1100 pound bench?

[kite]

TweetMeet director Wesley Kampen announces that Ryan Kennelly will be attempting a bench press of 1,100 pounds or more at the Monster Muscle Northwest Bench Press and Deadlift Championship on April 19 in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. Kennelly has hit the highest bench press ever with his 1,050 pound effort in December.

[Scott1975]

TweetAs easy as the 1050 looked, he should get it. I think there is a video of him doing 1120 off 1board somewhere. The guy is a beast. But the question is, when will it stop? 1100lbs? 1200lbs? 1500lbs? the shirts are getting rediculous, and the guys doing this weight are getting stronger and braver. I would have loved to seen what guys back in the 80's would have done if they had shirts like these.

[supasaiyan99]

TweetGolly!!! These guys are beyond strong! Do the shirts make that much of a difference?

[Scott1975]

TweetThe shirts do make a difference. But the thing with the shirts is, not everyone can throw a shirt on and bench 1000lbs. lots of people get the impression that they could do 1000+lbs if they had one of those shirts. It takes alot of technique and training to learn the shirt. I think Ryan's raw bench is somewhere around 650 to 700lbs depending on his weight. so he is getting around 400lbs out of the shirt which is just crazy. Pretty much the shirt will help you get it off your chest, but you better be ready to lockout the weight. If you have no lockout power, the weight will not go. Kite can probably go into more detail.

[kite]

TweetYou're absolutely right Scott. Poly shirts help give a fair amount of rebound off the chest and the denim give stopping power. Pretty much the same deal with poly vs. canvas squat suits. The equipment deal is gettin outa hand and with the advances in equipment you're gonna see more and more injuries. I was readin not long ago, I can't remember who it was but some cat was doin board presses with 900+ and snapped both bones in his forearm.
The whole shirt thing started as a way to protect the shoulders from injury and it added about 20 pounds to people's bench back then. Now days, it's all about hittin the freakiest weight no matter what. I'm a shirt bencher myself but I don't neglect raw strength as I believe both are important. What actually got me into shirt benchin was pain after my shoulder surgery, back then I used an old blast shirt from Inzer but then I got bit by the bug so to say and now I use a double poly, lol!

[Scott1975]

Tweetyou are so right Kite. I remember my first shirt, it was a Inzer EHPHD shirt, I thought it was the best shirt out there. I was getting right around 70lbs out of it. Now people are getting 150lbs out of a single ply, that is how far along these shirts have came. I have tried denim shirts, and can barely get 50lbs out of them. Now I am getting a little over 100lbs out of my single ply rage x. The guy that I work out with Brian Siders, gets over 150 with his, but it is custom with all the bells and whistles. The shirts are getting stupid.