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Ratio between Press and Bench Press in the old days?

Dancelot

Dancelot

New member
I was chatting to some PLer on another forum who says he presses 300lb and benches 405lb paused (242lb class raw). He's geared up to the eyeballs (admitted as such) but those are still some impressive lifts. I want to get my bench up this year as it's lagging far behind my other lifts but I also want to get my press as close to my bench as possible.

That got me thinking: in the old days, when people used to press overhead a lot, what was the typical Press to Bench Press ratio?

I've only found one reference from Bill Starr about Marvin Eder who presses 355lb and benches 575lb at 198lb bodyweight.
 
The press was an OL and the BP a PL

There wasnt much crossover so there wont be many examples.

I no of no official accounts of Reding, Alexeev, Anderson benching, but these guys, along with Patera were the strongest pressers ever.

No one that is strong overhead is weak on the bench, but not every strong bencher is good overhead
 
When i was oly lifting i rarely had any issue overhead pressing.....once i laid on a bench and tried to bench something....i sucked :)


Thats my excuse for being a shit bencher :D

Sorry to hijack but when are competing next Dancealot?
 
Thanks Markos. I initially thought that the early days powerlifters did a lot of overhead pressing.

Big G, my next competition is PA's Raw National, March 26 somewhere in Melb.
 
Dancer, when and where did lifters get an opportunity to post a raw total for Nats?

I know you recently did a novice comp, was that it?
 
PTC said:
Dancer, when and where did lifters get an opportunity to post a raw total for Nats?

I know you recently did a novice comp, was that it?
Click to expand...

This is where I think PA are shooting themselves in the foot (if my understanding is correct).

To qualify for RAW Nats you need a C grade equipped or D grade RAW lifted in a DEDICATED raw meet, which there has been only 4 of to date and none scheduled this year before the RAW nats (that I can see on the PA provisional calendar).

Whilst I do agree that a qualifying total is required I think for the first year the rules should be a little more flexible and more opportunities should be provided to get people on the books and lifting.
 
I did two novice comps in 2010. One was an equipped comp but I did it raw, and one was a dedicated raw comp:

Powerlifting Australia - Calendar 2010

It's the Nov 28 Victorian Extravaganza.

Around the same time, the SE Challenge in QLD and Matti Tikka in NSW both had a dedicated raw division.

There are several RAW comps in Jan and Feb before Raw Nationals:

Powerlifting Australia - Calendar 2011

One guy I train with is doing the Feb 13 comp so he could get a +2.5kg on his total to qualify for Raw Nat.

C-grade equipped and D-grade RAW at a dedicated RAW meet are both pretty easy totals. In the 83kg class, that means 485kg and 415kg respectively. For equipped lifters, if you can't get C-grade then you probably shouldn't be doing Raw Nationals.

The only people who would miss out for reasons other than not being strong enough would be those who only just joined PA and couldn't do any RAW comp at the end of last year or at the start of this year.
 
Johnnie I believe it is "dedicated raw division", not "dedicated raw meet" (and I could be wrong about this). Making D grade in a dedicated raw division makes sense because unless you specifically enter the dedicated raw division, no one will have certified it was truly raw in the equipment check.

Of the 7 or so comps before the Raw Nationals in 2011, one of them is specifically a raw comp though and there's nothing to suggest (at this stage at least) than any of the others won't allow a raw division. None of the 4 comps that allowed raw at the end of 2010 were advertised as raw only comps.

If you had only one chance to qualify at the end of 2010 that would definitely suck though!
 
Regarding the topic :p I found another one:

PAUL ANDERSON

At the bottom, there's a part written by Paul Anderson himself. Apparently he did an Olympic Press from the rack at 565lb and benched 627lb.
 
I have read everything written about Paul, and from the credible historians, none can verify a bench press, though I have no doubt it would be massive.

For the record, I think Paul is the Strongest man to have ever lived, but most of his lifts cant be verified, which is a shame. If he reckons he benched around 640lbs, with wheels etc, I believe him, but it cant be recorded in History, because now we have the internet, and everybodys cousin does that

Look up Ken Patera, he was immensely strong overhead. I have his best lifts in a Milo, I really cant be fucked looking for it though.

I know he jerked 500lb , first yank, he also pressed it
 
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