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Minimal arch club checking in! Bench is a functional movement for when a car falls on you when you're underneath it. Or when you're sleeping and get attacked by a mountain lion. Much more functional than overhead pressing.

Thanks for the feature Zack! Love ya

The people who have the best, most honest benches I’ve seen are paraolympic athletes. Brutally strong too

KK no elbow or wrist wraps close grip press with very minimal arch . No belt conventional deadlifts. What a legend. That's very impressive stuff!

Zack’s reaction to Kennelly is hilarious. I was balls deep in PL back then, everyone knew Kennelly, he had a 1076 shirted bench at one time. He was also open about his PED use, one time talking about how he got tired of all the shots, so he just used a 3 cc syringe and mixed all his gear into that and did one injection per day. Legendary. I’m so glad to be out of PL and into oly now. Haha

Bro, the guy at 11:00 who helps unrack the weights looks like an action figure. Damn.

I sent this to Ryan Kennelly, said it gave him a good laugh and he liked it. Was stoked on your reaction. Even played a clip of it on the livestream tonight

Honourable mention is Andrew Collura, he benched 650lbs raw in his first powerlifting meet with no specific training and suboptimal technique. Also training partner of Big Lenny the one and only.

Waiting for "Squats that raise your testosterone" !

dude said he fell asleep watchching the grandmaster Daiki Kodama bench yeah okkk thats like saying you fell asleep watching Naim Süleymanoğlu

Ryan Kennelly is my all time favourite bench presser. His explosive technique is just insane.

That 0 ROM bench is THE reason they actually changed the rules 😂

Forgot how insane Julius Maddox WR was. Looked like a RPE 7 at most. Just out of this world strength

The cafeteria benching clip is absolutely legendary ngl

Good old Joe Kovacs didn't bench anything under 250 Kg this season and is now that 3rd person to shotput over 23 M 2nd to go over 23.20, so there's a function I guess

4:36 Daiki Kodama is still a beast of a bencher with a small arch, pretty sure he's still done 190-200kg with full ROM

might be hard to tell but I think that second girl's bench might actually be within the rules because her arms bent level with her shoulders.

"Help him off the bench, you peasants." -ZT Lol 😂 Every serious lifter should shoot for that level of respect in the gym. We are all peasants in the presence of The Grizzly 👑🏋️

I have never seen Zack lose it like this and I'm here for it.

The Mariana girl actually had decent ROM and her elbows almost looked depth with new ipf rules

10:45 when your bench is so heavy you gotta call in Ed Coan for a spot.

Zack not knowing Ryan Kennelly (who was huge when I started lifting) makes me feel really old somehow. Even though I might possibly be younger than Zack ^^

Zack, I'm glad to let you know you can change your intro back to "Ladies and gentlemen" since I began making my girlfriend watch your videos with me while we have lunch every day, thus raising your female viewer count unoficially to 2.

Kenelly even in shirt managed to put his elbows in line with shoulders.

Yusuke Suzuki and Daiki Kodama at the time both @-74kg almost benching your squat and you fell asleep huh This was one of the most insane battles you'll ever see on the bench "Yesterday was very fun! 200-205-212 was my attempts.@70.7kg Daiki Kodama was 203.5-211-212.5@72.1(468 lbs. at 158.9) I couldnt beat him but we both got over the current IPF world record @ 74kg class!" ~ Suzuki

1:00 That's why OHP is superior. "Hey, watch me put something that weighs more than you above my head for reps!"

The moment the video of Ryan Kenelly popped up I thought this is as American as it gets. All this coming from a Greek. Something about the attitude and the way he carries himself screams MURICA to me. Favorite from all these videos though has to go to Konstantinovs. He lifted that and looked extremely aesthetic as well.

Where is that great French powerlifter who ran the 4 minute mile while wearing a slingshot under his singlet? That's a good bench right there.

I’m 3 min into the video and I’m most impressed how their spine is able to do that. I try to arch as much as I can when I bench and I can just about squeeze my flat hand between my back and the bench - and I’ve done gymnastics etc when I was a kid. So basically I have to actually lift some iron with my muskles (that are getting stronker) instead of bending twice over backwards.

