How much can sub-4 minute milers bench?

The bench press isn't a true test of strength? What's a better test? Anyhow, I'd guess the avg sub 4 guy could throw up 190-200 lbs.

You're an idiot

Anybody know what Alan Webb can bench? I'd take a wild guess and say the average sub 4 guy could probably bench slightly more than half as much as Webb. I have definitely seen a few other unusually beefy sub-4 guys who could probably do even more, but Webb is definitely a lot stronger than most in terms of weight lifting type strength.

Between 100 and 300 pounds.

Why not ask how many screens of Pac Man a sub 4 miler can get past?

It's just as relavent.

My guess is that they are very close than their weight. Most do not do any major upper body work (certain not trying to build mass), but are otherwise healthy and strong and clearly do some, so could probably bang out 125%-150% of their body weight as a one-time max, but realistically are 90-110% of their body weight for a full set or two.

I'd guess most runners between 100 and 160 pounds

dougpound wrote:

My guess is that they are very close than their weight. Most do not do any major upper body work (certain not trying to build mass), but are otherwise healthy and strong and clearly do some, so could probably bang out 125%-150% of their body weight as a one-time max, but realistically are 90-110% of their body weight for a full set or two.

We are talking about 1 rep max. Talking about them anyone doing a set of something has nothing to do with "how much they can bench"

I remember a story about Joe Falcon. He walked into a weightroom being used by the Razorback football team. Initially they gave him some s**t, but he won a bet by benching 250. He weighed a buck 20 at the time. While it isn't a predictor of mile greatness by any means, it does give a hint about power to weight ratio, muscular strength and explosiveness. Anyone who saw Joe kick knows what I'm talking about.

I'd bet that 3:57 guy from Stanford Michael Atchoo could put up some big weight.

better test of strength might be one of the olympic type lifts. as for how much manzano and centro lift...dude, those two guys are TINY if you've ever seen them in person. you could put little Leo on a keychain and wee centro in your front coat pocket. highly specialized greyhounds that have nothing to do with lifting heavy weights.

The Farm wrote:

I'd bet that 3:57 guy from Stanford Michael Atchoo could put up some big weight.

Define "big"

RUNNERS ARE TWERPY GEEKS!

I'm an 800/1500 guy and I ran the equivalent of a 4:23 mile last spring. I benched 235 at the end of base training for XC and I recently benched 255. I feel like I've become too big for the mile.

Highest I've seen from someone that fast was 250lbs three times (So maybe a max ~285ish?). Guy has a similar build to Juantorena.

George Gandy (Strength and conditioning coach) said in an interview, that Seb Coe could bench 110 kg, which equates to 243 lbs.

The power to weight ratio was extraordinary.

Liverpool FC wrote:

George Gandy (Strength and conditioning coach) said in an interview, that Seb Coe could bench 110 kg, which equates to 243 lbs.

The power to weight ratio was extraordinary.

Above average maybe but not extraordinary

Agreed,for a normal sized guy that wouldn't be anything to brag about, but Seb only weighed 119 lbs (54 kg) and he wasn't exactly stocky.

I've known several guys in that range and there is a massive variation between them.

3:34 guy ~1.3xbody weight

3:41 guy ~1.1xbody weight

3:42 guy ~0.8xbody weight

3:43 guy ~1xbody weight

3:43 guy ~0.9xbody weight

3:44 guy ~1.5xbody weight

All guys between 5-9 and 6-0 ; between 130lbs and 150lbs.

I wouldn't say there is much of a trend really - except that all of them are at least not INCREDIBLY weak. The the three highest ratios all belong to the three most heavily built guys - all of whom spent secondary school careers as primarily 800m runners.

None of these guys saw bench as a part of training - and would do it only very occasionally as sort of a fck-around.

bfchfc wrote:

Above average maybe but not extraordinary

About 2x bodyweight is remarkable for a 1500 runner.