Old school natural bench press record

Good point. I’ve run sub 5 mile and literally have not thought it was a big deal since the first time, but since then it just seems like a meh accomplishment, but in 1900 it would have been world class

That was like a 100yrs ago modern nutrition, knowledge, and supplements can definitely get you a higher bench press.

First google result.
No doubt PEDs played a huge role but you're also comparing two similar but different lifts, like comparing OHP to push-press.
Bodybuilding culture -> bench press with new form AND people start roiding. Not just people start roiding so lift record goes up. Think about it.

fitnessvolt.com/1914/bench-press-greatest-lift-ever/

Interesting theory. Thanks for posting your sources. It’s worth noting though that the pecs weren’t as focused on as they are today, and the vanity muscles of the time were the shoulders. Arthur Saxon set the bent press world record at 370 lbs, which still hasn’t been matched today.

Attached: 3725DAAE-3795-4429-99BB-3DA82DA6AC66.jpg (365x482, 60K)

What about accounting for the fact that we know more about nutrition and our bodies 100 years later?

Big guys gon bench big nuff said

>and supplements
lol

HAHAHA imagine being this fucking retarded.
George hackenschit was a vegan with absolute garbage training and no knowledge of progressive overload. Also he was not 220lbs, old time strongmen e-stat hard as hell.
The strongest natty is Paul Andersen, period. 60s and beyond is the steroids period, nobody but olympic level athletes had access to the stuff until then.
This is why you will be stuck at 2pl8 for the rest of your life.

James strickland got to a 605 bench tng before he started trt (he had naturally low -T) now he double doses his test-e and just cruises. He told me this personally so ive got no reason to doubt him, hes open about everything he takes.
There really is no limit, some absolute freak out there could break Kiril's record in a few years.

Saxon was a hack with faked numbers. No man on earth could possible bent press that much, if you try the lift yourself you'll understand very quickly.

Generally there’s two types of people. The first is people who believe most people are natty and think that the people who say they aren’t are just weak and not willing to put in the work. The second is the people who think literally nothing is possible and you can only be otter mode naturally. Realistically it’s somewhere in between this.

came to post this. big pecs were considered feminine back then

they based themselves around juicy greek statues and before the bench press was invented there were not many things you could do for your chest (people in antiquity either carried stuff on their back, zerchering them, or overhead)

inb4 pushups

>vegan
He drank two, not one but TWO, gallons of milk per day.

I bench 475 at 215. No drugs ever, i dont even touch pot. It just takes year of grinding. Ive been benching every other day for 8 years now.

My goal is 5 pl8 by next august.

what's that meme bench that falls backwards? really rustles my autism every single time

This, also better diets and wider access to equipment

This In fact, the record you are talking about is technically for a floor press The bench press is the farthest removed compound from what you'd consider a natural movement pattern, like lifting rocks or squatting cows. You have to assume others in the early times of "bench pressing" weren't doing the driving though the lower body, arching the back, whatever other postures and form hacks you see people using in the modern refined version of the bench press.
Try benching with and then without decent form, it makes a huge difference.

>The bench press is the farthest removed compound from what you'd consider a natural movement pattern, like lifting rocks or squatting cows.
it's useful to shove people across the room if you have to fight though

Yeah it is for that, but pretty impractical to be able to progressively overload pushing someone across the room

Came to post this
>the record you are talking about is technically for a floor press
Similarly, the stanchion racks used to hold the barbell in between sets weren't developed (or widely used? It's weirdly hard to find until the 20th century.

OP, you're talking about the perfection of a movement that has only been in development for a little over a century that requires specific equipment. Before the invention of the barbell, let alone the racks to hold them, how were you supposed to do a floor press with any kind of impressive weight? There are a few ways to get the weight into position, but all of them severely limit the amount of weight you could floor press, especially if you weren't being helped by anybody else.

At first I was thinking some kind of elaborate system of walls being pushed together like spiked walls in a movie but the back-wall is stationary and there are guard posts just above your body's width with indentations in the wall to allow greater RoM for your elbows.
But then I realized that it was just a smith machine for super villains.