Imagine laying down to prove how strong you are.... That's just jiu jistu. Crying laughing x3

The bar goes down ❌ You go up ✅🥇👀

I have gone back to powerlifting recently from weightlifting and a few things i noticed from training bench pros: 1) I can bench more 2) my physique is wider and fuller Cons 1) my shoulder mobility sucks now 2) me elbows hurt (and yes im benching correctly) 3) OHP feels harder now

Smulter talking about benchpress is very interesting. The things he does with bench start to look interesting and make sense after he gets to explain the crazyness.

I feel like you have never begun a shoving match with a strong bencher… it’s quite humbling as I was shoved through three bushes. Lol

Keep it up with these RAISE YOUR TESTOSTERONE-series

KK's bench is how i feel all powerlifter bench should look that shit was impressive as fuck

These benches are just mind blowing. Some of these guys bench 100+ kg more than I can deadlift, that's just hard to comprehend.

This guy reminds me of a buff Nick Miller from New Girl. Especially, how he laughs😂

I would love to see super total competition take off someday; one of the rules that could affect the bench would be that your clean grip and your bench grip have to be the same. Or rather your bench width is limited by the width of your clean grip.

M'lord is so massive he made me think "why are there so many 35s on the bar"

Your reaction to the guy getting up all bloody had me cracking up. This was a fun video thanks

lumping the paralympic guy with the larsen presses XD

EPIC OUTRO MUSIC

zack is the arbiter of authority on all things and not a condescending rick.

I love when people can do a "full bench press" with a half inch press, amazing hahaha

Ryan Kennelly is what powerlifting is supposed to be - just strong dudes lifting heavy stuff, but instead its turned into people trying to bend the rules as much as possible

5:35 he just got so big he ran out of room.

Love these vids

Ryan Kennelly put my bench presses in his last show benchmonster

Dude in the cut off did the most 80s thing you could ever do in the 80s. Max out in a high school cafeteria with AC/DC blasting in the background.

Needed some more Danial Zamani in there!

I don't Ryan kennelly personally, but he used train at a gym in my town, he is beast of a fella, he is now out of tricities washington, if anyone is interested. Eric Spoto also is an awesome arm wrestler.

now we just need squats, the best of the big 3.

13:55 watching someone bench your squat. also the bloat at the end TOYING with 200.

great video!!

I've seen a lot of comments by lifters/lifting enthusiasts that they prefer to see benchers with very high ROM, even if they're on steroids. They also tend to comment on ROM reduction specifically over any other technique that helps lift more, such as bouncing off the chest, partial lockouts, using the hips, etc. Arch is seen as cheating, but steroids use is not, and neither are any of those other aiding techniques. Comments on low ROM being boring or cheating are also made at smaller lifters who simply have short arms, who have a lower range of motion even with a very modest arch. I get that it's an aesthetic thing for those people, but from a technical standpoint, it makes no sense. There might also be some cultural difference between USA and the rest of the world when it comes to perception of technique in weight lifting sports. This is not to defend "rainbow girl" or other feats of bizarre contortionism. As someone who trains in powerlifting, I know that for benchers who are able to drastically reduce their ROM by arching, at a certain point every little bit of additional ROM reduction has greater and greater returns. This causes a situation where lifters adopt techniques in addition to their arch that are inherently less powerful, but that allow them to reduce the ROM even further. When it gets to the point that lifters are deliberately using techniques that make for weaker pressing in order to press more weight according to the rules, the rules need adjusting. I have no disagreements there. But there's a massive double standard when it comes to bench pressing techniques and athletes that I think is worth pointing out. Exploiting ROM reduction to the extreme is not good for the sport, but neither are glaring biases when it comes to form.

Why don't we have a "overhead presses to raise your bench press"???

now we need squats, then presses, then snatches, then clean and jerks.

The dude spotting Mendelson is huuuuuge.

