While many people are waiting to be able to return to their gyms to train, they can turn to YouTube for inspiration or entertainment. Four-time World’s Strongest Man Brian Shaw is apparently going to start offering both on his channel in the form of a new series where he’s pursuing a goal of achieving a 701 pound bench press.
That number is not a typo but could be perceived as an entertaining nod at Eddie Hall who had previously pursued his own goal of benching 700 pounds but never achieved it due to injuries. Shaw shared some comments before beginning his bench training session.
“We’re going to have some fun with this. I don’t know when my next strongman contest is going to be so I decided to pivot, shift gears, and set a new goal, do something to motivate me, excite me for training right now. I don’t know where we’re going to get with this bench press stuff. It could be really fun to go down this road and get after it.”
Shaw is regarded as one of the greatest strongmen in history, but bench pressing is not a normal part of strongman training. Therefore, not many strongmen perform the exercise as a part of their training. Shaw has bench pressed on video in the past. In one video with Bradley Martyn posted in 2018, he pressed 500 pounds for 5 reps.
In the new video, his top weight was 470 pounds which he performed for three reps. He also performed six-second static presses where he pushed the bar against the safeties in his rack. Among his other accessory work was flat dumbbell presses, floor dumbbell flyes, dumbbell hammer curls, lying tricep extensions on the floor.
After the session, Shaw stated that he is working with renowned strength coach Josh Bryant on this pursuit of this goal. Bryant is currently best-known as the coach of Julius Maddox, who is the current world-record holder for the raw bench press in powerlifting. Maddox is currently pursuing his own goal of benching 800 pounds later this year.
As for Shaw’s journey, this isn’t the only time he has challenged Eddie Hall recently. He also did another video where he acknowledged the possibility of a bodybuilding showdown between the two strongman greats.
Featured Image: Instagram/shawstrength
