Best Benchers Of All Time

[SGT ROCK]

Ok..this one deserves its own thread, lets try and narrow this one down to THREE lifters each division. 114-181, 198-242 and 242 to SHW!

LT JOE BRADLEY....if you do NOT know who this is....you need to! FIRST MAN TO EVER DO TRIPLE BODYWEIGHT...and did it MINUS THE SHIRT

Mike Bridges...his 523 was done with no shirt

Kerwin Unten and Ed Morishima...ok thats four lol...two guys I respect very much.


Mwt: MIKE MCDONALD....held the ALL TIME WR in 4 classes at the SAME TIME.

Rob Luyando....good in these classes, not a bit arrogant, great shirt technician, clean lifts

Larry Pacifico...I accidentally left him off my 3 lift list. Anytime a 3 lift guy can break a WR bench as well deserves much respect. His raw lifts would still make the top five even now.


HWT: Ted Arcidi...if you saw his 705 in Hawaii you would know why

Kennelly....very modest and a great lifter with a great physique

Kaz Again, 3 lift guy with a great bench. Had he not tore his pec what could he have done?

LOTS of room for arguement here, whats your list?

Semper Fi

[Travis Bell]

Rob Luyando - arguably Mr. Consistent right here, only one that could contend with him on that title would be Kennelly, plus he holds more All Time WRs in different weight classes than anyone currently if Im not mistaken

Ryan Kennelly - put shirted benching beyond what we all thought was possible. I love watching him bench

Ted Arcidi - extremely impressive bencher. One of my old school favorites

Mike McDonald - pretty sure he's still got the all time 220 or 242 wr raw bench

I'll give a nod to Gene Rychlak. Not the best of all time, but deserves respect for being the first to hit 900 and then 1000 in comp.

And then George Halbert round out my list. George has been through alot of different weight classes and is now starting his reign all over again.

[SGT ROCK]

Travis,
I always enjoy reading your responses brother, you are much like I would be if I had the priviledge to train at WSB, a sponge...and willing to share your knowledge, for that we all thank you!

GEORGE HALBERT...dang how did I forget? I have never hid the fact he is a HERO of mine, a true inspiration. A pure beast on the platform and a true gentleman off it. PLEASE tell him hello for me!!!

Semper Fi

[NASAKYCHAIRMAN]

Bench press
Heavy weight: Ryan Kennelly, James Henderson, Scott Mendelson, Ted Arcidi

Middle weight: Rob Luyando, Mike Macdonald,George Halbert,Dennis Ceiri, Shawn Frankl

Light weight: Joe Mazza, Joe Ceklovsky, Markus Schick

TRAIN HARD

"BIG WILLIE" J.T. HALL
GOT MAXIMUM MASS STACK?
http://www.atlargenutrition.com/fivepiecepuzzle.php

[David_HoffWSBB]

shawn Frankl 810 @ 198 in a full meet..... ouchie

[bill]

I remember some of the old guys.
Ken Lain, Ted Arcidi, Anthony Clarke R.I.P all battling for #1

[Ryano]

HW- Kennelly
MW- Luyando
LW- Frankl

At least two, if not all three of these guys will on the platform at the UPA Pro-Am in July.

[SGT ROCK]

There I go again...I forgot my friend JOE MAZZA! My best friend BPM will be on this list very, very soon! Great responses guys...a wealth of knowledge on this board! Keep the posts coming!!!

Semper Fi

[SGT ROCK]

shawn Frankl 810 @ 198 in a full meet..... ouchie

A VERY good bencher! That gym has some of the BEST lifters today!!

Semper Fi

[Rob Luyando]

Since we are talking all time.
Light weight : George Halbert, Joe Mazza, Brad Heck, Sean Frankl, Jeff McVicar
Middle Weight : Ken Lain, Kenny Patterson, Brad Hein, John Zemmin
Heavy Weight :Ryan Kennelly, Anthony Clark (RIP), Gene Ryachlek

I made my picks based on how long the guys have been in the sport and what a dominating focrce they have been during there time. If I had to pick just 1 bencher it would be a toss up between George Halbert and Ryan Kennelly both guys have been in the game a long time kicking ass and taking numbers as they go.

Then theres me. I have a lot of unfinished business to put myself amongst the greatest of all time.

[Bill Carpenter]

This is a hard one.

Lightweight - Halbert, Frankl, Heck, Mazza, Coker
Middleweight - Halbert, Luyando, Briggs (HUGE FUTURE - THIS KID IS STRONG!!), Mike McDonald. Halbert and Luyando are both strong Raw or shirted. I like to see that.
Heavyweight - This is easy Ryan Kennelly shirt or not the guy is a true freak of nature.

[Bill Carpenter]

Since we are talking all time.
Light weight : George Halbert, Joe Mazza, Brad Heck, Sean Frankl, Jeff McVicar
Middle Weight : Ken Lain, Kenny Patterson, Brad Hein, John Zemmin
Heavy Weight :Ryan Kennelly, Anthony Clark (RIP), Gene Ryachlek

I made my picks based on how long the guys have been in the sport and what a dominating focrce they have been during there time. If I had to pick just 1 bencher it would be a toss up between George Halbert and Ryan Kennelly both guys have been in the game a long time kicking ass and taking numbers as they go.

