345 full squat, 385 parallel squat, 375 Bench. 5’8 tall. Two days ago!
Don’t understand how you guys can bench what you squat 
Simple, I had a bad patellar tendon(jumper’s knee). I just started doing heavy lifting for my legs 4 weeks ago when my starting squat was 335 now its 385 after avoiding heavy squats for almost 2-3 years (I’d have to check the records for sure). Also I starting lifting with bench press as one of the 4 main exercises from age 13 until 17 years old. I starting squatting when I was 17.7 (17.12=18) years old.
Kudos on the 495 at 3RM squat but peeling off your knee caps off the wall, LOL.
SURE YOU CAN! IF YOU CAN SQUAT 495 FOR 3RM THAN YOU CAN THEORETICALLY BE ABLE TO BENCH AT LEAST 315 IF YOU APPLY THE SAME INTENSITY AND VOLUME AS YOU DO IN YOUR SQUAT!
LOL, full squats are fine as long as you follow the proper guidelines, i.e. regeneration, tendon/ligament strength, etc.
My 385 parallel is actually below parallel but not a full squat.
So far on this thread this is the number to beat!
Super… no I could not. I have (obviously) freakishly strong legs, genetics & sports since age 5 starting w/ speed skating. I would prefer having the brain that found the cure for cancer but this is what I was given & worked with.
I was never built for heavy bench, tho. I think 265lb is a good bench for a woman at a BW of 165lbs. Most of us are just not built with the upper body strength of men so the ratios for squat/bench are not the same.
As for my squat, I am not sure if the “sure you can” was sarcastic or not but I did it, in a gym, with witnesses not to mention spotters. I never got to that weight in a powerlifting comp as I didn’t do many of them & never was good at the game of picking your weights for the 3 attempts so I would make big jumps in weight & usually end up w/ a lot left in me.
I saw some powerlifters that were amazing benchers & not great squatters (barrel chests, short arms) but I’ll keep my genetics as they are what I am “stuck” with.
Squats are strange as I have seen guys who look almost frail do awesome squats. Same can be said for cleans, etc.
Super… just reread it (not enough coffee yet) may have misunderstood your post.
apologies if mine comes off as defensive. I wish I could still squat that weight but I gave up heavy squats after the neck injury. Also, I’m old & my knees ache getting out of bed some mornings.
I wasn’t being sarcastic, I believe that a woman can bench twice her bw.
Really??? well, I never came close to that. I used a very strict form, tho. I never tried a “bench shirt” (not allowed in comps then). That may have helped but man, that would have been awesome to get over 300lbs.
What was your training like, percentages, reps, sets, micro/macrocycles?
It was so long ago … 1987/88 so the training was probably way different from now. I would have to dig up the programs & dust them off… maybe a weekend project. Not to mention trying to read the hyrogliphics!!
I still train hard just not really heavy (the broken neck thing) & next month will be the 20th anniversary of my first world championship & I am still competing on an international level (different sport, tho) about to turn 40.
I do know then I trained a lot by feel as the rigid sets/reps seemed really limiting to me. I found for that sport that my body would tell me what it should & shouldn’t do (contrary to how that reads… I am not an old hippie). As I had said previously, I had never been good at the weight choice game & never deadlifted more than 250lbs in training altho I did 440 lbs in comps a few times. I know I could have had a better dead but I was young & just didn’t like doing them (hard to breathe).
God, I sound like an airhead but… at least I’m still moving!
Don’t pull that crap on me. Avoiding the fact that you’re still clueless, just what do you think is stopping the momentum? It certainly couldn’t be the SSC itself, could it?
Lesson: the faster you lower the bar, the more explosive the rebound will be. Nobody said anything about pausing; you were the one going on about having to eliminate the SSC or training it improperly or whatever the fuck nonsense you were spouting off.
I may have stated my posts incorrectly and misunderstood some of the things you were saying along with the SSC, so let me fix what I was saying to you previously.
In accordance with bands attached to the bar when doing a squat, the velocity of the bar on the concentric phase slows down compared to when you squat with out stretch bands! I was unfamiliar with the westside method until recently when I educated myself on their methods and techniques. I do know all about the SSC and Eccentric loading which I misinterpretated in your posts. I still am not completely sold on the westside methods but I do understand them a whole lot better and I can see that there are many ingenious people working there!
