What is a good bench press as compared to your weight?

As I recall, at the Combine, typically very few NFL prospects will be able to do that many repeats of 225 lb bench press, the best guy usually doing maybe 25 or 30 repeats. So, I'm thinking that most people here are talking about the far easier non free bench on the olympia or nautilus machines. On those, I don't try to do much more than my weight, but do roughly two sets of 10x150 lbs (I weigh 140), which is not that hard.

Height makes a big difference. There's no such thing as a tall weightlifter (professional).

Certainly NRR, but I couldn't let this one slide -

Bill Kazmaier height: 6'3"

*Three times World's Strongest Man champion

*First to bench press 300kg (661lbs) in competition

*PRs: 925 lb. squat, 661 lb. bench, 887 lb. deadlift

Magnus Ver Magnusson height: 6'3"

*Four times World's Strongest Man champion

*PRs: 882 lb. squat, 605 lb. bench, 827 lb. deadlift

Vasiliy Alekseyev height: 6'1"

*Legendary Olympic weightlifter, arguably the greatest super heavyweight of all time

*Two times Olympic champion, 8 times World Champion

*Broke the clean-and-jerk world record 32 times in his career, topping out at 564 lbs.

Hossein Rezazadeh height: 6'1"

*Two time Olympic weightlifting champion, four times World champion

*Clean-and-jerk PR of 581 lbs. (current world record)

Zydrunas Savickas height: 6'3"

*Six times Arnold Strongman champ

*Two times IFSA World Championship winner

*Fortissimus and World's Strongest Man champ

*PRs: squat 938 lbs, bench 629 lbs, deadlift 898 lbs.

snatch wrote:

Has anybody here benched twice their weight while in decent running condition? If you could double your weight and run 17:00 5k I would say you are a very good all around athlete.

I benched 220lbs while weighing 155lbs and running 49 400m and 1:54 800m, 26:23 8k. No way am I running 26:23 while dragging around the muscles to bench 310lbs. That being said, I am far from a world class / top level type of athlete.

Freshman year in college, I was injured for the end of XC and all of winter. I was in the pool everyday either swimming or aqua jogging, as well as the weight room 3 times a week with the sprinters. I came into school weighing 122 and weighed about 130 at the time of my first race in the spring, and I was much more muscular than I'd ever been before of course. Anyway, at that point, I could press 285 once. I ended up running some pretty great mid distance times, especially for me. I had never broken 2:00 in high school, but I ran 1:56point in a relay, as well as a 3:58 1500. My 5k was lacking a bit at 15:58. Although after getting up over 70 mpw by mid season, and cutting lifting to twice a week, I lost some ability lifting. I was only able to max 220 at the end of that year, although I did drop my weight back down to 126. Anyway, I feel safe in saying that I was in decent running condition when I was able to bench twice my weight, considering I ran a 1:58 800 two days after my all time max of 285.

I came into school weighing 122 and weighed about 130 at the time of my first race in the spring, and I was much more muscular than I'd ever been before of course. Anyway, at that point, I could press 285 once.

According to the 2009 men's raw bench press rankings on

(

), a 286 pound raw bench in the 132 pound weight class would have put you fourth in the US for the year. In contrast, your 800 or 1500 times (though decent) would not rank among the four hundred best in the nation in any year.

So either.....

a.) you have absolutely incredible powerlifting talent and are totally wasting your time with running, or

b.) your 285 raw bench press at 130 pounds never happened.

I'm the same body weight and have done 290 lbs so I believe this guy. His 800 and 1500 times are a little faster than mine, but I've run 15:20s for 5k.

I disagree with both of your explanations. Personally, I enjoy both working out and running. Although, there's probably more money, exposure, opportunity, and sense of freedom in running than there is in weightlifting so I would choose running if i had to pick one.

Furthermore, not every talent has to be cashed in on.

Iron Island Exile wrote:

I came into school weighing 122 and weighed about 130 at the time of my first race in the spring, and I was much more muscular than I'd ever been before of course. Anyway, at that point, I could press 285 once.

