Could Ryan Hall also make the Olympics in weight lifting

Alan - have you seen him do a 405-pound deadlift?

Sally Vix wrote:

Runningart2004 wrote:

Full Stop. He’s not doing a LEGIT Bench over 300lbs. I would be surprised if he did a legit Bench over 250. Most who claim over 250 are severely bouncing off the chest, doing half reps (like in his video), or are lifting their butts way off the bench ( again like his video.

Given his 405 DL (with straps) and his little legs I will guess he can’t go over 300 on the squat. His last squat video has a P—— Pad for his little neck. Granted that was a while back. Are we even serious?

Alan

Alan - have you seen him do a 405-pound deadlift?

I posted the video. Look through the thread.

Alan

Pretty good transformation for a former elite marathoner. However, his bench and deadlift form really sucks. He'd probably be better if he trained with good form.

Decent. wrote:

Pretty good transformation for a former elite marathoner. However, his bench and deadlift form really sucks. He'd probably be better if he trained with good form.

.

His deadlift form isn't that bad. His bench isn't so much bad form as it's he's doing a completely different exercise.

Other than jerking the weight at the beginning it’s hard to really tell what his DL form looks like. My guess is he looks like a question mark from the side. I mean he got it up.

Ryan, please use a belt (squats too) and stop lifting in your living room.

Alan

I'm 6' 180...forget lifting I'd like to challenge a former Olympic marathoner to a footrace. I've always been big for a runner Ryan definitely hasn't what do you think his run fitness is now with his current size?

Silly thread title and his form is crap, but Ryan is still very strong on bench. Off the top of my head, I would guess that his bench pressing ability is comparable to a 17-minute 5k. If an NFL running back ran a 17-minute 5k after retiring, letsrunners would be super impressed.

His bench max is probably something like 250-270 with non-cheat form. I doubt he can squat over 300 with proper form, so he isn’t quite “1000 pound club” material just yet.

He should definitely get some coaching or train with some experienced powerlifters before he hurts himself though. His injury risk will only continue to increase as he lifts heavier.

I mean it is what it is. wrote:

He is not 165. He has to be closer to 190. He has put on serious weight.

The weight just doesn't look good one him it's weird. Head is too small. He needs to lose about 15-20lbs of muscle. Get some tone bro.... Brad Pitt fight club YO.

I agree. I'm a heterosexual male and don't pretend to speak with certainty for females, but I think they would prefer a guy with something closer to Cristiano Ronaldo's lean, strong physique (or as the poster above mentioned, Brad Pitt's) rather than Ryan's newly added flab and mass.

Perhaps there is a trade-off between strength and body fat percentage. Possibly the strongest person I ever witnessed in a gym had very poor muscular definition, but was big and flabby (very high fat percentage). He did 6 x 405 pounds on the bench with good form.

Video on YouTube where they ask a bunch of random women which physique they prefer from six photos. Most women preferred a physique that is built, but not too muscular and pretty chubby by letsrun standards. So Ryan Hall's new physique is within line of what most women preferred.

SalmonRice wrote:

Absolutely not. 20x205lbs is definitely better than what the average guy in the gym can do,

For the last time, he didn't bench 20X 205. Those are all like 1/2 reps.

But the funniest thing about all this is: Ryan Hall has turned himself into an legitimate meat-head. How many people saw that coming ?!

Runningart2004 wrote:

In my experience the Squat is the hardest lift for a runner or for anyone who still runs even a little bit. Looking at his legs, he needs to squat more.

Alan

Kinda off topic for this thread, but interesting to hear your observation that the squat is the hardest lift for most runners. I’m a lifelong runner (no longer competitive) who has just recently started getting into a little bit of lifting, and I’m pretty sure that relatively speaking right now my bench is better than my deadlift which is better than my squat. I was kind of surprised by this seeing as most of my life has been spent exercising mainly my lower body, but then was thinking that it might have something to do with the fact that my body has adapted to recruiting primarily slow twitch fibers in the leg muscle groups? Any knowledge/ideas on this (either the physiology or just your experience in lifting?) Purely out of curiosity. Thanks!

In general.....you should deadlift more than you squat and squat more than you bench. How much is going to depend on your own biomechanics.

Of the 3 the squat is the most technical lift, the most affected by limitations in mobility, and the most affected by other outside forces (shoes, belt, etc).

Runners tend to have poor ankle mobility which will affect how wide they need to setup in order to hit depth (wider).

Runners tend to have poor hip mobility (tight hamstrings) which will affect if they can even hit depth at all without the pelvis tilting (butt wink).

While you work on these mobility issues (stretch, foam roll) you can work around them by doing low bar squats, taking a stance slightly outside shoulders, with feet pointed outward (30 deg), you could also use squat shoes or use heel inserts (up to 1/2in).

Also anyone going heavy (85% or higher....so 5 reps or lower) should be using a weightlifting belt when squatting. For no other reason than it makes it easier to keep a tight torso. It’s like an extra set of abs. Use it once, properly, and you’ll never go heavy again without it lol. The same goes for a shoe with a slight heel. And if you can, try it to lift in squishy curved running shoes. Your squat will thank you.

Alan

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah?lolz

Hounddog harrier wrote:

20 reps ( almost) at 205 pounds. Like the title says, does he have a chance?

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bsgl9FshYNf/

His 205 x 20 bench press is like Macdaddy squatting 405 for 4 reps.

He is 6 months away from benching as much as Gronk . What other world class ex-runner can say that ?

Hounddogharrier wrote:

He is 6 months away from benching as much as Gronk . What other world class ex-runner can say that ?

Again, STOP.

HE WAS DOING 1/2 reps. By arching his back way up and pushing off his legs to meet the bar with his rib cage, he is not going down anywhere close to a full rep. And then he is not coming up all the way to lock out. 1/2 reps. Try that next time you bench. Don't even bother with the arched back, just come down 1/2 way and go up less than full lock out, and count your reps. You'll set a big pr in a hurry!

(it's still pretty good for a former scrawny distance runner. But let's not go with absurd hyperbole: hey, he is as strong as Gronk!)

Thanks for the info! Yeah my DL is heavier than my squat which is heavier than bench, but I think relatively speaking the squat is the least impressive (not that any of them are impressive, lol). I definitely don’t have great hip mobility so that could be part of it- my ankle dorsiflexion is decent so don’t think that’s the issue. Appreciate the pointers!

Similar situation here. Lifelong multi-sporter (running, cycling, climbing, etc.) and my squats have always sucked. I have big muscular looking legs that can carry me up mountains and broke tackles playing ruby, but my squat PR is only 260, which is also my lifetime bench PR. My dead lift PR is 365. None are great, but that squat seems terrible. Started a minimalist lifting program (Tactical barbell... 2 x week) to support cycling, running, cross country skiing, etc. 4 months ago after 4 months with no lifting, and am up to 205 x 3 bench, 230 x 3 squat, and 305 x 3 dead lift. Again, none are great, but it seems like there should be a bigger gap between squat and bench press.