That lift is legit you guys. It was at the Class 2A state boys weightlifting meet in Daytona Beach.
Age Is Just A Number For Joyer
When I was a sophomore in high school, our school hosted a bench press contest. Four area high schools participated. I took second place in the 148s with a press of 215 at 146lbs. Best was 235, but the guy was only like 5'5".:icon_neut Had I known anything about training and diet I probably would have done better. The only training information available to me (this was 1991-1994 mind you, no internet)was in BB magazines and local lifters, all of which did not know shit. I did run across a BB program written by Leo Costa Jr. called
Serious Growth, This is the first time I had ever heard of periodization or how to diet properly or advanced recover techniques such as contrast showers. The program was supposedly modified from Bulgarian Oly lifting programs. I made pretty good progress on the program but the rep ranges were geared more towards hypertrophy than strength. But the whole "diet" thing still held me back. I could train like a beast but I ate like a bird.
Anyways, back to the meet. There was a guy there who was 16 that bench pressed 450. He was about 5'7" and my guess is that he weighed around 230-240. He also had a full beard. I, and everyone else, was dumbfounded. I knew the guy was strong as hell when I saw him load up the bar with 315 and proceed to knock out a super-easy triple. I did not stick around to ask him how the hell he got so strong but later I'd wished I had. The next best bench was from a friend of mine who was a senior. He got 350 at 210lbs BW.
Too bad there was no squat contest. I would have dominated because hardly anyone else squatted.