According to the 2009 men's raw bench press rankings on

http://www.powerliftingwatch.com

(

http://www.powerliftingwatch.com/yearly-rankings/2009/men

), a 286 pound raw bench in the 132 pound weight class would have put you fourth in the US for the year. In contrast, your 800 or 1500 times (though decent) would not rank among the four hundred best in the nation in any year.

So either.....

a.) you have absolutely incredible powerlifting talent and are totally wasting your time with running, or

b.) your 285 raw bench press at 130 pounds never happened.

When I said pretty great mid distance times, I meant for me personally. I can see how it seems like I meant pretty great in general, which I agree, they are not. I put on 8 pounds of muscle in 4-5 months lifting. I don't know if that's consistent or above average or below average with weight gains with lifting, and how that would correlate to lifting talent. But that's what happened with me.

You know, you have a point. I too enjoy both working out and running. Last year I ran 1:46 for 800 and 3:35 for 1500 and 3:54 for the mile, but I prefer to rewards I get from working out. Cashing in on running seems like a waste to me - that's why I haven't pursued it seriously. I find working mightily to bench 405 for a few reps at 230 more satisfying that banging out sub-4 miles at will. I think you can understand.

I was always told a goal to shoot for was 1.5 times your body weight. I maxed out at 230 when I weighed 145-150. It took me a couple years of lifting to get there. I was not running at the time.

Besides being 20 years ago, I run now at 135 and would probably be lucky to lift that.

We have a gym where I work and it does not have bench press so I pretty much do all DB and Cable Work when I am lifting with my chest. I was on a pretty good 3 month string and got up to 2-3 reps w/ 80lb DBs at the end of my workout and then went to a local gym a week later and struggled w/ 3 reps at 175lbs on the bench. I hadn't "benched" in years. There is definitely a different type of coordination that comes into play with the barbell that I wasn't expecting.

I love lifting. I feel better when I am, have more energy, look better, and eat quite a bit healthier but for some god-awful reason I am back running 80-100mpw again in hopes of reaching a few more milestones. I'm sore, tired, losing weight, etc... Amazing what runners but themselves through in the name of a (sometimes) thankless sport.

Iron Island Exile wrote:

You know, you have a point. I too enjoy both working out and running. Last year I ran 1:46 for 800 and 3:35 for 1500 and 3:54 for the mile, but I prefer to rewards I get from working out. Cashing in on running seems like a waste to me - that's why I haven't pursued it seriously. I find working mightily to bench 405 for a few reps at 230 more satisfying that banging out sub-4 miles at will. I think you can understand.

Alright, I see what you're saying. But many elite runners have called it quits for other ventures (and they have run significantly faster than any of the times that you have listed). Those times will not get you anywhere. Neither will 4th place in the national weight lifting competition. I don't know much about weight-lifting, but I assume that there's not near as much prize money in it as there is in running. That's another reason that I would rather stick to running. And I never said that I didn't pursue weightlifting seriously; I do. I just don't do it competitively.

Take Alan Webb for example. In high school, he ran a 3:53, a 47, and could bench 250 lbs. Look where each of those would have ranked him in the country that year. He chose running.

So I've been lifting on and off for the past two years. When I first started I could barely get up two 45s for DB bench press with my lowest possible weight at the time being 148 at 6'. After a year of lifting 5 days/wk I worked up to doing 3x10 at 75lbs each for DB bench press. I started feeling heavy though so I backed off the lifting and now only going about 2 days/wk and lift 3x10 at 70lbs. I thought these numbers were pretty high for a distance runner, and once tried BB after finishing my chest workout because my friend was on the bench. I put up 155 a handful of times but really struggled beyond that. I now at my lowest possible weight am about 158.

Although I was never fat by any means, I always felt like a thicker/heavier runner and not ultra skinny like most other successful distance runners. While increasing muscle weight I'm sure I've also lowered my body fat so my muscle gain is greater than 10 pounds. I'd like to continue lifting and improving my marks to reach about 3x10 @ 80 on DB but I'm afraid of being over 160 and how it will affect my running performance (5k-half marathon).

