On Monday April 7, NEIU Campus Recreation at the P.E. Complex held a bench press competition for students and community members to lift barbells. It was set up and facilitated by graduate assistant, jiu-jitsu coach and Independent contributing writer, Wayne Hayer. 

The competition was separated into two categories which were males and females. It was an open weight competition, so any student or member could participate against each other. 

The women’s competition was a competitive duel between two NEIU students: Amna Yassen, sophomore undergraduate student in community health, and Tanya Orozco, junior undergraduate student in Social Work. The lifting competition started fairly modest with a weight of 65 pounds in the first trial then followed it up with 75 pounds. However, this weight was too easy for both competitors as neither of them came close to failing. 

The weight then moved up by a 30 pound increment for a total of 95 pounds for the second trial. Orozco failed on her first attempt and was the first to struggle. Yassen’s turn was next, and she completed her first attempt successfully. Following Yassen’s attempt, Orozco made a second attempt by lifting 95 pounds, and the second attempt was successful. 

An increment of 10 more pounds were then added for a total of 105 pounds in the third trial. Yassen was successful in her first attempt. However, Orozco failed both of her attempts, and that trial declared Yassen as Campus Rec’s first-ever Women’s Bench Press Champion, with Orozco as runner-up. The champion was not satisfied because she continued to challenge herself by adding another 10 pound increment for a total of 115 pounds, which resulted in an unsuccessful but motivating attempt for an optional fourth trial.

Men’s Competition

The men quickly took center stage to prove who could bench the most plates. The men’s competition had a significantly larger turnout when compared to the women’s competition. The contest started with 95 pounds, but the realization came to the lifters that the weight was far too light because there was no struggle for the participants. As the weight increments rose rapidly from trial to trial, the number of competitors began to dwindle. 

With the weight piling on and only three lifters remaining, Adrian Brown emerged as the winner, with Christopher Alvarado and Antonio Velez as runners-up. 

Despite valiant efforts from the competitors, Adrian Brown was the only one to lift 265 pounds, earning him the title of NEIU Campus Rec.’s first-ever champion in the male division!

After the winner was declared, Alvarado and Velez redeemed themselves by successfully lifting an impressive 245 pounds!

Alvarado’s Reaction

After the competition, runner-up and NEIU alumnus Christopher Alvarado gave his thoughts on the bench press competition. 

Alvarado shared that his secret to lifting so much weight was by using the pause bench press method. “I’ve been practicing a lot of [the] pause bench press. I would always pause [for] two seconds, hold and push just to get rid of that momentum,” he said. Alvarado expressed that he lifts to be able to maintain a positive attitude and to relieve stress. 

Alvarado praised Hayer, who made the competition possible, in regards to how well Hayer was able to find and recruit participants into the lifting competition. Alvarado also encouraged students to participate in more of these events. “Just at least try it and whether you like it or not at least you can tell yourself: you tried something even if it’s uncomfortable,” he said. “Because for me, for example, deadlifting and squatting was definitely something that I wasn’t comfortable with, but over time that one definitely became one of my favorites now—same thing with the bench press.”

Alvarado critiqued his performance. “[I’m] definitely really proud of myself. I mean for me, the way I see it is that I’m just happy that I managed to go that far compared to last year,” he said. “And although I’m disappointed with myself that I didn’t win. At the same time, I’m just proud that I made a lot of progress. So I’m just looking forward to the next competition where I can keep improving myself.” Alvarado said that he is looking forward to future competitions and believes he will do better in a future bench competition.