This depression-era wrestler, who died on March 28 at the age of 101, once lifted the 211 kg Man Mountain Dean up in the air and smashed him right through the ring.

Abe Coleman was born in Poland in 1905, one of 16 siblings, some of whom were killed in the holocaust. Abe made it to Canada and then to New York, where he was working out in a Brooklyn Gym in 1929, when a promoter offered him a chance to make $25. The rest is wrestling history, leading to over 2000 packed fights against legends like Jim Londos and Man Mountain in the Garden, Mexico City and all over the world.

He made a fortune that he gave away to unemployed relatives, keeping enough for himself to enjoy the good life, which included cigars, poker and digs in a Manhattan Hotel. At some matches Mickey Rooney carried his bag.

“All the Hollywood stars knew me,” Coleman said. Why not. He was a star himself.

Coleman’s legendary strength stood him in good stead all his long life. At the age of 80, he fought of muggers, pinning them down (or knocking them out, depending on which version of the story you hear) until the police arrived. When his car was parked in, he moved it with his bare hands.

At 90 kg, 5’3, with 18 inch biceps, and an18 1/2 inch neck, the nuggety Coleman invented the drop kick after a 1930 Australian tour, where he watched Kangaroos turn themselves into live missiles. He also became famous for his flying tackles and aeroplane spins, which kept him in the game until his retirement at the age of 50.

But Coleman’s greatest triumph was with the New York fans who adored him, and with his devoted multi-generational family who turned up every year to honour him on his birthdays. The Queens Chronicle reports that At his 100th bash, a nephew fondly challenged Coleman to a wrestle, to which the Hebrew Hercules replied, “Get my tights and jockstrap.”

http://www.zwire.com/site/index.cfm?newsid=15257932

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/02/sports/othersports/02coleman.html?ref=othersports

In 2006, Scot Mendelson, reclaimed the World Record Bench Press from Gene Rychlak whose record of 965 lbs upstaged Mendelson in 2004.by pressing 1008 lbs shirted.

Amazingly, Scott also holds the biggest RAW bench press record too, at 715 lbs, although as many followers of the sport know, the rivalry between the big guys is far from over. Today, along with the squat and dead lift, the bench press is known as not only the ultimate test of strength, but also of technique.

Is that Escape Velocity System or are you just pleased to see me?

And this is largely due to a saucy little item of super-gear called The Shirt. The Shirt, or Inzer Phenom, invented by John Inzer in 1983, has caused bench press records, steadily rising since Canadian Doug Hepburn became the first man to bench 400, 450, and 500 pounds in 1957, to crumble in the last two decades.

Its much touted Escape Velocity system may or may not be science, but the proof is in the lifting. As the first man to bench 800 lbs in 2002, Ryan Kennelly says, “The whole raw thing, you’re just asking for trouble if you’re going to be dealing with any kind of weight. If you rip your pec, you rip your rotator cuff, you’re out of there. Thank God for bench shirts.”

Nowadays, according to Levin, every top bench presser uses the shirt for safety and power. Check out the details here. As you’d expect, the shirt has its naysayers. While its inventor claims the shirt “brings out the deeper strength of a power lifter”, opponents, including Indiana University biomechanics professor Jesus Dapena, poo-poos it as a mere mechanical aid not to the muscles but to the arm bones themselves. “You might as well have a pulley, ” he sniffs.

But hey, shirt or no shirt, you know you’re alive when there’s half a ton of metal bearing down on you, never mind a ton. Raw or geared, there is no better way to show off both brute strength and technical skill than with some good old-fashioned “boobie-building.”

We must, we must, we must increase our bust.

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