Ken Patera: Power Personified

[stef]

by Marty Gallagher

Ken Patera military presses a 1st attempt press with 456. At the time, the world record press was 483 held by Vasily Alexeev. Ken went on to press 472 on this day. Note complete lack of layback used to push through the sticking point. Imagine the triceps and shoulder strength needed to push 470 pounds overhead in this super-strict fashion.

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[Immortal_k]

Fantastic and to the point. Thanks, Coach Gallagher. Looking forward to more 'Iron Icons'.

[ptarleton]

Some alleged numbers of Mr. Patera. I dare to believe they are true. If his Press out of a rack # (Rack Press) is real, then...wow.

(citing http://www.biggerfasterstronger.com/..._KenPatera.pdf)


Incline Bench: 485X2

Rack Press: 552

Press: 506

Power Clean: 501

From Hang: 486X3

High Pull to Chest: 770

Squat: 820X2 raw no wraps

Front Squat: 625

Bench Press: "Never did, but one time he was 'goofing around' and did 560 like a feather"

Snatch: 387 Competition, 402 in training

Overhead Squat: 480

Clean and Jerk: 506 official, 518 in training

Seeing this BFS article made me realize (1) How much the focus of training in weightlifting has changed and (2) How absurdly strong Ken Patera was. All that strength and he could throw a discus too.

[tertius]

I like the new format, and I like Marty's shotgun blast stories.
They're fun, and a nice change of pace from the dense prose of some of the technical articles.

And good lord, was Patera strong.

[matclone]

Love to read these stories about old-time weightlifters. Can't speak for all the alleged lifts, but a competition press (in Patera's case 472 lbs) is certainly the real deal. To borrow a few lines from John Cale: "She don't lie. She don't lie. She don't lie...The Press".

[Dastardly]

Rack Press: 552


Clean and Jerk: 506 official, 518 in training

How can his rack press be so much higher than his best training jerk? If there is any truth in the number, then it has to be a push press from the rack. Seems bizarre that anyone could fail to clean what they can strict press.

[Michael Liao]

I like the new format, and I like Marty's shotgun blast stories.
They're fun, and a nice change of pace from the dense prose of some of the technical articles.

And good lord, was Patera strong.

yep, yep, keep 'em comin'!

[IronMind]

that image of Taranenko on the second pain just looks painful. ..that much weight overhead and all that body lean, amazing he got the lift!

[Mark Rippetoe]

How can his rack press be so much higher than his best training jerk? If there is any truth in the number, then it has to be a push press from the rack. Seems bizarre that anyone could fail to clean what they can strict press.

Dastardly smells a rat! He doesn't understand how much a 500+ clean takes out of a guy.

[PackMule]

Patera...6'2" 340 pounds...holy hell. 485x2 press!?!

Taranenko though...no abs. Not impressive. (joking)