A 374-pound bench press is not as impressive as a 435-pound bench press, but it’s a whale of an accomplishment if you’re Branden Ha.
Back in 2018 in San Diego, Ha bench-pressed 435 pounds to set a United States Powerlifting Association world record.
At the Ala Kai Real Steel meet on Saturday on Oahu, Ha bench-pressed 374 pounds in the 165-pound weight class to win Open and Master gold medals and qualify for Mr. Olympia next year in December in Las Vegas.
Ha is not only older (he turns 45 in February), but he’s also missing part of his triceps, the muscle that straightens the arm, a major key for bench-pressing.
In September 2019, he was working security at Walmart when he chased a thief in the parking lot. The suspect fired a gun at Ha, who slipped and landed on his left elbow.
“I’m missing the last triceps at the bottom. It’s a struggle to lock out. There’s no more muscle,” he said. “My normal life is fine. But in the beginning, it played a big part on me mentally. I thought I would never compete again and bench as heavy. It depressed me. At the time, I was at a high level and only getting stronger.”
He has a friend who’s a corrections officer, and the attempted murder suspect told the guard that he was high on heroin. Ha, who’s Christian, told his friend that he forgave the young kid, who was later let go on supervised release during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I figured now I’ve got to get this done,” Ha said. “Benching is my bread and butter. It’s my hobby. I love to compete. I have to keep trying to see how far I can go. It’s a long, hard road. I can’t put up the big numbers like before. Any progress to me is a plus.”
Ha had to jump through too many hoops and wait on all the red tape for the worker’s comp to kick in. So he’s forgoing orthopedic surgery and trying to strengthen it.
“It’s probably 70 percent. It’ll never get back to 100 percent,” Ha said. “I hope I’m wrong, but there’s a big chunk missing and you can see it. I have a hard time pushing through.”
For now, there are two things on his mind: work on his triceps and 391 pounds, the record a Russian holds in the 45-49 age division.
“I’ll go for that if everything plays out right,” he said. “Anything can happen.”
Ha also gave a shout-out to his sponsors, Penn Fitness and Training Center, FiftyBrand, and All Tight Sports Nutrition, who got him to the Oahu competition.