Is a 225lbs bench press equivalent to a 5:00 mile for men??

A 225 bench press can be achieved by most men, even out of shape ones, within year. The vast majority will take between 1-6 months starting from untrained.

A 5 minute mile is a lot harder.

I would say a 225 is like an 8 minute mile.

That’s going a little far. I’d put it at equivalent to a 6:30 mile.

They were similar difficulty for me. Both took about 2 years of consistent but not truly dedicated training.

No.

If you’re short but have relatively long arms, benching that much is pretty much equivalent to running a 4:00 mile.

Bench press gets infinitely easier the more you are built like a T-Rex. It’s probably the lamest lift out there

not actually equivalent, no

but from a normies perception they are probably relatively equal achievements

I tend to agree. a 5 minute mile is more like a 300lb bench. Maybe not exactly, but 225 is a bit too low.

Both can be heavily dependent on body weight, but the difference is, the more you weigh, the easier it is to bench 225 and the harder to run 5:00. I'd say the 5:00 mile is far more difficult.

Both are decent for a skinny 16 year old boy.

What scrawny little runner posted this? I can bench 260 at 185lbs and am in sub 18 5k shape, 225 is obtainable in a year by virtually everyone who isn't disabled or old. 5:00 mile is 10x harder. And I would argue if you don't have at least a little bit of natural talent, it's impossible. For most people it is easier to bench 325 than get sub 5.

I know a 13 year old that is over a minute faster than you in the 5K and well sub 5. Not many 13 year olds are putting up 225. The bench gets easier as you get older/gain weight, the sub 5 gets harder.

It is hard to make an apples to apples comparison given that both are dependent on weight, inversely so.

Benching 225 at 150 pounds is very solid and much harder than benching 225 at say 200 pounds that is why competitive weight lifting has weight classes.

I did both at 41 and with training it is easier to bench 225 than run a 5 minite mile by a noticeable margin. I’d say a 5 minute mile is more like benching 275 if you are under 160 pounds and 300 pounds if you are over 175.

Eh...

I'm 6'-2" and 155 lbs when running a casual 15-20 miles/ week. My xc racing weight in college was about 145. Post college, I could do 25 legit pullups and 100 unbroken pushups without issue. If I lifted for 6 weeks or more I could bench 155 * 10 without too much problem.

My highest max bench though was 185. I guess I could have improved that significantly if I completely changed my diet and set bench max as my primary goal. Every other athletic metric from sprint spreed to basic agility to running endurance would have suffered.

If you are under 150 lbs or have long arms benching 225lbs will take some work.

A honest 325 bench is way beyond what an average, non juiced, non body builder will attain in any realistic time frame. A 325 lb bench is more like a 4:30 mile. It's something DI outside lineman, tight ends, and safeties should shoot for. I'd say way less than half of the NFL wide receivers and cornerbacks can bench 325lbs.

The type of guy who has the genetics to be a good lineman in football can bench 225 when he is 14 years old with no training. Most men who work manual labor or live on a farm can bench 225 even though they never lift in the gym. And most health adult males can bench 225 within a year of serious powerlifting-style training.

Breaking 5 in the mile is only easy for people with top tier running genetics. And there are plenty of health adult males who will never break 5 in the mile no matter how hard/smart they train.

Finally, benching 225 pounds is relative. For a football player, it is absolute trash. For a soccer player, it is pretty darn good. For a distance runner, it doesn't really make any sense to pack on so much upper body muscle unless you just run for fun.

The guy with the raw bench world record is 6'3.

I think you're lying to yourself about why you're weak.

You have a longer period of life where you can build fitness to bench a 225. Like there are 60-70 year old guys who can still do it if they have kept up occasionally with their training.

If you missed your training chance in your 10-40's, you're pretty much screwed on ever being able to run close to 5 unless you have massive talent. If you kept up training for your whole life, maybe you could keep 5 fitness into your 60's.

Basically it's possible for older people to go from scratch into a 225 bench press compared to doing the same for a sub 5 mile.

I would say 6 minute mile might be more comparable.

People really don't believe in themselves here.

I believe in myself because I am an alpha male. I went sub 5 within a year of training when i was 13 and I started out with an 8 minute mile. During my college sophomore season, I benched 225 for REPS because I believe a one rep max is for weenies. I was training to become stronger yes, but I never thought "oh i wanna bench as much as I can for the sake of it" it was all purely for running. And no, I am not slow like you guys. sub 5 is not fast and 225 is not strong. comparable feats.

A man should be able bench their bodyweight for 10 reps. A fat fuk who weights 360 and benches 225 is a joke.

Here’s something to think about:

Many people can bench 225 lots of times.

Far less people can run that many back to back sub 5 minute miles.

5 minute mile is more impressive. Some fat people with no training could prob bench 225 simply by being fat

Bump for the weak guys