FERGUS MF CRAWLEY: SUB 5 MILE, 500LB BACK SQUAT, AND A MARATHON ON THE SAME DAY

That.....is.....stupid....impressive.

Alan

Before Covid hit and messed up my routine I was hitting 335lb for 4 reps. No idea what by 1mi would be, but not sub 5:00. I would guess 5:20 only doing 12-15mi a week.

Ok guys give me a solid goal for this year. I'm in South Korea and have nothing to do in my off time but train.

Sub 5:00 and 400 squat?

Alan

Dude is obviously very talented aerobically.

To be able to run a sub 5:00 mile while weighing 30-40 pounds more than optimal distance runner weight is impressive. Running while being that bulky must really suck, especially with legs that thick. I'm 170 lbs right now at 5'9'' and run like a gympy troll.

also: squatting heavy and distance running are polar opposites in terms of energy requirements. Pretty hard to be so strong at both.

xcskier66 wrote:

Dude is obviously very talented aerobically.

To be able to run a sub 5:00 mile while weighing 30-40 pounds more than optimal distance runner weight is impressive. Running while being that bulky must really suck, especially with legs that thick. I'm 170 lbs right now at 5'9'' and run like a gympy troll.

also: squatting heavy and distance running are polar opposites in terms of energy requirements. Pretty hard to be so strong at both.

I don't think heavy squatting and the mile are mutually exclusive. About anything above that, yes.

Very impressive, particularly with the awful pacing on the mile. He probably could run 4:50.

Runningart2004 wrote:

Before Covid hit and messed up my routine I was hitting 335lb for 4 reps. No idea what by 1mi would be, but not sub 5:00. I would guess 5:20 only doing 12-15mi a week.

Ok guys give me a solid goal for this year. I'm in South Korea and have nothing to do in my off time but train.

Sub 5:00 and 400 squat?

Alan

335 for 4 reps isn’t really close to 500. You’d have to be repping 425 for like 5-8 reps before you’re hitting 500

Alan - do you wear a belt on ur squats? Do you feel like it helps more than no belt? maybe a stupid question.

It would be really cool to have an olympic event like this.

Piano_Man87 wrote:

It would be really cool to have an olympic event like this.

Why? Nothing he did is impressive. He would lose to most decent middle school boys in the mile. His squat is average among decent high school football players. And there are people in their 80s that finish marathons.

I’ve thought a good general fitness goal for post college runners is 1/2/3/4/5 in the same week; 135 OHP, 225 bench press, 315 squat, 405 deadlift, sub 5 mile. This blows that out of the water, 500 for back squat alone is much harder than sub 5 mile but to do both is awesome.

For the record, his marathon was 11:13 pace per mile.

Hope Matt London isn't too jelly.

NJ fan wrote:

Piano_Man87 wrote:

It would be really cool to have an olympic event like this.

Why? Nothing he did is impressive. He would lose to most decent middle school boys in the mile. His squat is average among decent high school football players. And there are people in their 80s that finish marathons.

Absolutely none of those boy milers could squat anywhere near 500, probably not even 200.

It would hilarious to see a fat arsed high school football player who can squat 500lbs, try to break 5min mile. Maybe some studly running back, but pretty unlikely.

Runningart2004 wrote:

Before Covid hit and messed up my routine I was hitting 335lb for 4 reps.

Alan

1 rep max calculators say your max is around 365. of course they're not super precise, my experience is they give decent ballpark rating for younger men, not so much for older guys who lack the explosive power. Its fun to try to beat the calculator, though i wouldn't recommend attempting 1RM without spotters and proper squat cage.

friendojamin wrote:

Hope Matt London isn't too jelly.

Why would he be? Fergus is in a totally different height class than London.

You've missed the point wrote:

NJ fan wrote:

Why? Nothing he did is impressive. He would lose to most decent middle school boys in the mile. His squat is average among decent high school football players. And there are people in their 80s that finish marathons.

Absolutely none of those boy milers could squat anywhere near 500, probably not even 200.

It would hilarious to see a fat arsed high school football player who can squat 500lbs, try to break 5min mile. Maybe some studly running back, but pretty unlikely.

So your point is we should celebrate mediocrity????

There are people who can bench press 500 pounds for reps and that can squat over 1000. There are people who can deadlift 500 KG. There are also people who can run under 3:45 for a mile. Kipchoge ran 4:35 per mile for an entire marathon.

What's next? Are we going to worship a guy that can high jump his own height, do a handstand, hold his breathe for 60 seconds, finish a 5k in under 30 minutes, cook a medium rare steak and belch the alphabet all in the same day?

Ugh. Does that much weightlifting make you run like a 90-year old midget? If so, I’d rather keep my 4:40-miling at 40+ with a deadlift of 265lbs.

He looks injured. Something is wrong with his hip extension. He’s shuffling, looks like my wife running 6:15/mi pace. Ugh.

In high school I squatted 225 x 50 to warm up during the winter of my senior year. Three months later I ran a 4:33 1600m. I was planning on playing D2-3 football the next fall but elected to run XC and track.

Thats pretty impressive for him and Adam Klink. However, that was some awful pacing in the mile. I would give him maybe a 4:52-3 with even pacing.

It seems like just under 5 and just over 500 is doable. Can anyone raise the bar? Say 4:40 mile and 550 squat?

I'd bet Saquon Barkley could do it. Add the 40-yard dash in there too.