Is a (15:00 minute 5k) + (400 pound bench press) possible?

Of course it is. Haven’t you heard the news? No human is limited!

Absolutely. if you are training for strength and not hypertrophy.

Take Alan Webb back in his prime and he could run 13 low. Train him for a few years for strength on the bench and he will obviously slow down but I think he could squeeze under 15 while benching 400 'easy'

Absolutely no way anyone benching 400 is going to run sub-15. Benching 400 cleanly at under 200lbs bodyweight is unheard-of outside of competitive powerlifting. If Alan Webb trained bench for a few years while maintaining the fitness to go sub-15, we would bench 275-300 as an absolute max, probably much less.

No F'ing way!

I have no idea what could be possible as the best combination.

But I wonder how close some decathletes could get as they would be among the best candidates. The new world champion Niklas Kaul ran 4:15 in the 1500m after a decathlon. He could probably run 4:05 when fresh and with a little more endurance training get close to 15:00 although it is likely that he would be quite a bit slower in the 5k. He's almost 200 pounds and very good at discus and javelin but I have no idea what such a guy could bench press.

Joe Falcon allegedly benched 350. At the same time he ran 3:49, and did a 1:45 half in practice. He likely could have amped up his bench to accomplish. He could have jogged a 15:00 5k.

Sally Vix wrote:

Joe Falcon allegedly benched 350. At the same time he ran 3:49, and did a 1:45 half in practice. He likely could have amped up his bench to accomplish. He could have jogged a 15:00 5k.

Again with this apocryphal Paul Bunyan-esque nonsense about Joe Falcon? (and by the way, in the original story he benched 250, not 350).

Yarn Spinner wrote:

Sally Vix wrote:

Joe Falcon allegedly benched 350. At the same time he ran 3:49, and did a 1:45 half in practice. He likely could have amped up his bench to accomplish. He could have jogged a 15:00 5k.

Again with this apocryphal Paul Bunyan-esque nonsense about Joe Falcon? (and by the way, in the original story he benched 250, not 350).

Maybe - but the guy ran 3:49 and also won the NCAA x-country nationals. How many people have done that?

I think it is more promising to get a strong guy getting close to 15:00 than getting a 13:20 runner strong enough with the weightlifting. Most decathletes hate the 1500m but they are only running them when already rather exhausted. A select few decathletes like Kaul are pretty good 1500m runners within the decathlon, considering that they are also eighing like 190-200 pounds

I think the better question is can someone run sub 15 and bench 300

A 400# bench is huge. No way is anyone running anywhere under 20 minutes with a 400# bench. I don't think you have any idea what a 400# bench is.

The world records for bench for drug-tested athletes are here:

https://uspa.net/drug-tested-national-raw-bench-only.html

The world record for the 165.2# weight class is under 400#. And I can almost guarantee you that guy is a short, tree-trunk that can barely walk, let alone run.

I'd be shocked if you could get an athlete that could do a sub-15 and 300# bench in the same day.

If anybody could do it, a decathlete would probably come closest. The 1500m world record in the Decathlon is 4:17, which is equivalent to a 15:21 5k according to the race calculator below.

https://lukehumphreyrunning.com/hmmcalculator/race_equivalency_calculator.php

the 1500m best in a decathlon is faster that 4:17 (this was Eaton at his WR). I'd think that the best 1500m runners among world class decathletes could run 4:05-10 if they had not done 9 events before. They would very probably not be able to run equivalent 5ks, though, but they could get close if they trained for that bizarre combination asked above.

As for weights, this link below supposedly gives some lifting figures for Trey Hardee. He benchpressed about 1.75 x his bodyweight. Hardee was a weak to average 1500m runner (4:40), but 1.5 times bodyweight seems what good decathletes usually achieve. So I am pretty certain that some decathletes could run sub 16 and benchpress 300-350 pds just from their decathlon training.

https://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=4693258

Yarn Spinner wrote:

Sally Vix wrote:

Joe Falcon allegedly benched 350. At the same time he ran 3:49, and did a 1:45 half in practice. He likely could have amped up his bench to accomplish. He could have jogged a 15:00 5k.

Again with this apocryphal Paul Bunyan-esque nonsense about Joe Falcon? (and by the way, in the original story he benched 250, not 350).

I found an old article on Falcon. The bench press story from straight from Falcon. He was a freshman or sophomore in college at the time, lifting more weights than later, and 10 lbs heavier than his later racing weight. He was 127 lbs at the time of the bench press, later was117 lbs. He won a bet by benching 267 lbs.

At the same time? No. I would put 300lb and 15:00 ie: 15:00 or better, as possible.....by someone underperforming in the 5k. Take a 13-14:00 guy and put some strength and mass on him and maybe he does it.

The guy who runs this:

https://www.teamstrengthspeed.com/

Has done a sub 3 marathon and a 3x bw deadlift (455 i think).

You all really have no idea how good 300lb is much less 400lb for the bench. Benching 300 while weighing under 200lb is not easy. Go to any gym and just sit there on a Monday and watch. Many football players can but they are also not gifted in endurance.

A decathlete would be your best bet and he may be benching 350ish and running a sub 5:00 mile. Look up Trey Hardee as an example.

So I will conclude a sub 5:00 mile and 350+ Bench as possible as an extreme example. Maybe sub 5:00 and 275 as a practical goal for mortals.

Alan

Not a chance at all wrote:

Absolutely no way anyone benching 400 is going to run sub-15. Benching 400 cleanly at under 200lbs bodyweight is unheard-of outside of competitive powerlifting. If Alan Webb trained bench for a few years while maintaining the fitness to go sub-15, we would bench 275-300 as an absolute max, probably much less.

This^

Anyone saying it's possible on this thread has never come close to either.

Gordon Shumway wrote:

Anyone saying it's possible on this thread has never come close to either.

I ran sub-15 and could bench 300 at the same time.

cbDalloway wrote:

Absolutely. if you are training for strength and not hypertrophy.

Take Alan Webb back in his prime and he could run 13 low. Train him for a few years for strength on the bench and he will obviously slow down but I think he could squeeze under 15 while benching 400 'easy'

There are N.F.L. receivers and cornerbacks who cannot bench press 400 pounds. Not everyone can bench 400 pound even after years of weight training and little to no running.