records are from 2003. Let's see, Ed Coan's numbers were done with minimal equipment. Gene really is not in the same league as Ed Coan. Let's call it a "shirted bench". You can see that his other lifts are not mindblowing at all compared to his peers.

My comments are not due to his bodyfat level (although it is pretty bad), but to the ridiculous equipment that he uses. The gut DOES help as the range of motion is greatly shortened the bigger it gets though...

 

[CarnalSalvation]

Entropy, I hear ya man. I disagree on belts because I genuinely feel they help prevent injuries. I don't mind the few extra lbs it give sme either though, I won't lie.

Same thing with wraps, I never wore them until I started training with Lynne. She has trained for longer than I've been alive, without serious injury, and she swears knee wraps are part of her strategy for keeping knees healthy, and I just do what the boss tells me.

 

[cockysprinter]

The metaphor- at least the metaphor with swimmers- is flawed, I believe.

It's true that full body suits are faster than any other suit, but the difference (as I understand it) is that you actually change benching technique with those multi-ply or denim bench shirts- to accomodate the technology. This makes sense to me, too, since Rychlak once quoted his heaviest RAW lift in an interview and it was about 100 lbs. less than Mendelson's. In swimming, you don't change your technique depending on the suit. Michael Phelps would be the fastest swimmer in the world in a body suit or naked.

Also, until this latest generation of swim suits, the suits swimmers wore did not make them faster than they would have been naked. The latest generation actually makes you faster than you are in your bare skin, and this is a source of controversy in the swimming world, but at least until now, it wasn't like I put on my suit and swam 10 seconds faster than I would be able to naked. Suits were designed to match the streamline of the human body while maintaining modesty.

I don't like bench shirts. I think they're bad for the sport, because they always leave that "what if..."

i dont know too much about swimmers equipment or pole vaults, but the more advanced a sprinter is the less his shoes help him. the first time i wore spikes my 100 dropped about a second (.8-.9) in 8th grade. as you get better the deficit drops significantly. as a freshman i ran a 13.1 in trainers but still only 12.6 in spikes. i think the general rule is .2-.4 improvement for a good sprinter in the 100m dash. id compare using track shoes to using chalk on a DL moreso than using a shirt on the bench. also shoes are part safety. imagine 14 times your bodyweight going through your feet to a rubber track. the thought makes me wince. i wouldnt want to see a sprinters feet after running a 10.2 barefoot. jumping shoes contain extra padding to deal with heel contact and so do distance shoes. there are a lot of restrictions on what sprint shoes can and cant have though, and i think this makes a difference in the equipment debates. sprints shoes are restricted to using spikes as a form of traction or propulsion while equipped lifters dont always have the same guidelines. as mentioned, a bench shirt changes the technique of the bench and basically makes it another lift. and were talking equipment that allows an athlete to increase their performance by 150%. i dont think any other sport does that. but ultimately it comes down to how you play the game. shirted lifts are allowed and until they are disallowed we have to put up with them. unless you want to start some kind of petition.

 

[nudge119]

Gene's squat and deadlift are 1005 and 715.


Also, Ed Coan made his return to the sport at this meet as well, doing it "unequipped" since his knee injury. Ed "toyed" with a 760 squat, 500 bench, and 705 deadlift and all were "unequipped".

Records are from 2003. Let's see, Ed Coan's numbers were done with minimal equipment. Gene really is not in the same league as Ed Coan. Let's call it a "shirted bench". You can see that his other lifts are not mindblowing at all compared to his peers.

My comments are not due to his bodyfat level (although it is pretty bad), but to the ridiculous equipment that he uses. The gut DOES help as the range of motion is greatly shortened the bigger it gets though...

So gene's total is somewhere around 2300 and coans was 1900. What's your point.

Is it that you have to be under 220 pounds and not use an arch for it be called a "bench press". What is the IPF's minimum arm length requirement - is it from the armpit to the wrist or the shoulder to the end of this first?

 

[nudge119]

Again - just to clarify, I would prefer no one used excessive lifting gear also.

I just don't get why people have to make personal attacks on a guy they don't know - especially after he drops 1000 pounds on his sternum.

Most other boards are full of post like - "my prayers are with him - i hope he is allirght" and on here it's "i hope that fat bastard died"......

 

[CarnalSalvation]

No,I've seen plenty of other boards that said similar things.