Fuck me, the tribute to M'lord was just a beautiful reaction. Qualiteee

I’ll try any method at least once, definitely wearing Jean shorts to the gym tomorrow

dude has the actual incredible hulk spotting for him at 11:02

Oh man.... A new 'generation' getting to see the bench monster in his prime! Ryan kennelly is still a goat!

The lifter at 5:00 sounds like a steam pump motor in a UK factory from the industrial revolution circa 1760-1840

Stuff like this though is why strong man is so much more fun to watch. Because yeah you can kind of try to cheat it but basically the weights are so f****** heavy that you just have to be as absolutely strong as possible. There's next to no sneaky technique that will help you win an event

Not a bencher myself. I prefer pushups. Does arching actually provide a mechanical benefit to the bencher other than reducing the range of motion?

Kirill is a frickin' beast !!

2:14 This was after she was popped for roids at 13 and benched 240lbs. Her numbers tanked and we haven't heard of her since.

Went from im gonna fall asleep. to this is the most insane video I’ve done in along time. real quick there huh Zack? 😂

repping 440lbs, repping 500lbs and 600lbs, hitting 884 lbs on bench.... bruh Holy shit 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

No Big James Henderson = a mids video about the progression of the bench/heavy benching.

"Help him off the bench...you peasants." hahahahah

9:57 great view of the gooch there

Yusuke Suzuki is actually a real strong presser 212kg with 83kg bw is strong as fck

Not just Japanese people, it is called the “Asian Squat” for a reason. Yes we all have that mobility, I am only half Chinese from my dad’s side and I can sit ass to Achilles comfortably for hours, do my taxes like that. I think Lu could C&J a world record barefoot, idk why East Asian weightlifters even wear WL shoes.

Small range of motion can be useful in training to overcome sticking points. But shouldn't be allowed in competition in my opinion. As with the super high arch.

I am so glad that the arch has come under attack and scrutiny lately.

2:55 the lady in the back is me when i see someone bench like that

squats that raise your testosterone

Surprised Riku Kiri wasn’t mentioned with his 200kg x 14 reps. No one mentioned it in the comments either. It’s on KZfaq.

I know it's a huge arch and looks pretty weird, but I think this second Girl Mariana has actually surprisingly decent ROM imo (If you Look at the distance the bar travels and her elbow angle at least).

The best thing about the Mendelson clip is the spotter.

"Substantial lads" is my new favorite term.

Funniest part is that if you watch that girl's bench, outside of the foot not being completely anchored to the ground, there's a chance her elbow actually hit depth and for this reason that may be a legit setup for the IPF. She just has incredibly long arms.

This is amazing

3:14 Fucking snail mode

What an INSANE ride that was!!!!!

if you can't bring the bar to your chest, BRING YOUR CHEST TO THE BAR

this was an adventure!

No one is talking about the Street Fighter character unracking for Scott Mendelson

The only time a bench press appears naturally in life is when you are pushing somebody off of you while your feet are down a couple of steps.

They don't drink Bush Light, it's Miller High Life.

goated

YOU HAVE TO LIVE IT!!!

The most impressive in the video, for me anyway, is Sarychevs bench. Bar is unracked, he has full control over it, he controls the descent, actually stops the movement and then proceeds with the lift, controlling it all the time. A lot of the other lifts are adrenaline inducing with the music and the hypemen, but the guys barely control the bar, lowering it as soon as it is unracked, no pause in the movement and bouncing it back up and straight to the rack. Start, press and rack commands are basically non existent.

Kirill Sarychev's bench ROM is more than most guys ROM in sumo deads. fuark.

Unlike many people here, I actually LOVE the bench press. By far my fav lift. However, those crazy arches piss me off more than anything. A good arch is critical to the stability and most upper body muscle activation, but when your ROM is literally less than 2 inches, that's not a display of strength or power. It's cheating.

These all time bench PR's have more range of motion than your average sumo deadlift from nowadays. Imagine having less range of motion with a fucking leg exercise. Im glad they are starting to correct the bench, but deadlift better be up next

DID DUDES EYEBALLS EXPLODEN