Long story my friend, and I have some vodka in me to help.
I started lifting weights somewhere around 8th grade. If I remember correctly my first bench was 75lbs, one foot up in the air, spotters hands on the bar, elbows out and all over the place. I started going to the gym regularly in high school. I graduated high school weighing about 135lbs and could probably bench around 200. I got more serious in college and conquered the 300lb mark. I got out of college @ 167 and could bench a little over 3 plates. Sometime during my first year out of college I decided that while the cycling and MMA stuff was fun, what I really wanted to do was be strong, so I started gaining weight. In 4 years I added about 100lbs. I truly took the "eat big" to heart and lifted fork to mouth.
As far as my progress goes, I owe a lot of it to Matt Rhodes and Vincent Dizenzo. I pretty much got myself to a 500lb shirted bench. The first day I put a shirt on I think I got like 40-60lbs out of it. My first contest I went 424, 473, 501.5. Rhodes conned me into going down to CT to lift with Dizenzo & the CT gang. I went down there and Vin ripped my form apart! Man, he didn't like much about what I did! LOL! All good. I took it to heart and hit 550 in the gym 2 weeks later. My next contest I went 573 and missed 600 at lockout. Who knew?
After the 573 I was looking at records and saw that the IPA tested 242 record was 580... man, I thought I could take that! And I did, getting 585 and missing 605. That was my first record! What a rush. I was so excited.
I decided that being 242 was holding me back to I bumped up to 254, and not very long after hit a 650.3 at Russ Barlow's meet, APF. My new shirt was working well for me. I attempted 700 that day but it wasn't there.
I then had a series of issues, tweaked pecs, torn shirts, broken belts, and it pretty much all culminated in me fracturing my forearm trying to bench 700. That set me out of the game for a long time, or at least it felt like that. I swore off the bench shirt for long enough to work on some raw stuff.
A year later, I hit 440 raw in my first raw benching comp. I hit 450 a year later, after a pec tweak. Since then had some health issues, so I've been real careful about what I take and when. Still want to hit that 500 raw, but don't we all aim for the stars?
I would consider going back in the shirt, they're fun and it's cool to smash big numbers. Still, there is something to be said for doing it raw. I guess I just like lifting weights and competition.
So that's my long ramble.
