Tag: Powerlifting History

Here’s something you don’t see every day — or pretty much at all these days. Could this bench press get any stricter? Other than the thumb-less grip, I dig it. Dave Moyer of Reading, PA is shown here setting a new Mid-Atlantic bench press record of 255 lbs. in the 123 lb class — That’s more than double bodyweight! Moyer won his class that day with a 1130 lb. total. He was not a tall man.

Interestingly, Moyer was also an Olympic weightlifting champion as well, winning the 123 lb. class at the 1963 AAU Senior Nationals. Lifting for the Reading Barbell Club, Mayor had prior set a world record in his weight class for the Press at the 1958 Middle Atlantic Championships with a lift of 240 lbs, bettering the previous mark of Vladimir Stogov of Russia by 2-1/2 lbs.