Pat Casey and the Pat Casey Press: Lessons from a Powerlifting Pioneer

Pat Casey is a name that deserves far more recognition in strength training circles. He was the first man to bench over 600 pounds in competition, hitting 615 in 1967. He also became the first person to squat 800 pounds and total over 2,000. These lifts happened decades before calibrated plates and modern power racks, using unstable benches, narrow pads, and questionable plates.

Casey was a training monster. In his regular workouts, he pressed 200-pound dumbbells for multiple sets of five. Finding dumbbells of that size in the 1960s would have been an accomplishment by itself.

But Casey had a problem many lifters still struggle with—a bench press sticking point halfway through the lift. To fix it, he developed the Casey Press. This movement involved lowering the bar to the chest, pressing it halfway up, then bringing it back to the chest before completing a full rep. It created constant tension and directly attacked the sticking point where many lifters fail.

The Casey Press is incredibly effective for building strength through the midrange of the press. It works differently from the popular Spoto Press, which targets sticking points closer to the chest. Unfortunately, the Spoto Press is often misapplied because it's easier to program and more widely known. Too many coaches default to it instead of assessing where a lifter actually struggles.

If your sticking point is halfway up, the Casey Press should be your go-to. Use it for heavy triples or higher-rep hypertrophy work, depending on your training goals. It builds control, power, and confidence in one of the toughest parts of the lift.

The lesson here goes beyond the bench press. Powerlifting has a rich history full of solutions like this. When you learn where these exercises come from and why they work, you can make smarter decisions in your programming. You’ll also be able to ask better questions when coaches try to assign you a cookie-cutter fix.

Pat Casey helped build the foundation of the sport we love. His lifts and his methods deserve to be remembered and applied. If you’re stuck on your bench press or want to learn how to approach your sticking points more effectively, give the Casey Press a try. And take some time to learn the history of this sport—you’ll find more answers there than in social media trends.

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