Benching for Boobies; Help Raise Money for Breast Cancer Research

SAN ANGELO, TX - People who love to weight lift should head to The Bar Athletic ClubOon Saturday, Oct. 29, for the fourth annual Benching for Boobies charity event. This bench-pressing competition will help raise money for breast cancer research. All money raised will be given to the American Cancer Society.

Weigh in for Benching for Boobies begins at 8 a.m. and the lifting is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m.

Tommy Nolan Janusz held the first Benching for Boobies in 2011, and was working at a Gold’s Gym at the time.

He said, “There was a guy trying to put an event together [that] needed some help, so I volunteered. They wanted to put together a bench press competition, and I have a pretty good background in power lifting and doing special events, so I thought it would be easy for me to help. I got the ball rolling and ended up taking it over and doing it myself.”

Another event was held again in 2012 at Gold’s Gym, but stopped for a few years. It was brought back in 2015.

“I opened up our gym here, ‘The Bar’, and wanted to do Benching for Boobies again,” Janusz stated.

In 2015 the event earned $1,000 and was donated to the American Cancer Society. As of now, the event has raised $1,200, but the goal is to hopefully raise $1,500 or more.

Janusz added, “I’m most excited this year because, [out of] all of the years I have done [Benching for Boobies], we have more women involved.”

There are about 13 women competing this year, he noted. In other years, the number of women competing was roughly around six.

Additionally, 22 men are registered to compete. So, in total, there are 35 competitors.

“Each lifter will have three opportunities, three rounds to achieve the most weight that they can do. Then we will rank each person by how much weight they do,” Janusz explained.

There will be a men’s and women’s division, and, among those divisions, there will be different weight classes the competitors will compete in.

A costume contest will also be held during the event. Some people last year came dressed in their costumes, and it is being encouraged for this year.

A registration form for the Benching for Boobies event can be found here.