Lou Ferrigno - Bench Claims

[Las Vegas]

Now these numbers are much closer to reality, no doubt.

Arnie got a lot from benching, pec development-wise. But even at his strongest, I can't see him hitting multiple sets of reps of, say, 8-10, with much more than 365-385, tops.

Doing four or five sets of eight with 315, in a tight and muscle-building style, is one hell of an accomplishment, let's not forget.

  

Oh hell yes

[anabolichalo]

fairly sure arnold coud not bench over 400-440 for a single if his life depended on it

[kimo]

doesnt makes sense . he benched 440 pounds in germany in 1968 when he was barely out of teens . couple years in the USA . I AM SURE WITH MORE INTENSE training he benched colse to 500. he could rep out with 400 in 1972 1974.

[Danimal77]

reading about him on IMDB it says he benched 560lbs in his early 20's and at age 50 he could do 400. What do you think, Lou was as big as shit but i dont know much about his strength. He was supposed to have 23" arms, a 59" chest and weigh 275+ which by current standards is less than average.

i know Arnold was able to bench 500 unassisted but i dont know how many reps he could do with it. I doubt he would have attempt a 1rm so im guessing 2-3

I have a Muscle and Fitness book (not magazine) published in 1981, but the sources are from 1979/1980 and Lou quite clearly stated that his max bench press was 420 pounds, but if he trained exclusively on it, he could get it up to 500. His revisionist of history stating that his max in his 20's of 560 pounds is an outright lie.

[falco]

Bench press claims are like cars horsepower dyno numbers. Lies.

[bears]

Who was this guy that trained with arnold then?

Cheat curl  300lbs for reps. No.

At an exhibition for reg park in south africa, he did 275 lbs for 5 reps.

As for his form, a pictures worth a thousand words.

[img]

I mean that's basically a clean with supinated hands.  ouch

[El Diablo Blanco]

Lot of insecure fools in this thread who beleive since they can't bench much that no one else could.  I knew guys in college who can rep out 4 plates a side like it was nothing and they would look small next to Lou and Arnold.  You guys forget that these guys are not Insulin big, they are legit strong big.  They did bench all the time.  there wasn't that bullshit pussy mentality about bench being dangerous.

[closeline]

Arnold couldnt bench 500lb assisted. He was asked at some point earky in his career and his answer was 380lbs. Theres no way he added 120 lbs to that total while keeping his bw the same (it even dipped after 1971). Factor in that 500lbs is clearly chosen to sound impressive (its not like he maxed out at EXACTLY 500lbs) and that columbos max was 520lb (who was notoriously strong) and with much shorter limbs and greater leverage advantages, theres no way arnold benched 500lbs, just like he never calf raised with a 1000lbs. LOL.

As for ferrigno, who knows. I heard he claimed an 800lb deadlift which i find a tad optimistic considering his stature.

Lol

Many much smaller guys can do reps with 450lbs

In my small gym here we have a dozen guys with a 450lbs bench, and only a few of them are over220 LBS bodyweight offseason

[closeline]

Lot of insecure fools in this thread who beleive since they can't bench much that no one else could.  I knew guys in college who can rep out 4 plates a side like it was nothing and they would look small next to Lou and Arnold.  You guys forget that these guys are not Insulin big, they are legit strong big.  They did bench all the time.  there wasn't that bullshit pussy mentality about bench being dangerous.

Exactly

Steroids Only or Even clean Guy doing benchpress in Each pec workout beats insulin blobbs with pussy attitude

[ritch]

what is this grade 9???
"this guy is a better bencher than that guy"

Just lookin' to make the juicer look bad, lol... Envious turds you are to those who are built like Gods.

[Mr Anabolic]

It's fun to read through this old thread.  People are such idiots.

[Sexybeast777]

i remember him saying the same thing on David Letterman, he's lying his ass off.

I heard Arnold say, on a different interview, that the most he ever benched was 535 lbs, or something like that

[Irongrip400]

I benched 410 after only three years of training and looked nothing like Arnold or Lou. I'm sure those two could bench over 500 if they say they could.

[Bevo]

I benched 410 after only three years of training and looked nothing like Arnold or Lou. I'm sure those two could bench over 500 if they say they could.

Size doesn’t dictate strength

I don’t why people always assume since the smaller guy can do 400, the much bigger guy can do 500 easily 

[Irongrip400]

Size doesn’t dictate strength

I don’t why people always assume since the smaller guy can do 400, the much bigger guy can do 500 easily 

Not saying being smaller had more to do with it than my time training. Arnold lifted weights for years and years and did it for a living. I was an average gym rat in college who treated his body like a garbage dump and did what I did. More of me saying it's not a huge feat to break a 500 pound bench if lifting weights for a living is what you do.

