How much do some of the elite distance runner bench at max?

Most elite distance runners cannot bench much (a couple of 800 and 1500 runners I used to work out with that became elite were former high school football players like myself, but they got off the heavy stuff in order to shed weight when they dedicated themselves as runners and never did much more than sets of 10 w/ 185) as carrying any additional upper body weight will hinder you in the longer distances. A long distance guy like Rupp would be lucky to bench 165#.

I was very strong in college as I had aspirations of playing football, but I was never elite as a distance runner by any means partly for that reason (the other being I was an engineering major so I never got much as much sleep as I needed to train effectively). That being said, when I was at my peak as a runner during my junior year, I could run 3:55 in the 1500 and 9:20 in the steeple and could bench 275 for 8 reps when I weighed 165#. I don't know what my max was because I never did fewer than 6-8 reps. You can run fairly fast and be strong, but in order to be truly elite you need to get rid of the bulk in the upper body and along the perimeter as it is too much of a hinderance to your running efficiency.

True. Elite level runners do not benefit from power or bulk. I also ran the 8/15 and steeple in college. Plenty of 800 types were fairly strong. II just like to challenge myself. I only lift heavy about 2 months out of the year preparing for the one annual owrk place bench press contest. Which will actually be October 15th this year, so I'll aim for 250 again. I mostly do bodyweight reps now and having benched my wieght as many times as 40 and having set world record for strict pullups (433) in half hour in the past, I'm very good at high rep stuff, especially when mixing it with running. strend.com 5 upper body diciplines bollowed by 3 mile run. run time divided into total reps = factor. Bench (BW), wide grip pullups, military press (50%) of body weight., close grip chins and bar dips on the 3:00's. One set to max. 83% elbow to elbow width used for grip postion on bench, shoulder press and wide grip pullups. Would like to see that Froning guy give STREND a go, but he would probably run a 26 minute 3 mile.

Who cares what they can Bench, its like asking "How fast could the best Throwers (Shot,Discus,Hammer,Jav) run a mile in?

One of the varsity runners on my HS XC team was Varsity for 3 years and by the time he graduated HS, he could barely bench 45lbs, but he was all state in XC.

I was state champ in high school in the 800 and district champ in the 1600. We are talking about elite runners here (which I was not), not high school runners. There are plenty of 1500 and 800 runners who were strong (McMullen and Berryhill come to mind). That being said, anyone running over 5000 is likely thin as a rail and would be lucky to press 185#.

Just about all elite distance runners are twigs. Most marathoners weigh 125 soaking weight. I doubt a guy like gebreselassie could do more than 105.

I bet 95% of them couldn't even bench plates.

zohan wrote:

who cares? How fast can the best bench presser run a mile? One isn't related to the other in any way.

"Vernon’s second effort was just good enough to get past Kaya. He beat the Turk by only 6/100ths of a second, 28:08.66 to 28:08.72.

“I bench more; I’ve got a bigger chest. I think that’s what it came down to,” Vernon quipped."

Your average male cannot BP their own body weight.

At the end of a distance race, i'd bet on the guy who has a higher ratio of BenchPress/Bodyweight - it's an indicator of overall raw strength, and Vernon showed it. That being said push ups are better training for distance runners as it works out the core better and less chance for injury.

Your BP is affected by arm length and chest girth, many of the WR powerlifters have enormous rib cages and short arms and with a wide grip only move the bar a small distance for legal lift. As compared to some scrawny long armed distance runner (Rupp) who has to move the bar a lot longer. The toughest part of the lift is at the bottom, and if you have long arms/shallow-chest it's tougher!

That being said after 3 months i got upto 7 X 3 X 205 lbs at

163 lbs (5'11") and 5X5X195 (1rep max calculator=225?) and had run a 37:20 10k at beginning of year crap i know, but it age grades to 32:23.

0. Elite distance runners don't bench press.

Of course most truly elite runners don't do weight training for bulk, and benching above body weight is counter-productive. But many elites are said to use push-ups as part of their core training, say sets of 3 X 30 several times a week. This alone is enough to preserve a bench press max of body weight or higher.