Does anyone feel that their lifting is hindering their running success? I feel like most of the people that have posted in this thread are stronger than me, but I just feel like the lifting I'm currently doing could be hurting my running as I've always feared how much I weigh. How much did some of you weigh before lifting?

Also interested about this. Does Tegenkamp really weigh 145? USATF lists him as 6'1" and 145 which would be unbelievable. He looks much bigger since his Badgers days and pretty built. I want to know where he hides all that weight if its true. I'm also 6'1" but look skinnier than him and weigh 155.

Ha ha this is great. You are absolutely full of it.Finally someone points out how ridiculous some of these numbers are that people throw out.i love how they keep insisting. classic

No you are just one of the few honest posters (or one who actually knows what he is talking about)next up - what is your vertical leap?you won't believe how many people out there have better verticals than just about any athlete you've heard of

Surprised wrote:

I feel like most of the people that have posted in this thread are stronger than me, but I just feel like the lifting I'm currently doing could be hurting my running as I've always feared how much I weigh. How much did some of you weigh before lifting?

why are you guys so negative and so quick to not believe what people say? stop being so close-minded. what do these people have to gain from lying on an anonymous message board?

Oh, for sure, my 800/1500/mile times are pretty worthless. A rotator cuff injury last year basically forced me out of the gym for a few months - so I decided to use the opportunity to sort of 'get into' running (you know, some workouts and stuff like that). After about four months, I went down to the track with my stopwatch and ran a mile in 3:54. Not too bad, I thought, but really no big whoop. The next weekend I did the 1:46/3:35 (about an hour apart) just to see what I could do. They were ok times, for me at least, but I could see that they would get me nowhere. Fortunately my shoulder was a lot better by then so I got back into the gym more and put the running on the back burner (could probably only slog a 4:05 mile now).

Webb - his 3:59i, 3:53, and 5th at USATF champs in '01 got him ranked 6th in the nation (McMullen was #1). His 250 bench (which competition was that? 148 pound weight class?) must have got him ranked 6,000th in the nation. He chose running. We can only imagine how difficult that decision was.

"Has anybody here benched twice their weight while in decent running condition? If you could double your weight and run 17:00 5k I would say you are a very good all around athlete."

I'm closing in 1.5 x bw. 230 went up for one rep today. I rarely if ever do a BB Bench and haven't done it in months. I workout with 85s for 5-6 reps. Pretty confident I could get it up to 250 while working on limit strength.

Deadlifted 315 on Wednesday for single. Hadn't DL'd in a while.

Working on Squat later. Did 225 for 20 "rest-pause" reps a couple weeks ago. I would squat 225 to failure at 9-10 reps, keep the bar on my back while I breathed for about 5-10s and continued to pump them out until I got to 20. Last time I tested Squat it was 260...I'm guessing I'm closer to 275-285 now.

Haven't run a 5k in over a year, but I'm guessing sub 17:00 is still in the cards.

When did Webb do a PL comp?

Alan

Interesting guy...

www.theworkoutmachine.com

Now, his running creds ain't exactly spectacular, but they are better than pedestrian.

Alan

The truth lies somewhere in between. I think some people on this board are full of crap, but at the same time, it is possible to have both good strength and be reasonably fast, as strength comes from finer muscle fibers (a lot of the big body builders you see aren't necessarily all that strong). From my own experience, I was more concerned with wanting to play college football in high school. After I had a falling out with my coach and my dream of growing to 6'4" didn't pan out, I dedicated more time to running (but still kept working out with weights). I was bigger than most middle distance runners, but still was able to run reasonably fast (and had a competitive streak that a lot of the skinnier guys lacked). When I was at my prime during my junior and senior years I could run a 3:55 in the 1500 and bench sets of 8-10 at 255 (I never maxed out because reps do more for your body and inflict less damage on your joints than the idiots who try to max out at every session).

That being said, both were built slowly over time training smart (started out college repping with 225 and running a 4:35 mile). Just because you haven't done it doesn't mean it isn't possible (remember high school football is the most popular sport in number of participants on the mens side, so not all of the physical talent ends up in track and field). A lot of the good middle distance runners I competed with in college played high school football.