3:00/300

I hardly lift at all and wouldn't even know the process to increase my max, but I can bench about 150. I can run about 2:30 in the marathon. Any idea how much work it would take to be able to bench 300? How much would my running suffer?

Dear Not a lifter:

You have about as much chance bench pressing 300 pounds as you do running a 1:15 Marathon!!!

I think you should be out running more instead of wasting your brain cells thinking about such activities. You may even be able to run sub 2:22 instead of jogging along at 2:30 pace.

But, do what you wish! As many old school coaches have said if you've got time for lifting weights your not running enough!!!

Happy New Year!

Gonna have to disagree. It takes no special talent to be able to bench press 300 pounds. You might have to work out consistently for a year to up your max from 180 (I'm guessing) to 300, but hitting that is no big deal.

Getting big muscles is very very easy. You just have to work out - in as little as 8 weeks, you can have the ripped abs and biceps you see on fitness commercials - this is so true - muscle develops very quickly in response to exercise - unless you are very overweight and so those muscles are buried under fat, you can look like Mr. Muscle very quickly. There is nothing easier than picking up a few weights and lifting them. This is why we should not respect weight lifters even a little bit. Weight lifters and body builders (unless they are in competitions, and even then it is to a small degree) do not have any of the following things attached to their workouts:

1) Ocassional dread

2) Puking

3) Absolute physical exhaustion

4) Wide range of performance level which is the result of many factors

Weight lifters simply lift, hardly raise the heart rate, rest and then lift again. Very very easy. No mental toughness needed at all, and then when all is said and done and you are left with a hulkish looking beast, it doesn't even show athletic ability. Why anyone would want to have the biggest muscles possible, I will never know. Weight lifters and body builders are the wimpiest of exercisers (notice that I didn't call them athletes). No pressure, no athletic ability, no nothing.

Damn it Willy! Now you've gone and woke up Mr. Chest. It's only a matter of time before he floods this board with his latent homosexual fantasies.

My goal last year was to do a 3:00/300lbs, having the Bench Press goal of 300lbs. accomplished within 2 weeks from the goal of accomplishing a sub - 3hr. Marathon.

Last Year, I just missed (3:06) and benched 300lbs (@ 150lbs Bodyweight/double my body weight). This year I will get it. I should be able to hit 2:50 comfortably and I am currently averaging 310lbsBP.

I am not bragging, but I am proud of this accomplishment and impressed by anyone who can achieve it. I guarantee that you will find very few people who can accomplish this. It is VERY difficult to maximize the extremes without sacrificing performance in the other. This is the Law... (Top End Strength vs. Endurance)- you can never have maximal aptitude at one extreme without a decline in the o

I would be very impressed by 30:00/30 10K/pullups ratio (or any match of the two, i.e. 33:00/33, etc.). I run 35:23 and can do 26 p/u, but I'm well past 40. How 'bout you young 'uns?

Ah Portland Runner,

I know you well enough to know that you aren't really worried about ol' Mr. Chest. I'm sure you can handle his rantings. Say it with me now - ha ha hahaha!

Also, to point out the obvious that I would never blatantly provoke anyone, I did not make this last statement in response to Mr. Chest himself. This is my honest opinion about the effects of weight training and the effort required. I do seem to bulk up more easily than other runners though, so perhaps there is a genetic element there, and perhaps it is harder than I think it is - let me think about it for a minute - NAH! it is still very very easy.

Runners are among the toughest athletes out there. While sometimes when you're running and you're in a groove and just flying it is an awesome feeling, running is HARD. Sometimes it seems like the finish line will never get there even when you can see it.

Runners:

1) Puke more

2) Sweat more

3) Work out more (no standing with hands on hips or talking about strategy or, or, or) it is run, run, run. So, a three hour run for us is a three-hour run while a three hour practice for a football team is well, not three hours of physical activity.

With the exception of football, I've done just about every sport imaginable because I am a sports freak. I love sports, competition and physical activity. Running is the hardest. Running is the truest test of one's fitness. Can't get much more pure than running. Run a distance, mark a time. Period.

Anyway, I let myself go off on a tangent.

Glad to see you are still posting Portland Runner.

Oh no, now you've gone and done it, MR Chest has been awakened!!, latent homosexual fantasies?? Now thats a funny one, there's no fantasy about powerful pecs, massive shoulders supporting powerful 20 inch guns, that's reality!! Just the thought of all that muscle will make the average, puny little runner shutter with fear, and shiver with envy!!

