Meanwhile in America…
Matt Sohmer (120kg+) just competed in the USAPL Collegiate Nationals. He finished with a 372.5kg squat, 130kg bench press, 327.5kg deadlift and a total of 830kg*. He only competed 2kg above the lower categories limit.
Best of Olympic Weightlifting
130 bench at 120??? Injured? and i thought that at raw your DL is always bigger then your squat
>I thought at raw your DL is always bigger then your squat
Not at higher weight classes IIRC
DL is not always bigger than a lifters squat–obviously, there isn’t any rule about what lift can be the biggest. Heck, some PLers even bench more than they deadlift! Weightlifter Vladislav Lukanin, who crossed over to PLing, is a great example of this. He squatted 305 kgs @ 82.5 with no wraps, but only deadlifted 280.
That’s a rather strange benchpress number…competing with injury?
I don’t know, he could have been but a reader from 2 years ago said this on the previous post of Matt.
“I played football and went to school with him. He taught me how to squat ATG. He was deadlifting 585 for reps in the middle of football season at 17 years old. He was impossible to move as a lineman as well. He doesn’t bench for some reason though. His comp bench last time i talked to him was 315. I don’t think he’ll ever care about his bench so long as he keeps making tremendous progress and smashing records. That 804 was good, he got screwed.”
Gotta ask him I guess :).
Hey Its me right on time I guess. He simply does not bench. EVER. He was messaged by world champs and the lillebridges and basically told them to go shit in their hat. His bench actually went down because he doesn’t bench ever. He refuses to fix his form in either of the disciplines. He might actually be natural but he is most definitely mentally retarded. He will never break the overall because he refuses to train properly. He will never break the squat because he rounds his back on the squats and brings his knees in. (he had already ruptured his acl doing this exact thing, and then ruptured it again during football) Its a sad story, he could be so great but his narcissistic personality coupled with delusions of grandeur and a Holier than thou attitude will break him far before he gets near real records.
it’s a free country, he can do what he wants, if it means not training the bench. Lol as for natural? He’s likely as natural as kfc chicken.
Well sure, anyone can make any training choice that he likes, but it’s entirely appropriate to point out a problem in one’s approach to competition. Sohmer competes in full meets, but neglects his bench, which is unwise. If we saw a high level lifter in weightlifting who decided just to never train snatch at all, we’d probably comment on that as well. People are free to pursue what they like, but that doesn’t mean all training decisions are equally viable when judged in the context of competition.
No injury here. I have been following Sumner for years and he has always had a bench around this weight. 130 kgs is typical for him. It’s a huge weakness as a lifter, and though his squat and deadlift give him a big total, I’m quite surprised he hasn’t done more to correct his bench weakness.