Frank Beeler Masters Bench Press World Champion and World Record Holder:

My friend Frank has started radiation treatment at Stanford. He has melanoma that has spread a bunch. I will not forget the first time I met Frank Beeler. It was in the warm up room at bench nationals in 2003. The competition was in Newark New Jersey, just a spit down the road from the Rahway Prison. The hotel and parking lot had a fence topped with razor wire that surrounded the entire complex.
It was only my second competition and I was very nervous as you could imagine. There were maybe 50 or 60 people jammed in a very tight room. There seemed to be about a half dozen guys trying to put a bench shirt on this half bald cannonball looking guy in one corner. I later learned his name was “Slade”. I saw other massive guys close to my age with names like Pat Dennis, Fred Dini, CJ Batten, John Blackmon, Kevin Hutchinson, Kevin Johnson, and Dan Gaudreau, just to name a few.
I slipped over against a wall and tried to find a place to put my gear. It was wall to wall stuff. I found a little spot and pushed my bag into it. I knocked a shoulder horn off the top of the bag next to me. I picked it up and was trying to balance it back in place when this big “grizzly bear kinda guy” asked me if he could help me. He was smiling so I figured I was safe and mumbled an apology.
Things got real hectic for a while. I saw the big bearded guy make a couple of unsuccessful attempts at over 500 pounds. Being new to the sport I didn’t know what they called him for but I knew it wasn’t lack of strength because this guy was benching in a white t-shirt. On his last trip to the platform he smoked 540 lbs in that white t-shirt. As you have surmised that guy was Frank Beeler.
Twice I have had the honor of being invited to lift at SHW with Frank on the Masters World bench press team. It was not a competition because I am not any where near the lifter Frank is, but it was a pleasure. I have lost a weight class or two since then but I still lift in the same session with the big guys. In Charlotte last summer “Hutch” and I helped Frank get into his shirt. He benched a cool 590 lbs that afternoon.
I got my money on Frank. He is a world class competitor and a world class guy. Hey Frank, “I love you man”!! I too will pray for your speedy recovery.

General Well Being and Training Progress:

The groin pull I experienced back in late December is gone. Consequently my squats are headed back up in weight and down in depth. I really don’t like to squat but it is probably the penultimate exercise for core strength. I felt very strong last week and finished with five deep reps at 325 lbs. I am not sure but I think that is a PR. I went on to dead lift two sets of three at 455 lbs. which I know is a PR. My hamstrings have been reminding me of that fact all of this week so far.

My bench press has gone ballistic. Cutting out the speed bench day and putting the heavy decline bench day back in has worked better than I ever dreamed. I had some micro tears in one of my pecs last month and the bruise looked terrible. However it did not hurt at all and I kept pushing the following weeks. I am mixing up the weight and reps and the body shock is really producing results. Adding in heavy lockouts at 2 to 3 inches will boost my shirted bench for sure. I hit 495 lbs. solid last week with just a 46 fury. I will put the 44 on next shirt day and take a shot at 525 and possibly 550, depending on the quality of spotters I can recruit from the gym rats.

Spotters are an unknown at the new gym. I can explain what I want them to do, but not in Spanish. The majority of the guys who look like they can handle the weight are Hispanic and have limited English. They are all willing to help, but having some one grab one side and shift the weight on you is very dangerous.

I have to decide what to do at the Richmond open in April. I am leaning towards equipped bench press only. This will give me the extra time to coach Sid. However, if I do that then Sid might balk at the raw full meet I want him to do as a qualifier for raw nationals. I have a big responsibility to do no harm in my role as mentor to Sid.