Old school strongmen rarely ever did bench press. It is normal that they would be weaker than today's benchers, especially considering that bench press is probably the most popular exercise out there. If you have decent genes and aren't obsessed with being some shredded twink, low 400s are achievably natty.

>vegan
>ate meat
>drank milk
come on dude
he was fucking swole as shit, much more so than omar, he just didn't practise the skill of bench pressing like omar isuf, so omar isn't on roids jsut because he managed to bench more than george
furthermore george didn't even do a proper bench press but a floor press, he had to pullover the bar and then press it, which is much harder than a regular bench press.

>400 pound bench is UNACHIEVABLE naturally
you have low standards, I've watched my mate do 180kg

did you live with your mate 24/7 up to that point to make sure he's not on stuff?

oh yeah I even check his arse for injection holes. You fucking idiot, he's 137kg (not very lean), plays american football for uni so cannot be found taking anything. There are people in my college gym benching 3pl8s at less than 100kg bw

post body and lifts

I benched 3 plates at 85kg bw, doesn't mean I can bench 180kg natty even if I get fat as fuck.
You fucking idiot.

so you benched only 24kg less while about 15kg lighter than Hackenschmidt, yet somehow you dont think if you gained 50kg you wouldnt put another 40kg on the bench

except he didn't bench press 360lb at all, he PULLED THE BAR UP and then floor pressed it, which is much harder than a bench press.
and yeah strength doesn't increase linearly with each added kilogram of bodyweight, unless you're new at lifting.

Don't listen to this guy, he's a virgin.

exactly so he did a harder version of the bench and got 164kg, yet you doubt that someone with almost 40kg more bw could bench 180

Oh so 180kg isn't even 1.5X his bodyweight

yes, because roids are incredibly easy to obtain nowadays, just because something is possible for the genetic freaks doesn't mean most or even a good portion of ppl are able to reach it without roids.
Even complete dyels are getting on shit nowadays.

Diet and equipment dont matter that much at getting strong once you have some time training or unless you're a novice

In the 1900 it wasnt even considered world class, that is fake af, also there's no way the human physiology has undergone such changes, and if that were the case we would be even worse due to sendentary lifestyle

There was no depth back then for powerlifting. Find statistics on number of powerlifters then vs. now. The more depth you have in any sport, the better the numbers will be for those at the top regardless of AAS. Too much bias in your analysis.

That's depressing.
I've not even been lifting a year and I can bench 90kg
I don't want to spend the next 20 years of my life only increasing by 75%

You mean better due to better training methodologies.
I fucking bet guys like in OP were doing super simple shit like linear progression for 10 years straight

welcome to reality

Post lifts. Also strenght training is not like other sports or dancing like bboy such things require neuronal coordination in order to be better at them so the methodoligies only would apply on them. Streght training in order to be better you only need to add weight consecutively, or some kind of training that will put stress in your muscles, there is no such thing as a magic routine that will make u grow muscle and streght once you've reached your max genetic potential. Welcome to reality

No one wanted to develop their chests so no one bothered with bench back then. The worlds strongest man was Louis Cyr whose records are well beyond the capabilities of modern athletes.

>your mother isn't a 6'1 250 pound goddess
whats the point lads

>our food is better,

Yeah, sure thing. Loads of raw dairy from grass-fed cows vs. IIFYM pop-tart eating cookie cutters. If anything the ONE advantage they had back then was food quality.

Idk

>400 pound bench is UNACHIEVABLE naturally and even 360 is reserved only for freaks.
Top kek thanks for the ego boost user.

>The worlds strongest man was Louis Cyr whose records are well beyond the capabilities of modern athletes.
What was his deadlift record?

pls post body and lifts. also where did you start off? were you always pretty strong?

it's not rocket science. people around that time already knew they need protein to build muscle and they didn't eat that much processed food. their workouts were legit even by today standards, in fact the way 99% of people train today is really stupid. sure, those records could be improved by being absolutely autistic about the nutrients and periodization but the difference would really be small