July 22, 2010, 12:04pm

Fisto

June 30, 2009, 1:59pm

Scot Mendelson is king of the supine weightlifters. Just last year, he set the world record at 875. At a meet in Dubuque, Iowa, the 320-pound Mendelson tried to reclaim the record and become an instant powerlifting legend by becoming the first man to crack the mythical 1,000-pound barrier. “I feel I have a 1,100 pound bench in me,” Mendelson promised a few days before the meet. “I think I can go between 1,030 and 1,050 in Iowa.” Then he added, “1,005 is really light for me right now.” As he lowered more than 1,000 pounds to his chest, Mendelson was sure the half-ton of metal was going right back up—his hypertrophied muscles and a magical denim shirt would make sure of that.

For years, the bench press world record crept up slowly and steadily. In the 1950s, Canadian Doug Hepburn became the first man to bench 400, 450, and 500 pounds. In 1957, Hepburn told Muscle Power magazine that a 600-pound bench press was possible, but it wasn’t until 1967 that Pat Casey cracked that barrier. Ted Arcidi broke 700 in 1985, and it took another 17 years until Ryan Kennelly benched 800 pounds in 2002. Now, just two years later, 10 men have benched 800, and a couple are closing in on 1,000. So, why have records that stood up to the strongest men in the world for 50 years crumbled in the last two?

A super-shirt, mostly. In 1983, a college student and powerlifter named John Inzer started making shirts that supported benchers’ shoulders and deltoids. Word spread that the bench shirt not only prevented injuries but actually helped bounce the weight off your chest. The top-of-the-line Inzer Phenom shirt “features the EVS (Escape Velocity System) built inside.”

The shirt’s effect is undeniable. As the record for the shirted bench press shot up to 965 pounds, the unshirted or “raw” mark has stayed at an earthly 713 pounds. Nowadays, every top bench-presser uses the shirt for safety and power. “The whole raw thing, you’re just asking for trouble if you’re going to be dealing with any kind of weight,” says Ryan Kennelly. “If you rip your pec, you rip your rotator cuff, you’re out of there. Thank God for bench shirts.”

-via Slate

January 06, 2009, 12:54pm