Bench press has long been hailed as the most iconic exercise for the chest. Apart from muscle hypertrophy, it is also an excellent movement to test one’s strength, as it is not an easy lift to master. It develops insane upper body strength and muscle mass, but at the same time poses a high risk of injury to the body due to it being a compound movement. 

The bench press puts the athlete’s body under a great deal of tension, due to which lifting super heavy on the bench is difficult to nail. However, there always are genetic freaks among us. With that being said, let’s take a look at the man who benched a whopping 1000 lbs for the first time in the history of powerlifting. 

The man with superhuman strength

Gene Rychlak Jr, who was born in the United States back in 1968, is often considered one of the biggest legends in the sport of powerlifting. While he sadly passed away back in 2019, he made sure to leave behind a lasting legacy as he benched over a whopping thousand pounds for the first time in the history of the sport. Despite the lift being an assisted one, it was an impressive record. 

Talking about the same in a video from 2017, Nick Miller from ‘Nick’s Strength and Power’ stated, “In 2004, Gene Rachlak would add over a hundred pounds to his bench press and he would bench a thousand and four pounds or 456.6 kgs which is just an insane number to bench press. Now even though he used the bench shirt, just imagine holding over a thousand pounds over your chest.”

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While the record was really impressive, there is always someone stronger than the other. Breaking the record of Gene Rychlak, four years later, another hero emerged.

‘Benchmonster’ breaks Rychlak’s world record 

Rightly known as the ‘Benchmonster,’ American powerlifting legend, Ryan Kennelly broke Gene’s record four years later in 2008 by benching an astounding 1075 lbs. He held the record for around five more years. 

“That record has since been broken. The current record for an equipped bench press is held by Ryan Kennelly who benched 1075 pounds or 487.6 kgs on November 08th, 2008,” Nick further stated in the video. Despite Ryan Kennelly overpowering Gene Rychlak by breaking his record, there is no denying that Gene remains one of the most respected and renowned names in the history of powerlifting. What are your views on this? Let us know in the comments.

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