Julius Maddox has taken another shot at the All Time Raw Bench Record. He got the American Record at 723 lbs first which he missed last meet then went for the world record at 739 and missed it in his usual style (with his close grip fast off the chest and running into a hard sticking point at mid range).
I thought he’d have it this time considering he was matching or beating the rep PRs of Sarychev who currently holds the WR when he was at that level but I guess Sarychev the previous record holder’s technique holds up better at max weight.
Maddox has definitely progressed fast so I think he’ll get it next time unless there’s some mental self block mind games going on here for him. It’s a shame Sarychev didn’t commit more to improving on his bench record because he probably had more in the tank if he went for it like 5-15kg at least
He is so close. His previous max attempts were similar looking but he got them this time so I imagine in half a year tops if everything keeps on going well he’ll break the WR and/or miss a heavier lift after the same way.
Maybe in terms of sheer raw benching power and potential this guy might be the greatest of all time
I think if he had gone for the record on his 2nd attempt he would have had it for sure. The thing is that lifting those kind of weights is going to take a lot out of you, the few minutes between attempts isn’t going to be enough for full recovery. Either way, breaking the American record is a step in the right direction and it looks like it’s only a matter of time before he breaks the world record.
You reckon bench style has anything to do with it? Would the greater ROM of close grip sap lots of energy for subsequent attempts? Is there only enough energy for one or two big benches or a single grinder?
Theoretically it could, but not due to ROM. Triceps are supposed to be more fast twitch dominant that pecs so they would fatigue faster, but obviously this is his strongest grip and going wider is going to put a lot of strain on the shoulders and pecs which could increase risk for an injury. ROM in this context doesn’t really matter a whole lot for raw lifting because it’s about how much you can get past the sticking point, different grip or stance just changes where you stick.
A lot of the best benchers rely on explosiveness and can’t grind for shit.
Jeremy Hoornstra comes to mind… close grip, triceps strong (dude dips with 4-5 plates) and his lifts are usually very fast. As long as he gets past the sticking point he will make the lift. Else he won’t stick around for too long to grind it out. Just rest and try again. I think he also trains with Josh and Julius. Those guys seem to know how to produce big benchers.
Josh Bryant is the coach, but most of his lifters don’t train together since they live in all different places. Most of top benchers right now are coached by Josh.
Had a look on open powerlifting. Interesting that most of the heaviest benchs in each weight class are held by eastern european sounding guys no one’s heard of. At least in the lighter weight classes. Then you get Hoornstra and above
The big questing is if Josh is one hell of a coach or is lucky to get allot of raw talent coming his way. Or a combination of both. That always comes up when certain coaches reach a certain level of success with their athletes.
Seems like both if you ask me. The fact that he was a well known lifter himself, plus is/was friends with people like Fred Hatfield and Ed Coan would have brought a lot of business his way. All I know is that his methods work and he gets results for elite lifters, so he is doing something right.
Dang I didn’t realize that was Leroy Walker… Regardless, side spotters on squat and bench should stay under and with the weight as soon as it’s unracked. It looks like he was sort of going for that but just got mesmerized by what he was witnessing. Of course, it’s easy to criticize while sitting in an office chair watching a video on a computer screen, but I do feel like a judge or meet director should have put a second person on that side regardless of who was already there.
Yeah, you have a point. Overall it seems like shitty spotting is too common, but at least here they were able to get the weight off him, not like some of those IPF incidents. They need to give spotters a quick training session or at least a briefing because people can get seriously hurt or killed.
And to be honest, at first I wasn’t even sure what you were talking about with the spotting, I wouldn’t have even thought to complain about anything. Seems like a lot of people just aren’t aware of these things.