I'm a lanky distance type, and during my heaviest weight training I hit a max around 175. Right now I'm close to my peak racing weight (5'11", 145 lbs), and I do at least 40 push-ups a day, up to as many as 200 if I'm looking for a strength-focused day. Due to travel I'm sometimes away from the weight room for months at a time, but I have no problem jumping right back to a few sets (say 3 X 8) of bench press at 130.

Also keep in mind that bench press is significantly harder for anyone with long, skinny arms, as the lever is less efficient!

I've seen photos and videos of professional distance runners do squat reps of over 220 pounds. These are guys who have classic super elite builds like Rupp and Coe (as in they are very skinny and thin-framed). I came to realize after seeing this stuff a fair amount that some people just have insane genetics that allows them to both run 28:00 or faster as well as bench over 200lbs despite weighing 130lbs or something themselves. It would not surprise me if some mid distance guys could bench+squat+deadlift over 900lbs.

When Steve Scott was in college (I was on the team), the school's crew coach put up an offer of a steak dinner to anyone who could bench 300 pounds and run a sub-5:00 mile. A couple of his rowers did it; Steve made that look pretty easy when he benched 300 (while weighing 168), having recently run 3:51.

He could also throw a football 70 yards. Definitely not the typical skinny distance runner.

Well...I do agree with a previous post...who cares what you bench! But at one point years ago, I did!

I'm sure some won't believe me...

I ran 4:15 in high school when I was maxing out at 230 in the bench...prob weighed 135lbs

In college, I ran 8:25 3K and 4:12 mile freshman year before I was injured for rest of career. However, I kept racing decent..1:55...4:18...etc.

I gained weight and was racing at 155lbs...doing reps on the bench of 225x12..That was the most reps I did at 225. Usually I would hit 10 reps though. If you calculate that...you would've assumed I could max out at 310 or more...but there was no way! I never really maxed out because I thought it was pointless, but when I tried...I put up 290 and stopped there...I just got that up...I think because I was so small and did not have much mass or pure force...

Anyway..my reps at 225 were great, but 1 rep max couldn't add up.

I remember showing up to the gym in my short shorts after an 8 miler..throwing 225 on the bar...throwing up 12 times...the look on the meat heads was priceless. Sorry to brag there...miss those days.

Let me add this as well..

When I heard about the Arnold Pump n Run...I figured I would show up and crush the record...

But people do not realize how hard it actually can be to maintain 15 min 5k running fitness along with great upper body strength... I think the mixture of possible injuries and keeping all the strength while running high mileage is difficult.

When I was running high miles... there were many times in the gym I felt myself getting weaker..prob due to some muscle loss with the high mileage.

Anyway... I showed up...didn't break the record...didn't even win that year.

My college teammate, Paul Stemmer, a 28:30 10k runner, benched 285. A real freak of nature.

This is like asking "how good are elite runners at Ms. Pacman?" There is very little correlation between how fast you can run long distances and how much you can bench. I'm sure the range in benching among elite distance guys is huge -- some of the bigger guys who lift a good bit might be close to 300lbs while some of the smallest guys who do no lifting might be around 100lbs.

Curious Weightlifter wrote:

Guys like Amos, Rudisha, Rupp, etc. how much is their max bench?

Also only respond if you actually lift weights and have knowledge of what the weight would feel like if you were as small as Rupp. Thanks!

What are the results of the long-term study trying to find a possible relationship between max bench and 1500m to 5k personal bests for elite and sub elite athletes around the world?

Typical runner or sockpuppet wrote:

Elite runners? About 100

Letsrunners? About 270

^ this.

Runningart2004 wrote:

Don't need that much mass. Depends on the size of the runner.

A 150-160lb runner could do it if he trained to. I was a shredded 155lb and benched 245 for 1....granted wasn't running much then but was putting in a good 15-20 miles on a bike 4-5 times a week.

Someone around Solinsky's size could do it if he wanted to. Pre was around 150lbs? He could do it.

Alan

Yeah, if you're 5'4 it's not so difficult lol.

ThatAverageRunner wrote:

When I was consistently benching and running I weighed about 145lbs (give or take 3 or 4) and was 5'11. I maxed at about 185. ...

That is almost exactly where I was in all 3 dimensions. So, now we have a sample size of 2!