There is a school of thought that the bench press doesn’t have much carryover to the sport of strongman. This is largely based on the fact that aside from a couple of oddball events, chest-based pressing events are a rarity in the sport. However, that doesn’t stop lots of strongmen like Katona not only training but clearly excelling in the lift!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkDaM4BDJaI&list=UUU_Bxb27Hf5j-720lDCO_ng&index=1
Katona is also a competitive powerlifter so that might explain his his mighty bench. However, there are definitely a large number of competitors that consider the bench press a staple part of their strongman training – including those that haven’t touched a powerlifting competition.
What do you think? Is bench press an important exercise to keep in a Strongman’s arsenal? Or should strongmen concentrate exclusively on overhead press?