by Ted Arcidi
Ted Arcidi bench pressed 705.5 pounds (320 kg) on March 3, 1985 at Gus Rethwisch’s Budweiser World Record Breakers in Honolulu, Hawaii for an APF & USPF world record, to become the first man to bench 600 pounds in an officially recognized powerlifting competition.
On September 14, 1991, at a Mr. Olympia contest, he squared off face to face with his greatest rival Anthony Clark to determine who the greatest bench presser of the world was. Arcidi defeated the much bigger Clark (5’8″, 375 lbs) by pressing 725 pounds off his chest to establish yet a new, but controversial, world record. That attempt was later disqualified after it was revealed that Arcidi had failed to lock out his arms due to bone spurs in his elbows which he had corrected with surgery.
Arcidi’s 705 pound all-time world record bench press was performed in one of the earliest bench shirts – an original prototype supportive bench press shirt, which was 50% polyester and 50% cotton and only one layer thick.
It was thus later categorized as “equipped”, although it did not improve his bench by much, if anything. In 1984 Arcidi had benched an official 666.9 pounds (302.5 kg) at 286.0 pounds bodyweight completely raw, without a bench shirt in Honolulu, Hawaii as well.
Despite all of that, his WWF career lasted less than 18 months, but is still one of the original LJN action figures ever created.
