Pat Robertson's leg-pressing claim draws skeptics

Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson says he has leg-pressed 2,000 pounds, but some say he'd be in a pretty tough spot if he tried.

The 700 Club host's feat of strength is recounted on the Web site of his Christian Broadcasting Network, in a posting headlined "How Pat Robertson Leg Pressed 2,000 Pounds."

According to the CBN Web site, Robertson worked his way up to lifting a ton with the help of his physician, who is not named. The posting does not say when the lift occurred, but a CBN spokeswoman released photos to The Associated Press that she said showed Robertson lifting 2,000 pounds in 2003, when Robertson was 73. He is now 76.

The Web posting said two men loaded the leg-press machine with 2,000 pounds "and then let it down on Mr. Robertson, who pushed it up one rep and let it go back down again." The Web site said several people witnessed the event, and shows video of Robertson leg-pressing what appears to be 1,000 pounds.

(snip) Clay Travis of CBS SportsLine.com called the 2,000-pound assertion impossible in a column this week, writing that the leg-press record for football players at Florida State University is 665 pounds less.

"Where in the world did Robertson even find a machine that could hold 2,000 pounds at one time?" Travis asked.

One of the photos Vasko released had a digital date stamp of 1994, although she said Robertson performed the leg press in 2003. Vasko said that perhaps the date was not set properly on the camera.

Okay, just watched the video.

Let me say this: I weight lift, and I do so with as much commitment as I am able. Unfortunately, not enough to body build, hence I lift to get stronger, not to look good. I think I have a good build however, and I am pleased with my progress of three years of lifting.

My observation of the video is this. If that is how he did the "leg press," then I have little doubt he could lift "2,000 pounds" once. Look at the reps, folks - he barely moves his legs down to a bent-knee position. He is also using his hands to push his knees down to assist in straightening his legs.

I had thought originally that this was a misprint, but now I see that it is simply the exaggerated results that come with incomplete repetitions.

I have a maximum bench press of 315 pounds. That's free weights, with correct form. If I were to use a machine to take away the element of balance, I could easily do 350 pounds. I have done 335 pounds - about a year ago in this scenario - several reps. If I were to bring the weight down only 30% of the way to my chest, I could do 400 pounds. What am I getting at? This:

If you use a machine to eliminate the element of balancing the weight, and you use your hands to help straighten your knees, and you only go down 30% of the way that you are SUPPOSED to go down in a rep, you can drastically increase the amount of weight you do.

I issue this challenge to you all: Do a leg press exactly as Pat did it. Go down just as far, and use your hands to help. I EMPHATICALLY declare right now that most guys who try this WILL be able to "leg press" more than 1,000 pounds. This is not a correct leg press; his knees should come all the way down almost against his chest, and then back to full extension. If you watch the video, he goes down a few inches, then back up again.

This is just a misunderstanding by Pat, et al. YES, you can "leg press" a LOT of weight if you use those little "cheats" to do so. Just lay under the bumper of your several-thousand-pound car and see how easy it is to get some lift. So I want to tell you all that I have LITTLE doubt that he was able to do one rep of 2,000 pounds doing it the way I saw on the video. But it is not a real leg press of 2,000 pounds - and he is not correctly doing full leg presses of the 1,000 pounds on the video. This is just bad weightlifting, with the exaggerated numbers that come with incomplete reps.

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