Performance data from SP power tests

the top four guys lifts are in direct proportion to their heights!  and the jumps are too, sort of.

Tafralis is pretty scary, but gunther for his height is too, and bloom's 38 inches!

The distances have gone up for a lot of the guys, IE Bloom and Olsen. Smirnov RIP early 40s

This is a very interesting chart that I also have in my files.  However, when considering the numbers included you might want to keep in mind a couple of things.

First, while I believe the numbers included are accurate, they do not necessarily represent the athlete's ultimate PRs - e.g. I know Gunthoer's SLJ was almost 12', not 11'2", and Jason Tunks (who is primarily a discus thrower, with a PR of 67.88m) is listed three times on the chart, with different numbers in each case.

Second, it is clear that the manner in which the lifts were accomplished varied from athlete to athlete, significantly distorting the results for purposes of comparison.  For example, while Timmermann was extremely strong for his size, the numbers included for the bench press and squat were actually for a bounce bench with a pad (although he eventually achieved 583# in this lift) and a squat to a 90 degree knee angle (i.e. about 2-3 inches above parallel).  His strict, raw bench was something over 462#.  My coach personally watched him perform a bounch bench with a leather chest pad with 520# about a week before a competition.  On the other hand, Andy Bloom's bench was certainly much higher than 350#, at least before he hurt his wrist and stopped doing them! 

I could go on, but the point is, the amount of bounce and type of pad used on a bench press, or the depth to which a squat was done, and the height at which a clean was caught all make a very significant difference in the amount of weight lifted.  Not understanding that throwers and football players don't all lift like powerlifters (or Olympic lifters), and the very significant difference this makes in terms of the amount of weight that can be lifted has led to many misunderstandings.

Perhaps some others on the Board who knew some of those mentioned would comment (Bert, Don, Coach Mac?).  I see John Gallagher is actually included on the list!

As Udo Beyer is not included I will copy a post outlining his lifts according to someone who spoke with him directly.  Even in this post there was a misunderstanding/mistranslation regarding the depth of the squat, which was noted by Beyer as being a half squat to 90 degrees (knee angle) but mistranslated as a parallel squat, which is quite different and indicative of how misunderstandings arise.  Again, my original coach personally watched Beyer perform two sets of about 6 extremely explosive reps in the quarter squat with 880 or 900# the day before he broke his own World Record in Los Angeles in 1983.

GOHEAVY.COM Olympic Weightlifting Forum

Udo Beyer finally himself

Posted By: wolf hasenmaier (cache-frr-ad03.proxy.aol.com)
Date: Wednesday, August 30, 2006, @ 1:42 p.m.

Here is his answer:

His own commentary:

bankdruecken sauber(ohne huefte) 260 kg ( bench, no hip )
bench press raw and strict 573
bankdruecken mit huefte un kissen auf der brust 295 kg x 5
(bench with pad and hip movement)
bench raw with pad and arch 650 for 5
stossen im nacken 275 kg ( jerk behind neck)
jerk behind neck 606
umsetzen 210 kg ( clean)
clean 462
stossen von der brust 232,5 kg
jerk from the front 512
kniebeuge 375 kg (squat)
squat 815 lbs, he of course - he concentrated on parallel squats cause they have way more transfer to the shotput

halbe kniebeuge/90 grad 460x5 (half squat, 90 deg.)
parallel squats 1014 for 5 reps !!!!!!!!!!

reissen 157,5 kg im stand/wald und wiesentechnick (snatch,sloppy form)
power snatch with very crude form ( not into the squat but into the stand at 6 feet 5...) 347 lbs....

 

Copied from an interview with Andy Bloom in LSTJ:

L&S: Can you give us an idea of what type of weight you are able to handle in the popular lifts? What does that translate into on meet day in terms of standing throws for both events?

AB: As I have already said, I don't bench press any more. My upper body workouts consist of light (20 lbs) dumbbell flyes and a straight back DB Military press. I have done 180 lb dumbbells for three reps with each arm. My best squat ever is either 670x7 with a belt, or 650x5 without a belt. I never wear a belt anymore. I do all of my Olympic Lifts from a hang. I can't catch a clean because of my wrist so I do a high pull, my best is 500x5. My best close grip snatch is 275x3. I dead lift in the fall and my best is 670x6. I never do less than 3 reps and as it gets closer to the nationals I cut the weight in half and work everything based on timed sets instead of reps.

Tunks, who is 6'7" and weighs 270-275, has the following PRs (which were achieved over several years and fluctuated quite a bit from year to year):

SLJ: 3.24m, VJ: 32", 16# OHS: 19.94m, Bench (with bounce and 1" pad) 545#, 1/2 squat: 640#, deep squat: 535#, Hang Clean: 440#, power snatch: 302#

I have also excerpted from a post on The Ring by Anna Dolegiewicz, Bishop Doloegiewicz's wife (Bishop was the top SP in Canada from the mid-1970s through 1984 and placed 4th in the 1980 WSM).  I trained with Bishop several times back in the early 1980s and I can tell you he was a beast!

For those of you who are requesting Bish's stats and lifts as an athlete:
6'6 '' 310 at a lighter weight and -340 lbs at his heaviest.
Disc: 65.32 m
Shot: 21.02m
Bench press <605 lbs. >official competition squat <800 lbs.> (1,000 lbs. in training) power clean-<450 lbs.> dead lift< 800 lbs.> overhead push press< 530 lbs. >
Bish never used any tight wraps or bench shirts.

A post from Reese Hoffa himself on The Ring (in 2005):

up to this point my best lifts\
bench- 495
squat- 550 *3
cleans- 175k
snatch- 130k

reese

Finally, it has been confirmed that Mike Stulce, the 1992 Olympic Champion, power cleaned 507 and did a double with 200k on the way up, supposedly with little or no knee bend.

I agree that the stats are out a bit, I have seen some huge lifts by SPers both on the net and in person.

The east germans did full squats for conditioning and then half squats and  quarter squats as the worked towards the competition season, lots of ballistic bench, jerk behind neck, and hang snatch and split snatch. . They didn't try to squat heavy in the full squat, but they tried real hard to go heavy in lots of other lifts.

Greg,

Do you believe the "lifters" who are doing those numbers are any cleaner?

Two words:

FAR OUT

I love reading this stuff. Sure, most of those guys were juiced to the gills, but I know of a bunch of others who were too and haven't lifted nearly as impressive numbers. These top guys were freakshows, this is what made them great to watch.

Just got back from the gym. 3 words: Screw bench press.