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GOHEAVY.COM Debates Forum
Re: MIKE MacDONALD
Posted By: Chuck Mirabile (COX-66-210-132-134-static.coxinet.net)
In Response To: MIKE McDONALD / PERIOD. (Scott Tusic)
Date: Saturday, September 29, 2007, @ 8:18 a.m.
When it comes to the "legacy of performance" in the bench press, Mike MacDonald is a hard act to follow. Being that he set about 36 world records in the lift, 4 in one day (at 181#), held the record in 4 weight classes simultaneously for about a 4 year period (181#-198#-220#-242#), and was a "barrier buster" (the first person to surpass the 500# barrier as a 181#er and the first person to surpass the 600# barrier as a 242#er), he certainly has the credentials to be at least ONE of the best of all time, if not THE best. He was known as being very strict, bettered or duplicated his own records on multiple ocasions, and did it all without elbow wraps or a bench shirt (raw) when there was only essentially one federation. MacDonald's all time bests in compitition were 522# @ 181#, 562# @ 198#, 582# @ 220# (missed a couple of close official attempts at 600#) and 603# @ 242# (he also did 608.87# as a 232#er at Body Expo II only to lose the lift officially because of a rule infraction since changed...the lift would have counted officially under the new rule as it was perfectly paused and fully locked out...the slight bar tap of the upright on the left side did not alter the path of the bar nor assist the perfornace of the lift).
At the same time, there are some pretty amazing lifts being performed by some of today's lifters which surpass even Mike MacDonald's official PRs....my hat is off to kids like Jeremy Hoornstra and Rock Lewis for example who are putting up some unbelievable raw numbers. Jeremy is a true genetic freak of nature (and a great all around nice kid) having done 605# and 615# raw as a 242#er and 650# raw at just around 250# and Rock is the lightest ever to officially bench press 600# raw (at 229#...and he was tested to boot). There ceratinly are some great ones today...and I don't think that such tarnishes anything that was done by old timers like MacDonald. Rick Weil was another amzing bencher...if I recall correctly, Weil hit about 500# as a 165#er (at least 485# officially), did a 551# lift at 181#, and in exhibition put up 600# weighing 200#...all raw.
Ask guys like Rickey Crain, Gordon Santee, etc who have seen many of the lifts, past and present...I am sure they'd be of help in appreciating the lifts of lifters past and present.
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