What you have to remember is what Charlie says about the velocities generated by strength training compared to sprinting. Ballistic benchpressing and jump-squatting are shown to produce more RFD than the olympic lifts according to www.strengthcats.com (you should check the site to confirm this since it has been a while since I was on their last) who also employ some form of the westside methods.
The following is from www.strengthcats.com
Jay Schroeder, strength coach with EVO SPORT in Mesa, Arizona focuses on plyometric bench press exercises of a comparable nature to increase the speed and strength of the athletes he trains. Schroeder uses a “contraption that looks like a bench-press machine beneath four poles. A heavy, rectangular, metal slab slides up and down the poles.” Athletes “lie on the bench and push the slab up, let it go, and catch it, repeatedly.” (Bruton, 2001)
This was one of the methods Schroeder used in training Adam Archuleta, safety with the Saint Louis Rams. Archuleta’s beginning bench press of 265 pounds was moved in 2.76 seconds for the concentric phase. After training the plyometric bench press, Archuleta’s concentric bench of 530 pounds is moved in 1.09 seconds. (Nawrocki, 2001). Schroder’s program revolves around absorbing and rapidly repelling force, i.e., plyometrics.
Plyometric bench press training with the Smith machine can somewhat duplicate the medicine ball drop and Schroder’s training method. Research by the previously mentioned Australian group utilized plyometric bench press throws using the Smith machine. The Smith machine bench press throws are performed by catapulting the bar as high as one can into the air. The lifter then catches the returning bar with an open palm and decelerates the bar to just above the chest. At that point, the lifter reverses the direction of the bar as quickly as possible and launches it into the air once again. Needless to say, this can be a potentially dangerous activity and should be performed with great care.
Schroeder also uses a free weight bench press for plyometric training. However, turning a free weight bar into a projectile poses numerous problems. It is suggested that one practice these activities with minimal resistance before attempting heavier weights.
In summary, research shows training the bench press with percentages of 55% of 1 RM is an effective method that should be used to develop power. However, “(this not only develops power in a very narrow range of motion, but also trains the muscle to “put on the brakes” for three quarters of the movement! Imagine the disastrous consequences of training a boxer to slow down a punch for the last 75% of the movement or a football lineman to explode only partly off the line of scrimmage.” (Flannagan, 2001). This same analogy can be applied to benching, squatting and deadlifiting. The objective is to ram the weight through the roof and through the sticking point. Therefore, training for power must also include plyometric exercises that maximize the stretch reflex. Exercises like the medicine ball drop, Smith machine bench press throws and free weight bench press throws fully exploit the stretch reflex. Combining low percentages in one’s bench training along with plyometric bench press movements will provide a greater stimulus than just one of these methods alone. The ultimate result will be an increase in your 1RM.
For the full article check out their website!
I’ve read it before.
At any rate…the instantaneous force generated (the impulse) is higher with plyometrics/shock training, but the overall force output is maintained at a higher level with band training, not to mention the effects they have on eccentric loading and amortization (wrt the SSC).
RFD with regards to sprinting here is a moot point-- you shouldn’t be using weights for skill training anyway. Just because bands slow the concentric velocity doesn’t mean that RFD is low, nor does it mean it’ll have a negative impact on sprinting. Sprinting should be trained by drills a lot more specific than either box squats or Olympic pulls.
Any strength training for a sport is merely going to fall under “general preparedness.”
Elite OL will always beat out OS in 10m or less, probably 20m, and slightly ahead or tied at 30m. So OL is specific to sprinting.
i can parallel squat 220kgs (484 Ibs), but felt like my back was gona snap when i did it, thats why im only maintaining that now and really working on strengthening my back, esp lower back.
‘Elite OL will always beat out OS in 10m or less, probably 20m, and slightly ahead or tied at 30m. So OL is specific to sprinting.’
this is very true, i have seen a video of manuel martinez beating spain’s 100m champion at 20m, obviously the sprinter was only like a 10.4/3 runner but still, these guys can really be explosive. also rc hario (not sure of spelling) the finnish olympic champion in shot put does 2.14 in flying 20m, and arounds 3.20 standing long jump!
Source?
If that’s the case, why aren’t the sprinters training that way?