[NelsonMuntz]

Size doesn’t dictate strength

I don’t why people always assume since the smaller guy can do 400, the much bigger guy can do 500 easily 

this x 100

I spotted a 150lbs twink back in the 1990's at my gym in montreal and he did 4 plates per side for 1 clean rep, I could not fucking beleive it.

This guy made DJ look like Phil Heath

[Sexybeast777]

for all is worth, I did 460 lbs at a body weight of maybe 185 lbs, and I was only on 1AD (powerful prohormone available in those days) and ephedrine. But keep in mind I was obsessed with getting stronger on the bench, and always lifting like a maniac

[Bevo]

Not saying being smaller had more to do with it than my time training. Arnold lifted weights for years and years and did it for a living. I was an average gym rat in college who treated his body like a garbage dump and did what I did. More of me saying it's not a huge feat to break a 500 pound bench if lifting weights for a living is what you do.

You prob didn’t know but could be you were genetically blessed for strength, no different than guys with good genetics for physiques like an Arnold or Ronnie

[Fortress]

for all is worth, I did 460 lbs at a body weight of maybe 185 lbs, and I was only on 1AD (powerful prohormone available in those days) and ephedrine. But keep in mind I was obsessed with getting stronger on the bench, and always lifting like a maniac

That is Elite-level benching. World class. Like, upper-upper performance.

[Matt]

I will be bench pressing 350  with a slight bounce by May as I attempt to qualify for the CAASA Nationals in Canada for strongman in the <170-lb class.  I would be shocked if Arnold didn't have at least 100-lb on that, but who knows?  People put a lot of emphasis on the strength of bodybuilders, when it is not what they are judged on.  I read that Gunter bench pressed around 365-lb for 8-12 reps on the incline, which some people called light - and maybe that would be fair to call light for a man whose off-season weight was 345-lb.  But again, Gunter was a bodybuilder.  To be honest, I respect bodybuilders like Gunter, as well as Phil Heath, who train to...you know...build muscle.

I am intrigued that a man like Gunter had such amazing genetics for bodybuilding, but didn't seem to have nearly the genetics for strength, regardless of his massive size.  But, again...he trained for mass, as bodybuilders should, so it's hard to know for sure.

I think in Lou's day, with less known about training, bodybuilders probably did train to get stronger, assuming there was a correlation between strength strength and muscle size.  Of course there is a correlation, but hypertrophy-specific training something that became a thing after Arnold himself popularized bodybuilding.  As I said, in the Ironage, less was known about training, and exactly what a person had to do to become a bodybuilder wasn't understood as it is today.

Lou was pretty strong though - he did compete in the World's Strongest Man competition, back in its first form, when it attempted to determine if powerlifters were stronger than bodybuilders or if bodybuilders were stronger than Olympic weightlifters.

[Fortress]

I will be bench pressing 350  with a slight bounce by May as I attempt to qualify for the CAASA Nationals in Canada for strongman in the <170-lb class.  I would be shocked if Arnold didn't have at least 100-lb on that, but who knows?  People put a lot of emphasis on the strength of bodybuilders, when it is not what they are judged on.  I read that Gunter bench pressed around 365-lb for 8-12 reps on the incline, which some people called light - and maybe that would be fair to call light for a man whose off-season weight was 345-lb.  But again, Gunter was a bodybuilder.  To be honest, I respect bodybuilders like Gunter, as well as Phil Heath, who train to...you know...build muscle.

I am intrigued that a man like Gunter had such amazing genetics for bodybuilding, but didn't seem to have nearly the genetics for strength, regardless of his massive size.  But, again...he trained for mass, as bodybuilders should, so it's hard to know for sure.

I think in Lou's day, with less known about training, bodybuilders probably did train to get stronger, assuming there was a correlation between strength strength and muscle size.  Of course there is a correlation, but hypertrophy-specific training something that became a thing after Arnold himself popularized bodybuilding.  As I said, in the Ironage, less was known about training, and exactly what a person had to do to become a bodybuilder wasn't understood as it is today.

Lou was pretty strong though - he did compete in the World's Strongest Man competition, back in its first form, when it attempted to determine if powerlifters were stronger than bodybuilders or if bodybuilders were stronger than Olympic weightlifters.

First, inclining 365 for 8-12 repetitions with full, controlled reps is MASSIVE. At any weight. And this was from a guy, Gunter, who didn’t train for absolute strength, a VERY different approach from bodybuilding.

Second, the WSM competition wasn’t designed in an effort to determine that which you suggest. Those very early stagings were merely fun free-for-alls.