Then theres me. I have a lot of unfinished business to put myself amongst the greatest of all time.

Pssh! I broke that Kenny Patterson guys record 3 times. And I broke Chris Confessore's all time 242 record that stood for many years. LOL! Who is Kenny? LOL!

[dbcb314]

I don't see how everyone is leaving mendy off the SHW list. At one point he had the raw and the geared WR's... and hes raw wr no one has come close to still

[NASAKYCHAIRMAN]

I remember some of the old guys.
Ken Lain, Ted Arcidi, Anthony Clarke R.I.P all battling for #1

Anthony Clarke is a legend I wish that I could have got a chance to meet or talk to him.

TRAIN HARD

"BIG WILLIE" J.T. HALL
GOT MAXIMUM MASS STACK?
http://www.atlargenutrition.com/fivepiecepuzzle.php

[PriestCometh]

Lightweight - Frankl, Heck, Mazza
Middleweight - Halbert, Luyando
Heavyweight - Ryan Kennelly, Mendy, Rychlack(I would like to see these 3 go head to head sometime within the next couple of years). Wouldnt it be cool to see this happen with the 3 biggest benchers? I know Ryan and Scot would be onboard to do this. I have talked to them about doing this. It could happen when Big Gene heals up.

[Travis Bell]

Ryan and Scot already went head to head in the Ukraine didn't they?

[kingkong51]

Kaz,Mendy raw bencher ,Luyando,and Kennelly Shirted Beast

[Guido]

Definitely Kaz, Mendy, and Nick Winters if we are talking raw.

Shirted, I'd have Kennelly, Mendy, Rychlak, Unten, and I'll throw Roger Ryan in there as the strongest bencher over 50.

[Rob Luyando]

Pssh! I broke that Kenny Patterson guys record 3 times. And I broke Chris Confessore's all time 242 record that stood for many years. LOL! Who is Kenny? LOL!

I intentionally left you off of this list for one reason and one reason only. Because I can. LOL! Seriously Bill ranks right up there with my picks but until he gets back in the saddle i'm not voting for him.

[Rob Luyando]

I don't see how everyone is leaving mendy off the SHW list. At one point he had the raw and the geared WR's... and hes raw wr no one has come close to still

Mendy is left off the list by a lot of lifters for probably the same reason. He is cock strong no doubt 715 raw bench speaks for himself. But when you talk the best you have to look at successful atempts in meets.

Me and Mendy don't always see eye to eye but he is strong no doubt. Just think if he had someone to coach him the numbers he could hit. Behind every acomplished lifter there is either a great coach or training partner in the background busting your ass the whole way.

[Bill Carpenter]

I intentionally left you off of this list for one reason and one reason only. Because I can. LOL! Seriously Bill ranks right up there with my picks but until he gets back in the saddle i'm not voting for him.

I knew what you were doing. I just had to throw my 2 seconds of fame in there. LOL!

You might see me do a meet in the fall but right now I am enjoying the BB style right now. Easy on the joints.

[vdizenzo]

Many moons ago I took the 275 record from a couple of guys you might have heard of, Ryan Kennelly and Bill Crawford. Yeah, then some prick named Andy Fiedler took it away from me. The filthy animal. I liked Andy. He was a freak. We used to talk. After he did his BB show he just up and disappeared.

I'm heading back to the 275's. I hear a pretty good guy holds that world record now. I'll just be happy to hit anything over 800. I have not put up an equipped bench in over three years.

My picks are Ryan and Rob. They have the biggest lifts and even more impressive is that they are consistent. Can't ask for more than that.

[chris mason]

Let's go really old school and talk about Doug Hepburn.

We can then mention Pat Casey who did over 600 lbs raw UNRACKING THE WEIGHT HIMSELF and with a long pause.

The BIG Jim Williams who did a raw 675 lbs way back in the 70s and supposedly hit 700+ in training.

James Henderson also has to be considered.

Beyond the above, I agree with all of the other names mentioned above.

Rob, I think you are truly one of the all-time greats with what you are doing.

Bill, I didn't know you were that good. What are your bests?

[bencher8]

"Bill, I didn't know you were that good. What are your bests?"

hahahaha....it comes back on bill..he asked me a question like that a while back..

"Old Balls Bill" is a pretty good bencher...been around a while. His 744@242 was a record...he has done 800@275 too ...I think he was 275 when he did it...I know he did 800 anyway

[Bill Carpenter]

Bill, I didn't know you were that good. What are your bests?

Chris,
I held the record in the 242 class with -
702, 722, 723, and 744. My best lift is a 800 at 253 bodyweight last year at Bill Crawfords meet.

I competed in the 220 class for a long time in my teens and early 20's. Had a few records then too and few national and world titles. Now I would be happy to have a good training cycle with out pain in my body. LOL! I guess 18 years of competing makes the body rust out. LOL!

Here is some videos from Crawford's meet.