Which is harder to achieve: a 300 lb bench press, or a 5:00 mile?

Walker Red wrote:

Pointing Out D REALLY Obvious wrote:

Your non-random sample bias is blindingly obvious. If you have actually achieved both that's great. But completely irrelevant.

You chose to point out my concluding statement. Did you read my other points? Were they biased? Do you know a lot of women and teenagers that have benched 300 lbs or better?

1) There is a substantially larger discrepancy in upper body strength between your typical male and female than in lower body strength. As a result your comparisons using women are completely irrelevant.

2) Typically teenagers develop running ability at a near-adult level WAY before they develop near-adult upper body strength. As a result your comparisons using teenagers are completely irrelevant.

300lb bench press is significantly harder. Sure, a male that is more geared towards strength than endurance will achieve a 300lb bench press much easier than a sub-5 mile. However, when you broadly look at the population, you can easily see that a 300lb bench press is much rarer.

This is just my opinion but I would say a 300lb bench press is closer to a 4:30 mile.

It totally depends on the person / body type. I know 250 lbs strong dudes that can bench 300+ with minimal training. And theses probably 135 lbs athletic dudes that could probably run sub 5 with minimal training.

It's funny, but not unsurprising at all, that most here consider a 300 lbs bench press the harder feat. Post this question to bodybuilding.com and I bet most would say a sub 5 mile is harder! :D

In my early 40s, I could bench just under 300lbs when I weighed 165lbs. That was after ~1yr of dedicated training. I've never run anywhere near a 5:00 mile (apx 6:20 best in my early 40s).

I am the other way around, pretty easy to run a 5:00 mile. I don't think I ever got much over 135 lbs on the bench press.

-4/10

It's significantly harder for you. If one hasn't broken five minutes for mile or 4:58 for 1600m past college age, one most likely won't. I am sure less than 2% of the population has run a sub-5 mile by age 25. I am guessing about 2% for 300 lbs. by age 25. My max is about 265 lbs. I'm fine with that.

I was doing over 3 plates most of my 20s/30s, and am just a bit below that now (29n)

Have never gone under a 5:30 mile at 6'2/200

Presently it's more of a fight to break 6:00 in the mile

For my body type a 300# bench doesn't take very long, I literally have never been under 255 since age 15

I have also done both, but 25 years apart. I first broke 5:00 for the mile at age 15, but didn't bench over 300 until I was over 40. The primary difference was my body weight. I was a runner for 25 years or so and fought to keep my weight as low as possible, at 5'11", that meant somewhere between 147-159 pounds. At 198 pounds, with a couple of years of training, I can bench 315. Body weight makes a huge difference in bench press ability, I can't understate this. It is very, very rare for someone to bench over 300 and run under 5 for the mile, that person is really a very gifted athlete, although they do exist.

blingblang wrote:

I have also done both, but 25 years apart. I first broke 5:00 for the mile at age 15, but didn't bench over 300 until I was over 40. The primary difference was my body weight. I was a runner for 25 years or so and fought to keep my weight as low as possible, at 5'11", that meant somewhere between 147-159 pounds. At 198 pounds, with a couple of years of training, I can bench 315. Body weight makes a huge difference in bench press ability, I can't understate this. It is very, very rare for someone to bench over 300 and run under 5 for the mile, that person is really a very gifted athlete, although they do exist.

As to which is harder, I think they are about equal really. Benching three plates or running under 5 minutes for the mile requires approximately the same amount of dedication for someone who is modestly talented in either lifting or running.

Hyde wrote:

Idj wrote:

He's talking about a physical limit not a personal best. If 235 is the most that guy can do at 165 lbs bodyweight then he's doing something wrong.

http://www.exrx.net/Testing/WeightLifting/BenchStandards.html

Chart states that 165 lbs guys who can BP 255 are "Advanced" and those who can BP 320 are "ELITE"

Men's Health lists 1.5 times bodyweight for max BP as goal standard for male trying to achieve all around fitness/ strength.

http://www.menshealth.com/fitness/fitness-level-tests

1.5 times bodyweight for BP max seems to be roughly inline with what I've seen at non hardcore gyms. Obviously many can BP much, much more with serious gym time, up-diet, supplements, and maybe some 'roids but none of that is easy or cheap. The point is that for most 145lb to 175 lb guys, bench pressing 300 clean will take some serious work and is not guaranteed.

exrx.net is garbage. They also have a running fitness test and if you plug in 7:30 for 1.5mi(the shortest it allows) it maxes the score and rating.

bigger stronger & faster wrote:

It's significantly harder for you. If one hasn't broken five minutes for mile or 4:58 for 1600m past college age, one most likely won't. I am sure less than 2% of the population has run a sub-5 mile by age 25. I am guessing about 2% for 300 lbs. by age 25. My max is about 265 lbs. I'm fine with that.

You clearly didn't read my post at all. There's no way to affirm a conclusion one way or the other by simply looking at one individual. I have never benched 300lbs but I was very close with significantly less training than running. Your assumption about me was false and again is irrelevant when it comes to which feat is more challenging. Broadly speaking from my experience with running and lifting, I would say that a 300lb bench is rarer than a sub 5 mile.

The LetsRun pool has to realize their own skew. A 5 minute mile is seen as a mediocre high school kid scraping to making to Varsity. The vast majority of people here will never bench press more than 200 lbs, let alone 300. There are some really fast runners here and almost no lifters.

-For a boy that is not completely done with puberty, the bench press is harder.

-For a grown man, the bench press is easier. Testosterone plays a bigger role in putting on the muscle mass necessary to BP 300 vs what is needed to run sub 5.

The analogies about tall guys being best suited to this are probably wrong. The longer the arms the harder it is to bench a certain weight. I ran mid 3:50s for the 1500 in college at 6'2" 165ish. I doubt I could have benched 185 then. Post college it took me 2 years of lifting to get over 300 lbs on the BP. I could always break 5 by virtue of running 2-3x a week and having done so much running for years. I hop in central park track club workouts randomly 3-4x a year and < 10% of the guys that show up could probably break 5 minutes.

I did read your post. Up until age 18, I would agree that 300 lbs. bench press is infrequent. By age 25, it's about the same. People are not going from 5:30 mile to sub-5 mile from age 18 to age 25. People are going from age 18 225 lbs. bench press to 300 lbs. bench press by age 25.

Running a five minute mile at 300 pounds.

I benched 250 as a 22 year old as part of sprint prep.

I ran 5:30 as a 10 year old.

Neither of those milestones were meaningful in any way.

I ran sub 3 for 3/4s of a mile.

All just an evening of work.

The worst thing any runner can do is ruin themselves with upper body work. Strength does not equal or replace efficiency

For the average person, a 300 pound bench press will be way, way harder.

I think anyone under a certain age could do either, but a 5:00 mile is relatively slow and most could do it with enough mileage over a couple of years. 300 pounds is heavier than you think - although some that are naturally big and strong could lift 300 within a year of preparation probably.

I know a lot of strong sprinters that can't max 300. I bet you a lot of elite sprinters can only bench 225-275 or so.

Runners have opinions of a sub-5 mile based on experience. Most runners do not bench 300 lbs., so runners think most people don't bench 300 lbs. Think back to high school. There may have been a dozen to two dozen guys capable of running a sub-5 mile in high school. Can't we assume there were at least fifteen guys on the high school football team who could bench press 300 lbs.? You have wrestlers, basketball players, hockey players,

baseball players and throwers in track & field who can bench 300 lbs. who do not play football. I assume at least 10% of high school boys can bench press 225 lbs.