I think the idea is that hopefully that perhaps Gene will ahve served as a sacrificial lamb. Maybe gearwhoring won't look quite so appealing to this upcoming generation of PLers, who tare the naughtiest, whoriest (Mr. Slave Caliber Whoreage) gearwhores yet.

 

[colinm]

newbie question here since we're on the subject: how does a bench shirt affect your technique vs a raw bench? intuitively, id think it would put more emphasis on lockout and coming off your chest would be easier, is this the case?

 

[Fedorable]

i dont know too much about swimmers equipment or pole vaults, but the more advanced a sprinter is the less his shoes help him. the first time i wore spikes my 100 dropped about a second (.8-.9) in 8th grade. as you get better the deficit drops significantly. as a freshman i ran a 13.1 in trainers but still only 12.6 in spikes. i think the general rule is .2-.4 improvement for a good sprinter in the 100m dash. id compare using track shoes to using chalk on a DL moreso than using a shirt on the bench. also shoes are part safety. imagine 14 times your bodyweight going through your feet to a rubber track. the thought makes me wince. i wouldnt want to see a sprinters feet after running a 10.2 barefoot. jumping shoes contain extra padding to deal with heel contact and so do distance shoes. there are a lot of restrictions on what sprint shoes can and cant have though, and i think this makes a difference in the equipment debates. sprints shoes are restricted to using spikes as a form of traction or propulsion while equipped lifters dont always have the same guidelines. as mentioned, a bench shirt changes the technique of the bench and basically makes it another lift. and were talking equipment that allows an athlete to increase their performance by 150%. i dont think any other sport does that. but ultimately it comes down to how you play the game. shirted lifts are allowed and until they are disallowed we have to put up with them. unless you want to start some kind of petition.

spikes took about 4 seconds off my 200 the first time I tried them at the end of my freshman year. :redface:

 

[Fedorable]

Again - just to clarify, I would prefer no one used excessive lifting gear also.

I just don't get why people have to make personal attacks on a guy they don't know - especially after he drops 1000 pounds on his sternum.

Most other boards are full of post like - "my prayers are with him - i hope he is allirght" and on here it's "i hope that fat bastard died"......

may god have mercy on his soul.

 

[STOMP]

Carnal-
i agree with your analysis on your perfect association but i'm curious, when you compete do you wear gear or do you compete in only raw associations? i just think it sucks that IMO guys who don't want to fuck with all the gay gear are kind of forced into it to be able to compete because that's where the money?? is at. i could be wrong but from my limited knowledge of powerlifting that's how it seems to me.

 

[rickdog]

may god have mercy on his soul.

hahahahaha. I thought this was funny.......

 

[CarnalSalvation]

Stomp, I am a rare bird. I compete in belt/wraps (raw by most standards) in equipped feds. Most raw/drug tested feds are havens for pussies who can't hack real weights, which is why I do what I do.

Plus I fully intend to someday be strong enough that people are fucking embarassed to take a W over me knowing damn well I'm way stronger, and if it weren't for their fancy pants suits and shirts I'd wipe the platform with them.

 

[BoxingFanNoMore]

I think comparing bench shirts to other sports equipment is completely way off base. Bench shirts are used to store and ouput energy during the lift. Most other sports equipment is used to increase performance not actually add energy to the system.

Fastskin suits, spikes, or aerodynamic helmets are meant to enhance performance, not actually perform some of the energy requirement of the movement.

And aluminum bats are simply cheaper to use, but MLB doesnt use them and neither do their minor leagues so I dont see why they are getting compared to wooden bats. And MLB actually has a legitimate farm system where most of their talent is pooled, which gives position players time to adjust to swinging a wooden bat.

Whenever you introduce technological advancements into athletic gear, you will most always introduce some sort of performance that will change the sport, wether it will be records or tatics. But the bottom line is the player still has to perform and compete with other players who can use the same advantages.

As Madmick pointed out though it really doesnt change the competitive level of the athlete, if you are a world class tennis player with a carbon fiber racket, you would still be a world class tennis player if they switched back to wooden rackets.

Can the same be said for powerlifters, I dont know.

 

[cockysprinter]

I think comparing bench shirts to other sports equipment is completely way off base. Bench shirts are used to store and ouput energy during the lift. Most other sports equipment is used to increase performance not actually add energy to the system.

wtf?

 

[CarnalSalvation]

That post was him basicly totally refuting any comparisons of PL gear to improved track shoes or golf clubs.