How rare is it to run a sub 5 minute mile AND bench press 225?

As many people who can go cacca 5% of their body weight. That too while running at 7’ pace.

I'd say your best bet is to take a naturally strong middle distance guy and have them train benchpress for a few months. I'm not a tank, but I'm not a beanpole either. In the offseason one year I benchpressed for two months semi-regularly and got to a point where I could put up 185 for a handful of reps. This was while I was in well under 5:00 shape, probably 4:30 or so. A little more focus on benchpress and a bit less on running and I don't think it would be too hard.

I think it's probably a lot harder to take a big strong lifter and teach them to run than it is to take a kind-of-strong-for-a-runner guy and teach them to lift.

Did 5:01 in high-school and 225 in college. I was 5'5 and 125 at the time.

The real standard is 5 minutes for the mile and 250lbs BP. There was a thread on it recently. You have a similar amount of improvement needed in each.

There was a thread about eight years ago: sub-5 mile & 250 lbs. bench press. Have to both in the same hour or it doesn't count. On threads like these, dozens of guys will claim sub-5 mile as a teenager and 250 plus pounds bench press past age 25.

Sub 5 came easily for me did it at age 15 or 16.

215 bench took a bit of work. 2 plates is a lot of weight.
Didn't care enough to go for the 2 plate official.

Joe Falcon was known to put up some serious weight as a 3:49 miler. The 300-pound accounts are probably exaggeration but I'm sure he put up 2 plates at some point.

It is super rare. You would become an instantly famous influencer if you could do that.

Not hard at all, I could do both at the same time. When I wrapped up my college running career I started lifting weights, added about 25 pounds, and got to 225 within a few months. Couldn’t touch my college times but was still comfortably faster than 5:00 for a mile. A few years later I was probably back close to low 4:30s range with a 225 bench, weighing around 178.

You're one of the few! The proud! The people that can almost do two different things pretty good at the same time!

Still ran sub 5 until age 45, (4:47 at 42), and benched 225 at age 38. Couldn't possibly do the sub 5 250 challenge! The 225 was a one rep max.

I bet Nick Symmonds could've done it too as a 3:34 1500 guy. He did a lot of weightlifting for the 800.

I’m a 5:05 mile and a 275 bench (both of which, and particularly the bench, are very weak).

I weigh 200lbs, but I would say that if you’re 155+ you should be able to do 225 for a single rep. Both of these should probably be standard for you to consider yourself a well rounded athlete.

Mile best: 4:12

Bench at the time: 275 for 8 reps

How many people can run sub 5 mile and do 43 keepie uppies with a football ?

275 8 times AND a 4:12 mile? I could believe doing 275 once and that mile time. Thought my 235 bench press and 4:10 combo was good til I saw this…

In high school I ran a 4:09 mile and benched 220. Not on the same day. It was the 70’s.

My motivation to lift was strong as I was tired of my father beating the living daylights out of me and my mother. The beatings were often a reaction to a race my father perceived as mediocre. He was well known in track circles. Thankfully he abandoned the family and I laid off the weightlifting thereafter. I ended up going to college entirely on my own and feeling embarrassed that I felt the need to weigh lift.

I think lots and lots of 400/800 types can do it.

I think it’s pretty achievable for many but not something many people are training for or know how to train for. I’m sure it’ll be a milestone lots of people aim for in the coming years as running is starting to gain a foothold in social media culture like lifting did a few years back.

The best bench to mile ratio i’ve ever had was probably about 4:20-4:25 and 235 in my pre-competition phase before I ultimately ran 1:49 and and 3:49(1500m) weighing about 6-8 lbs less than that. I’m bigger for an MD guy but there’s certainly bigger MD guys than me. I’m sure the 43-46 second 400m guys can break 5:00 in a mile too, and i’d imagine they are putting up something between like 235-275 for a max bench.

A lot? From my college track team I knew of 3, including myself. From my military training there were at least 5 on my base (Fort Gordon) during my cycle.