Gene Rychlak bombs at the Olympia

[eljamaiquino]

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?

triceps and lockout stregth are critical in the bench press to begin with, but even more so with a shirt, yes. I don't know if you've evers seen one of these geared up events, but it was a sad experience for me and my friends who went to watch one for the first time. The atmosphere was great, people were hyped up, energetic, etc....

Now picture these bench pressers walking around like extras in a George Romero Flick. They walk around with their arms outstetched because the shirt is too tight to let them lower their arms.

The killer of our hopes was when we actually saw people, Multiple ones, fail their lift because the weight WASN'T HEAVY ENOUGH for the bar to reach their chests. The springiness of the shirt would not allow the weight to be lowered far enough for the rep to be counted. When they added more weight, they made the lift!! I think that says it all....


Good Luck to Gene. Hopefully, he can recover and attempt his "press" again at a later date...

 

[Espo]

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.

I don't know bro, this seems a little bit contradicotry to me. Especially coming from you. Shit, I got more respect for some of those "pussies who can't hack real weights" than these gear whored roid monkeys, but that's just me. Even if these guys aren't real strong and won't be braking any records they are still challenging themselves. I compete in grappling tournaments, but give thought occasionaly to challenging myself in a meet. Not that a give a shit what people think but that attitude is what the stereotype is and that, in my opinion hurts the sport more than anything. It should be about challenging yourself AND the weights/competition.

 

[Foulsmeller**]

For the record:
I dont give a shit if a person does roids. I do however think they need to be honest about it. Dont go and compare your roided numbers with some guy who is clean. It is 2 differant worlds. Hell some gains from roids and other drugs are near permenat.

The thing I really really hate are the shirts. Yes you have to learn how to use them and yes they require a shit load of work..but come on..if I can bench 300 and then I put a shirt on and bench 450 it is TWO UTTERLY DIFFERANT SPORTS.

Show me another sport where the equipment makes such a massive differance?

 

[rickdog]

For the record:
I dont give a shit if a person does roids. I do however think they need to be honest about it. Dont go and compare your roided numbers with some guy who is clean. It is 2 differant worlds. Hell some gains from roids and other drugs are near permenat.

The thing I really really hate are the shirts. Yes you have to learn how to use them and yes they require a shit load of work..but come on..if I can bench 300 and then I put a shirt on and bench 450 it is TWO UTTERLY DIFFERANT SPORTS.

Show me another sport where the equipment makes such a massive differance?

I know alot of you will disagree but I believe the shirt was introduced to prevent injury, not as a piece of equipment to add ridiculous weight to a lift. IMO and in the opinion of many others, the gear has gone way out of control to the point of making lifting more dangerous, the exact opposite of the original intention. Somewhere along the line it got screwed up big time and again, IMO, makes a mockery out of the sport. It is alot more fun for me to watch guys bench some serious numbers raw and see brute strength than to watch a compteiton to see who has the best "equipment". I mean reallyl, It makes a mockery out of the sport that many of us love.

 

[rickdog]

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.

Well said. You will find the guys that disagree with this statement only do because they have to make up these bullshit analogies that have nothing to do with the original subject. Nobody questioned work ethic once. When it comes down to it, nowbody wants to see who can win a competition because they shopped around for a better custom to wear. How gay is that. come on guys who defend it , get real.

 

[jody]

i just ignore this guy. it's obvious to me that mendelson and kennelly are stronger. i have seen them cleanly bench 600 pounds for reps with good form and no equipment. rychlak can't.

what you can do without equipment is all that matters to me.

 

[rickdog]

I'd like to see Gene borrow my (normal under-armour) t-shirt that I wear to compete in and get under 1000 pounds on the bench.

Exactly, I would like to see Gene hit a 640 raw, then Id be impressed. The equimpent has made the sport more unsafe and also a battle of who can get the best equipment. It has taken it away from being a strict strength event to see who has the best costume for the show. Give me a freaken break. Lets see him train in my raggedy old tshirt and bench over 1000,. then I'll be really impressed. Id like to see a manican from a store dressed in his lame shirt (that was originaly supposed to be used to prevent injury) and bench 400. That would be a treat.

 

[Madmick]

I guess for me, in the end, it's that in every sport I've participated, strength mattered. So it was always intriguing to see how strong guys could really get. But they don't wear bench shirts on a basketball court or in a cage. Every athlete I've ever admired in any other sport competed with raw strength, so I have difficulty admiring these guys who do, regardless of their work ethic. And I don't train in a bench shirt for the same reason Rychlak doesn't train without one.

At the end of the day, as great as his achievement might be, it is irrelevant to me.