What's the best bench press/5K time combo you've ever seen?

Runningart2004 wrote:

Don’t take these bench numbers seriously. Most don’t touch the chest, raise their butts, or the spotter does most of the work.

Which is why overhead pressing is a better indicator of ones upper body strength.

pretty sure Matt MF London owns the WR for this combo

1) At the same point in my life when I ran my 5k PR of 15 flat I was able to bench press 185, at a bodyweight of 115.

2) After retiring from competitive running and taking up cycling, I gained a bit of muscle weight, upped my lifting, and benched 214 while weighing 123.

The "Joe Falcon can bench press 250" story is an apocryphal one.

For part B, in college after I stopped playing baseball I got into lifting a little and got my bench to 245 for a single rep max. I didn’t start running at all until I was in my late 20s and have a 5k PR of 14:56.

Best I’ve personally seen for part A is a USMC friend who could do about 280 and 17:30. He was what I would call ‘naturally strong’ and worked very hard on running.

just a skinny twink (looking for a daddy) wrote:

pretty sure Matt MF London owns the WR for this combo

Yeah, I'm hoping he's going to barge his way into this thread.

Runningart2004 wrote:

Wasn’t there a Johnson v Viada lawsuit? Or threat of lawsuit?

Alan

LOL, all the top runners who've had doping allegations made against them (in fact, just about every top runner) and the first lawsuit here is from Alex Viada regarding the veracity of his times.

LateRunnerPhil wrote:

Chris Solinsky, 235 pounds & 12:55

Galen Rupp, 185 pounds & 12:58

You need to put far more weight on the 5k times. There are endless people in the world that can bench 200-300 lbs, but only very few that run sub 13.

Max Meathead, 738 pounds & 36:21

Oleg Androsteroniv 645 pounds & 32:49

If its notJoe Falcon then what about Paul Mcmullen.

Regarding overhead lifts, my over head press was better than my bench press.

22:00 and 80lbs

The coach at Lynn was a 14:20 guy in college and benches close to 300. He's competing in the Arnold Pump & Run challenge in 2020.

Eamon Keane beched 300,000 lbs in an hour

Runningart2004 wrote:

Don’t take these bench numbers seriously. Most don’t touch the chest, raise their butts, or the spotter does most of the work.

That being said a decent bench shouldn’t interfere with running much. A good squat or deadlift is a different matter.

I would be more impressed with a 1000 pound total and a sub 5:00 mile.

Alan

So your in favor of the leg press then?:)

1000lbs would be something on the order of 250lb bench, 350lb squat, 400lb deadlift? Those are pretty doable numbers for a 165lb guy (i.e. 2.5x deadlift, 1.5x bench) and running a 5min mile with that amount of extra weight(extra 10-20lbs of . muscle) is pretty doable. The question is who enjoys both lifting and running enough to do it? For the smaller guys (i.e. the sub 140 crowd) the weight gets hard to move, and the 200lb crowd finds it tough to run.

I bet a lot of serious crossfitters would actually come close. They can't run 5ks but those rowing workouts for a fast 2k should get you in good enough shape to suffer through a a mile.

make it 1300 lbs and a 4:45 mile and I bet pretty much nobody does it:)

Used to be a guy @ WSU in Pullman, Tim Gatby, formerly rowed @ Wisconsin. 2:50? marathoner, ran stadium stairs with him once, also saw him bench 315 for reps, weighed 160.

Most of these responses are pretty running-oriented. A person who can run a 15:30 is much better at running than a person who can bench press 200 is at benching.

This probably comes down to weight mostly. A guy who is 5'10", 155 pounds should be able to bench 280+ with consistent training for a year or so. That body size is also probably slim enough to run 16 or less for the 5k if he has good natural talent for running.

I would be money there are 300+, sub-16 guys out there. The main reason this is pretty rare probably has more to do with the lack of people trying to excel in both.

I am pretty certain I could do sub-17 and 300+ within 9 months if there was some money involved. I'm 34, too. Anyone want to crowdsource this?

^^^^^

I also think I could do a 1000 pound total and a sub-5 within 9 months.

I ran the 5k once in college on the track in 15:20 at the end of the conference meet after I had run my primary event. I was doing sets of 8-10 with 265-275 on bench at that point in time. I weighed about 160 and am 6’ tall with a 6’2” span.

This thread has taken off pretty well. Thanks for all the responses.

FWIW, I ran 15:30s and benched 185 within the same college career. Working more on weightlifting lately and thought it would be an interesting question.

Alan's idea about the 1,000-pound bench-squat-deadlift combo and sub-5:00 mile is interesting. Wonder if anyone has ever tried to do that? Or if there's a documented instance of it already?

I played football in HS so got an early start lifting. Kept it up during college, although changed the focus to more reps at lower weights. Ran the 800 in the Pac-10 but after graduating ran a 14:52 5000 when I could bench 300. I was 6’2” and 165 lbs.

My bench max now is 185 and my 5k is around 15:30

When I was in college running middle distance It was 375 and my 5k was probably 17 or so.

I weighed 50 lb more back then though.