Mike McDonald And The Cambered Bar

A poster at Powerlifting Uncensored wonders about the training program of benching legend Mike McDonald. He specifically inquires about his use of a cambered bar for benching and whether he used boards in conjunction with the cambered bar.

The poster:

In everything I have have read about his training, no one mentions anything about him using boards with the cambered bar.

But he must have, the bar in this photo

http://www.americanpowerliftevolution.net/MacDonaldbio.html has atleast a 3 or 4" drop.

Have any of you ever used the cambered bar without boards? Is it possible?

Responses:

It would seem to defeat his stated purpose of building explosion off the chest. I know for sure, in days of old, I have seen several lifters using the cambered bar and have never seen anyone using boards with it...

I have spoken with Mike MacDonald about this on many occasions. He was not familiar with the idea of "board presses" as they are used today. At his peak he did a bench press routine that looked something like this:
Regular Bench Press:
135# x 5, 225# x 5, 325# x 5, 445# x 3, 565# x 3
Shoulder Width Bench Presses:
475# x 5
Cambered Bench Press Bar Bench Presses:
435# x two sets of 3 reps with 3-5 second pauses at the bottom position (he told me that he did not always bring the bar all the way down to contact his chest, but instead only lowered the bar to the point at which he felt a deep "burning sensation" in his pec tie ins, then he'd hold the weight there for about 3-5 seconds and press it back up).
This was the routine he was using when he bench pressed 603# officially at the Twin Ports Open in 1977. In 1981, when he did 592.37# officially and also successfully locked out 608.87#, he concentrated on singles, lifting about every 4th day, depending upon how sore he was from the previous workout. He hit about 620# for a top touchn go training single just prior to Body Expo II in August of 1981.

Mike MacDonald did something similar to board presses....but without the boards. He did a couple of variations of the shoulder width bench presses. One variation involved partial bench presses done in a power rack, while another was lowering the weight half way down to about the sticking point, then pausing it there for a few seconds, then finally pressing it back up to full lockout. Occasionally he'd simply "reverse" the cambered bar and lower the weight down to the point at which the reversed camber would touch his chest, then he'd press the weight back up to full lockout (very similar to a board press, with the "board" built into the bar, ie, the "reverse camber". Another point of interest, Mike often trainied alone, whether at the local gym or at his home gym. In order to do so, he got used to lifting the weight out to himself without a spotter. He also employed spotter racks so as to have a "back up" in place just in case he failed with an attempt. At his home gym, he filed down the lip of the uprights and he kept the uprights at about 3/4 of his full lockout. This allowed him to "slide" the weight out to himself and bring it immediately down to his chest so that he could press it without wasting too much energy on the lift off and the eccentric phase of the lift. He sometimes did singles in this fashion with more than 600#!

I have a photograph of Mike MacDonald bench pressing with the cambered bench press bar from around 1977.

In the photo he weighs about 240# (his heaviest bodyweight) and he is handling more than 400# (you can see at least the four 45# plates on each side). He used his typical wide grip (32" and although he doesn't lower the bar all the way down to contact his chest, he goes very deep!