Portland Runner wrote:

Damn it Willy! Now you've gone and woke up Mr. Chest. It's only a matter of time before he floods this board with his latent homosexual fantasies.

Smart One! wrote:

Dear Not a lifter:

You have about as much chance bench pressing 300 pounds as you do running a 1:15 Marathon!!!

I think you should be out running more instead of wasting your brain cells thinking about such activities. You may even be able to run sub 2:22 instead of jogging along at 2:30 pace.

But, do what you wish! As many old school coaches have said if you've got time for lifting weights your not running enough!!!

Happy New Year!

You are right on the monet Smart One, forget it little runner, don't set your goals that high.

Look buddy forget it, stick to your running, thats a good time for a marathon (so I've overheard at the gym), you will never bench press 300, probably never get 200.

Gonna have to disagree, weight lifters and bodybuilders experience all 4 of those conditions, if they are dedicated and hard working. Ever here of forced sets, high rep's, working to failure??

Those kind of workouts, (my favorite), push you to the limit, near collaspe, definitely exhaustion. Runners don't have the heart or high pain threshold to with stand intense workouts of that caliber.

Very, very difficult to push on, one more forced superset. Running? better call it jogging, whwere's the corridnation in putting one foot in front of the other? A baby can do that!

B, very good

Now Flagpole Willy, your post was a direct attack on all bodybuilders and weight lifters, a direct attempt to degrade this noble and manly activity. My "RANTINGS", while indeed controversal, obviously have struck a cord with many, many readers, as evidenced by the continous interest and referrences to MR Chest. Love live the lifters!

Runners will be crushed!!

Disagree all you want Mr. Chest, but I've done both hard running (super distance and hard continuous track intervals) plus the weight lifting you describe, and running for performance is WAY harder.

Weight lifting is easy easy easy. Takes no talent. You just have to do it. Big deal.

Smart & Chest

First of all benching 300 would be far easier than running a 1:30 Marathon (since that is impossible). Second, since I have never tried lifting seriously, I (and you) have no idea how much I can lift. I'm not a natural runner, I've just been doing it nearly every day for 17 years, so I'm above average. If I were to put that effort into weight lifting, I'm sure that I could bench 300, but what would that get me?

I'll make a bet that I can bench 200 within 2 months, and 250 by the end of the year (2003), if someone just tells me what I need to do. (How much to lift, how many reps, how many sets, how many times a week, etc.)

I'd go for 300, but I don't want to sacrifice the running too much.

And the comment "If you have time to lift, you're not running enough" is ridiculous. I only neef to run for an hour or 2 a day, leaving plenty of time for other things.

Lift 4 times a week. For example M, W, F, Sa

Start out benching what you can do 10 times - do three sets. Do that for a couple weeks until the soreness goes away (if you've not been benching).

Then, on M, W, F only up the weight to what you can bench only 5 times and do three sets - keep the Sa weight lifting session at what you can do 10 times - three sets. Keep this the same for a long time. You will have to up the weight as you get stronger and stronger. Eventually as you get closer and closer to your goal, up the weight and lower the reps down to even just 2.

Finally, you are ready to give it a try. Add 20% to the amount you've been working out with and try just one bench press. For example, if you've been working out with 150 pounds, an additional 20% would be 30 more pounds, so try to bench 180. If that is simple, rest, add 10 pounds and try again. Keep doing this until you find your maximum.

Then, go back to working out and another week and try again, but this time start the weight where you left off last time.

Flagpole,

Thanks for the advice. I had no idea I could build my max and only have to spend about 10 minutes a day lifting!

Certainly couldn't do too much by running only 10 minutes a day!

I'll post updates of my progress.

Mr Chest, you do what you need to do to make yourself Happy, and we skinny bones/brains/balls runners will do what we need to do to make us happy, and we'll all get along just fine.....HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY!!!

Keep up the good work and wish you the best for 2003.

Jason

No problem. One of the truest infomercials are the ones in which they say you can work out 20 minutes a day 3-4 days a week with weights and sculpt your body in a matter of weeks. Muscle definition and increased strength can occur so fast that you won't believe it if you've never really worked out with weights before. For your very specific goal of increasing your bench press dramatically, the workout I described will do the trick. You need to stay vigilant and don't miss any workouts if at all possible. You'll be benching way over 200 pounds before you know it.

You are right that you can't do that running just 10 minutes a day - another example of why distance runners are superior to most other athletes in the preparation and training needed.

Go for it dude.