How many times can you bench press 225 lbs?

ArchimedesLever wrote:

I have to chuckle...male egos always seem to revolve around 'maxes' and 'bests' and 'PRs', etc. But I'll play along.

I was 5"10 and massed 145lbs at end of college. Grew one more inch and added 20-25lbs in years following as I moved into cycling/swimming/martial arts (weight is very important in sparring or grappling!) I did 225x3reps in college, 205x5reps, 185x10reps, 155x27reps. I benched 245 for a 'max' at the end of a bench workout. Easily felt like I could have put up maybe 15-20lbs more if I had been a bit more fresh, but whatever. Might could hit close to 285 now if power-to-weight ratio was same. Not too many collegiate distance runners can do their bodyweight + 10-20lbs for one rep. Free weight power lifting/free weight exercises are not really specific to distance running, but I was still running around 40-50miles per week, PRs of 4:15mile, 14:57 5K during that same time period. Was 'lifting' about once every 4 days, usually did about 10 exercises 2-3 sets each, focusing on entire body in each workout, not just 'arms day' or 'legs day' or 'core day' or whatever. Took about 45min to move through workout. Good times. Got my slack couch potato roommate to workout with me 2x a week. He ended up benching about 215 and squatting about 300 by semester's end. Not bad for a guy who had never worked out or ran or anything in his life.

Then I moved to martial arts in my 30's and ended up earning a black belt in a pretty legit hybrid system. Whole 'nother type of strength training. Was trained by an ex-Special Forces soldier in that system who had done some power lifting back in the day...he benched like 445. He was in his early 50s when I met him and could still bench about 385. While in martial arts I got the joy of holding planks up to like 6-7 minutes while you were solidly kicked in the core to test balance, doing pushups on knuckles and finger tips while having a 50-60lb kid on your back, burpees till I was as anaerobic as the last 100meters of an 800meter race, sitting in a lo-stance squat for like 20minutes (sucked) while having my legs kicked or a 50-60lb kid standing on each leg, etc. I think I did 170 pushups in one set once, free chin ups (no assists) for 27 reps, maybe like 32 dips? We had to hold a 10lb kettle ball straight out in front with both hands...and when we started tiring, the instructor would start whacking your arms with a Kali/Escrima stick. He wanted us to be able to fight/scrap well even while tired or in muscular agony. Fatigue and pain are bitter company!

So, there are other tests of strength besides benching, squatting, deadlifting, snatch and jerk, power-cleans, or whatever...the strongest people in the world lb for lb are probably world class rock climbers like Alex Honnold (think that's how you spell his last name). They could literally crush every metacarpal/carpal in your favorite NFL player or Olympic powerlifter's hand. No joke. Might not even be able to bench 225 at all. Let me finish by saying...I don't even consider myself in the same room/breath as some of the elite athletes in various sports. My goal was just to be the best I could be. Hope that's true for all of you as well.