Scot Mendelson

Early life Mendelson is Jewish, and grew up in Brooklyn, New York. His maternal grandfather Morris Reif, known as the "Bronxville Bomber" was Rocky Marciano's stable mate and scored 75 knockouts in 115 fights. Then he moved into bodybuilding. With his pure strength showing even more through his bodybuilding training, Mendelson decided to become a powerlifter.

Powerlifting career Mendelson started as a raw benchpresser and in 2000, benched raw at APF California State & LALC Invitational. He then moved into equipped division in multi-ply category and benched during the same year in APF Los Angeles Lifting Club competition.

During 2001 APF Senior Nationals, Mendelson benched in multi-ply and in the same year at WPC World Championships in South Africa bettered it to . By the end of 2002, he took his equipped PR to .

Raw world record In 2003 APF West Coast Push-Pull championships @ Starks Gym The Live Free or Die Family in San Carlos, Mendelson broke Henderson's five-year old all-time raw bench press world record regardless of weight classes with with only his 2nd lift.

In 2003 APF Senior Nationals, he took his equipped PR to and then to during Bench America I competition. However in 2004 Mendelson got disqualified thrice in a row at WPO World Record Bench Bash, Senior Nationals and Iowa State & WPO Qualifier.

In 2005 Atlantis New England Bench Press competition, in front of Ed Coan as the head judge, Mendelson broke his own all-time raw bench press world record with . The record remained unbeaten for another 8 years until Eric Spoto benched in 2013.

Equipped world record At 2005 APF Nationals, Mendelson benched in multi-ply, Eventhough the record didn't last long with the arrival of 'unlimited' equipment category with the rise of the likes of Ryan Kennelly, Will Barotti, Tiny Meeker, Bill Gillespie and Jimmy Kolb, Mendelson improved his multi-ply PR to by 2008 WPC World Championships in West Palm Beach.

Mendelson's lifetime PR came in 2009 APF Holiday Festival of Strength in Camarillo, where he benched in multi-ply which stood as the all-time multi-ply world record in the 275-pound weight class until Jimmy Kolb in 2020 as well as the all-time multi-ply world record in Masters (40+) category irrespective of weight class until Tiny Meeker in 2013.

Injuries and accidents In 2004, Mendelson was involved in a devastating car accident, that sent him to intensive care for three weeks with a fractured skull, broken ribs, broken leg and a right foot held on only by the skin. After a dozen surgeries, his right ankle was finally removed and he was left with one leg about 2 ½ inches shorter than the other. He was also left with an addiction to Vicodin.

After another car accident in 2015 that made Mendelson unable to continue as a top level powerlifter, he started armwrestling in 2016 and has placed high in national level championship and attended the zloty tour 2018.

Legacy Mendelson is a three-times National Raw Bench press – @SHW class (2005) (Former All-time World Record) → Raw Bench press – @308 lb class (2002) (Former World Record) Equipped Bench press (multi-ply) – @275 lb class (2009) → Equipped Bench press (multi-ply) – @SHW class (2006) (Former All-time World Record)

done during training according to Scot himself Equipped Bench press (unlimited) – Raw Bench Press – for 8 repetitions They have three children, two girls and a boy.

Mendelson runs his own 6,000-sq. ft. private personal training gym in Sherman Oaks called "Fitness Individualized Training" (F.I.T.), which teaches strength training and combat sports. Being a supporter for the legalization of cannabis for medical purposes since his first car accident, he opened up his own medical marijuana dispensary "Mendica", together with his friend Eric Roberts in 2009, which goes under the tagline 'one-stop shop for rehab, rebuilding, relaxation and natural pain medication'.