WEIGHTLIFTING Stretch bands benefit Rychlak

He became the first to achieve an extended bench press of 900 pounds.
SPECIAL TO THE VINDICATOR
ROYERSFORD, Pa. -- On Nov. 16 at Camp Hill, Pa., Gene Rychlak Jr. accomplished the near impossible in the sport of powerlifting.
The 35-year-old Pennsylvania native, who had been lifting weights for 20 years, achieved an extended bench press of 900 pounds, becoming the first man ever to complete that lift.
That occurred at the International Powerlifting Association's Senior Nationals and was the culmination of an enormous amount of work and desire.
What keeps weightlifters going is setting goals and going about attaining them, but there was a time for Rychlak when frustration got the best of him.
Introduction
It was through a friend's advice and an introduction to Dick Hartzell's stretch bands that made him refocus.
Hartzell runs Jump Stretch Fitness Center on Meridian Road in Youngstown.
Rychlak didn't play sports in high school but began lifting at age 15. He became serious about it after he graduated in 1987.
He settled in Norristown, Pa., at Roberto's Gym, which was considered the mecca of weightlifting gyms on the east coast.
"It was a place for hard-core lifting," said Rychlak, and it was at this time that he began to enter some local meets.
He continued to work out, but not for meets. In 1994 he landed at the "Competitor's Gym" in Pottstown, Pa.
It was at this time that Rychlak became very serious in his training and began entering contests. In one, he lifted 490 pounds.
"From that point on, I was hooked and I entered every meet I could," he said.
His progression on the bench went to 500 pounds and then over it, not in rapid succession, but with patient strides in over a year's time. He tried 600 pounds at several meets and all of a sudden there wasn't any progress and Rychlak said, "I felt like I was going backward."
Bowed out
Out of frustration in 2000 he walked away from weightlifting completely.
"I quit everything cold turkey," he said, "and I didn't care if I ever picked up a weight."
A friend's advice got him started again. He restructured his workout, going to what is defined as a modified "Westside Workout," when one day at a gym in the Lehigh Valley he was introduced to Hartzell's stretch bands.
Rychlak started using band tension with different applications for different lifts. Soon, he was over the 600-pound barrier.
"I didn't just get over it, I crushed it, going to 620 and 640 in successive meets," he said.
He found a way of cycling the bands and it was a simple progression, adding more bands for more tension. Rychlak learned that bar weight wasn't as important as band tension to develop explosive power in any area of lifting.
Rychlak's bench increased from 640 pounds in June 2002 to 700 in August at a Lehigh Valley meet.
"That's when I decided I was ready for national competition," he said.
He entered the International Powerlifting Association Senior Nationals in November 2002. He reached 900 pounds with the squat, 715 with the bench and 685 with his dead lift for a combined 2,300 pounds, missing first place by 70 pounds.
Going strong
At a meet at Queensbury, N.Y., Rychlak benched 750 pounds to win the meet and he went to third place all-time in the event.
In April 2003, at an IPA event in Reading, Pa., he squatted 1,005 pounds and had a personal dead lift-best 715 pounds. Rychlak didn't bench at that meet, but a week later, at a national meet in Queensbury, he reached 785 pounds on his third bench press attempt.
Granted a fourth attempt, Rychlak went for the world record of 802.5 pounds and he got it, but the lift was disqualified for an uneven extension on the lift.
Fired up, Rychlak went into vigorous training for the June "Strength Spectacular" at Nazareth, Pa. On his third attempt he got 810, but that was also negated. He was granted a fourth attempt; this time he benched 810 clean and he was the world record holder.
A day later in Los Angeles, Scot Mendelson threw up 821 pounds for a new mark. This set the stage for the two to go in head to head competition at "The Bench America" meet in Chicago.
Rychlak had an off-day and Mendelson bumped his world mark up to 825 and a week later, in Venice, Calif., Mendelson tossed up 875 pounds, retiring with a record that was apparently unreachable.
Rychlak began to train harder than ever. On Aug. 10 at the IPA World Championship in Camp Hill, Pa., he had 815 pounds on a third attempt and just missed lifting 880.
To the top
On Nov. 8 at Pittsburgh's Masonic Hall in the American Powerlifting Federation's Steel City Classic, perseverance and stretch band workouts would pay off.
On his first attempt Rychlak powered up 785 pounds, then 840.
"I went in with a game plan to break the record," he said.
He did exactly that with 885 on the bar as he reclaimed the world title. Eight days later at Camp Hill, Rychlak opened with 825 pounds and on his second attempt lifted 900 "like it was nothing."
Rychlak solidified his position as the top bencher in the world and now he looks to the Super Bowl of fitness and strength, "The Arnold Classic" in Columbus the week of March 5.