Third, as I’ve stated, I’ve been close with folks who witnessed Arnold lifting during his prime, and (*yawn*) AGAIN, none say he’d ever press anywhere even close to the poundages some suggest. And anyway, for fuck same, the dude had huge showy muscles (biceps, pecs), but he was not a large man. Five hundred would have represented over twice his usual body weight. (As well, Arnie’s powerlifting background wasn’t “serious”. The guy deadlifted in some nowhere “meet”. That’s it.)

As I routinely say here, few actually know much about strength, its elite standards, etc.

P.P.S. The average gym rat hasn’t a clue about weight being lifted. Case in point, the other day, while squatting, a regular walked over and said, Holy fuck, man! I watched you bench press 500 pounds the other day!

No way he has ever seen me with greater than four plates and some change, at best.

[Bevo]

First, inclining 365 for 8-12 repetitions with full, controlled reps is MASSIVE. At any weight. And this was from a guy, Gunter, who didn’t train for absolute strength, a VERY different approach from bodybuilding.

Second, the WSM competition wasn’t designed in an effort to determine that which you suggest. Those very early stagings were merely fun free-for-alls.

Third, as I’ve stated, I’ve been close with folks who witnessed Arnold lifting during his prime, and (*yawn*) AGAIN, none say he’d ever press anywhere even close to the poundages some suggest. And anyway, for fuck same, the dude had huge showy muscles (biceps, pecs), but he was not a large man. Five hundred would have represented over twice his usual body weight. (As well, Arnie’s powerlifting background wasn’t “serious”. The guy deadlifted in some nowhere “meet”. That’s it.)

As I routinely say here, few actually know much about strength, its elite standards, etc.

P.P.S. The average gym rat hasn’t a clue about weight being lifted. Case in point, the other day, while squatting, a regular walked over and said, Holy fuck, man! I watched you bench press 500 pounds the other day!

No way he has ever seen me with greater than four plates and some change, at best.

Here’s a buddy of mine that lifts at destination Dallas and was trained by josh Bryant, he doesn’t compete at all, does it for fun, stays in good shape year round at 9-10 percent bf at around 190 to low 190’s

He bench’s 445/455 with ease, can do 3 reps (maybe more if he wanted to) 405 like it’s nothing, has deadlifted close to 650 raw at 188-190 weight

I would consider this elite strength

[Bevo]

I will be bench pressing 350  with a slight bounce by May as I attempt to qualify for the CAASA Nationals in Canada for strongman in the <170-lb class.  I would be shocked if Arnold didn't have at least 100-lb on that, but who knows?  People put a lot of emphasis on the strength of bodybuilders, when it is not what they are judged on.  I read that Gunter bench pressed around 365-lb for 8-12 reps on the incline, which some people called light - and maybe that would be fair to call light for a man whose off-season weight was 345-lb.  But again, Gunter was a bodybuilder.  To be honest, I respect bodybuilders like Gunter, as well as Phil Heath, who train to...you know...build muscle.

I am intrigued that a man like Gunter had such amazing genetics for bodybuilding, but didn't seem to have nearly the genetics for strength, regardless of his massive size.  But, again...he trained for mass, as bodybuilders should, so it's hard to know for sure.

I think in Lou's day, with less known about training, bodybuilders probably did train to get stronger, assuming there was a correlation between strength strength and muscle size.  Of course there is a correlation, but hypertrophy-specific training something that became a thing after Arnold himself popularized bodybuilding.  As I said, in the Ironage, less was known about training, and exactly what a person had to do to become a bodybuilder wasn't understood as it is today.

Lou was pretty strong though - he did compete in the World's Strongest Man competition, back in its first form, when it attempted to determine if powerlifters were stronger than bodybuilders or if bodybuilders were stronger than Olympic weightlifters.

I’ve seen Gunter train a lot in the early 2000’s, he wasn’t that strong, mostly smith machine presses and never seen him ever do 365 incline for 8-12 reps, I don’t think he could, not that it is important since he is a bber

He would struggle with 315 on the smiths incline lol

Cormier was strong a long with prince and of course mike o Hearn whom we all give him shit

[Sexybeast777]

That is Elite-level benching. World class. Like, upper-upper performance.

thank you good sir, I ain't gonna lie, ephedrine does gives what appears to be super human strength, but I stay away from that now, not just because it's illegal now, but because it's bad for the heart, it was giving me high blood pressure. My blood pressure is good now. I'm 100% natty now, no drugs of any kind, just some coffee

[Skylge]

At 6 ft 5 or 195 cm and 270 lbs of contest weight, who cares what he benched, he simply was a benchmark (No bloated midget will ever come close to Lou in his seventies prime)