the Combine isnt really about measuring strength as much as advertising revenue and seeing who took it seriously and prepared. One of my old team mates is now the head strength and conditioning coach for an NFL team. Talking with him, the NFL programs arent a recruiting tool like college, they are focused on getting starters through a long 17 game season injury free(or quickly recovered). They are looking for functional strength and conditioning,

Vo2max(capacity to work) is better indicator of health and fitness than any thing with a focused hypertrophy goal.

Rich Forning to this day is an exceptionally fit athlete with ridiculous high v02max. Even 10+ years his senior I can currently beat or with some time and training change can re-beat all his PBR’s. With all this said, even being stronger I couldnt compete in any fitness exercise out side of max lift weight. Bench rep max with 225 is perfect example. I could beat him one initial time in a day, but if we were going for max reps in a day…. It would be very embarrassing for me, hell would of been the same way if I was at my peak fitness of early/mid 20’s , He trains for vo2max first, Strength and function second, he does no hypotrophy training.


Vo2max testing, is best measure of fitness.

Yeah this is a weird thread, not trying to offend but who says the bench press is any indicator of strength? And it is such a limited factor for just a few muscle groups. I would offer the clean and jerk as a more functional test of overall strength, you have legs in there, upper body back, shoulders, arms, its the whole package for actual muscle strength, but it does incorporate a lot of movement and stabilizing muscles in the core which so many people are lacking.

Anyway, I would much rather be an in-shape wickedly high stamina kind of guy than worry about what I am benching. I haven't benched in forever, don't plan on it anytime soon. As BOBO said, I would much rather focus on my ability to perform via aerobic activity that also incorporates strength and muscle work than strictly anaerobic weight lifting. Increase you body's ability to function, the strength will come with that for what you need not to make you look good in a mirror. .

My post was narrowly focused on upper body strength.

Overall fitness, that's what it's all about in life for the ability to do the things most of us here want to do well. I go through different phases/goals. As for overall fitness, for me I was at 175 lbs, 49 yoa, very low body fat, running/cardio work, lots of core work and upper body work.

Strongest I was: at 55 yoa, 6', 180 lbs, benched 260, 2 reps that day I maxed. The next week I held a 15 minute plank. From then on, dialed it back and got back into running as well for a goal of more over all fitness over just strength.

Now, running bores me, so play a lot of pickleball, light upper body work and 12 oz. curls. I'm 61, snow ski right there with my grand son and do anything else I want.

Sorry, didn't see that in the original post....

Strongest I was, 17 yo 130-140#, benched 225 3 times. Since then (was a senior in HS) haven't gotten back on the straight bar bench.

Best shape I was in was in 2008 (mid 30's) when in Iraq with AF. Got to where I was doing full body weight work out on machines, then running 5K on treadmill, then spin class 30m, followed by Ab class 30m three times a week. On the off days from that I would go to the pool and swim 2 miles with varying amounts of distance vs sprint swims. At the gym I would regularly sweat off about 7-10 pounds of water, never weighed myself when in the pool, but i knew I was sweating in there too.

Came home from that and could not sustain that level of working out with three littles and a wife. In Iraq I had a lot of down time in between playing MASH and used it to my advantage.

Most replies on here are guys talking about how strong they USED to be. Not how strong they currently are. It's pretty obvious most guys are in peak physical shape in their late teens to mid 20s. Some exceptions, but priorities shift and metabolism slows down.

I'm much more focused on staying close to a certain weight than I am lifting weights, so I'm much more dialed in to cardio. I've been doing Peloton cycling workouts (and subsequent stretching workouts) since 2019. I've currently got a 50-day workout streak going right now. I still can lift all I need to at home and in the field, but cardio is way more important to my overall health and it allows me to hike all day while hunting in the Rockies.

You held a plank for 15 min at 55 years old?

40 years old
6 foot 2 inches
275
I can bench 315

In my 20s I was 220 and could bench 325

My bench hasn’t gone down much but my legs are a lot weaker. I could squat 600 in high school, no idea now but I know it’s a lot less.

I’m less concerned with strength these days and more with the fact my cardio is horrible.

That's strong, real strong. Close enough to 1.5x your body weight for me.

I'll tell you, being 61, you really want to start focusing on core and cardio now. You don't want to get a hernia; I've never had one but a lot of men my age have. Also, I always worked my shoulders hard, not with heavy weight but a lot of the right kind of rep's of light weight. Everybody I know but myself has had shoulder surgery.

Yes

Not as strong as I used to be but stronger than most. Are we putting a THF tug of war team together; if we are pretty sure I'd get a spot on the rope...

Figured this would turn to a one upper thread real quick lol. Strength is not defined in a weight room but I get it’s a good measure. I don’t take as good of care of myself as I’d like to but I do ok I guess. Diet and life on road is my downfall. I work out 3-4 times a week at home with body weight exercises and some free weights. I do a lot of pushups and dips. I love doing dips, my fave! I’m 43 yo, 6’3” and weigh in at about 215-220. I can bench my weight but not much more. I’ve never been a heavy lifter.

39
5' 9"
185 Pounds

Not very strong or not as strong as I used to be. I despise working out, I have a very active lifestyle and focus on that more than working out. I have a home gym and a stationary bike that I use sometimes but haven't really lifted weights since high school. Didn't like it then, and don't like it now. Even back then my upper body strength was lacking, but my legs were and still are very strong. I'm not even sure we ever maxed out, if we did I don't remember it, probably because my max was embarrassing LOL.

I got really comfortable in my late 20's and drank A LOT and ate like chit, think the heaviest I was around the 230 mark. When I hit 30 years old I started focusing on weight loss and keeping it off, 9 years later I'm down 45 pounds and could probably use another 10 pounds off, but have no problem keeping it off.

I'm much more healthy with great numbers across the board on my physical and bloodwork. So whatever I'm doing seems to be working because I have high BP and Diabetes on both sides of my family. This is all I'm really worried about, being healthy and being around for my son while he grows up. Play tag with a 5 year old for 2 hours straight, its a hell of a cardio workout LOL.

I had to take a couple of years off from lifting due to neck surgery. Disc replacement. Best decision I ever made. Total success. Before I started working out with weights again I did what you're doing, push ups. It only took a few weeks to get to 50 without a pause. There was also a time that I didn't have access to a gym for a few months. Push ups, planks, bicycle kicks, that was all I did and really liked it. You can do push ups while on the road, or anywhere else. What you're doing is good exercise. Remind yourself that the average person doesn't exercise at all.

damn, thats pretty stout. Congratulations!

Most men can't hang more than about 2 min

Most probably can’t do more than 2-3 pushups either lol

Thanks, I didn't mind the question. I did planks for years.

a 2 min plank is the standard benchmark for general fitness. The average man probably can't do 2-3 pushups or plank for 30 seconds. By most men I meant "average semi-fit guy" not the average 35-40 year old off the streets

40 years old

5'9 - 165lbs

I can bench roughly 225 or so.
I can do about 50+ push ups without stopping.
If I had to guess I could bench my body weight for 10-15 reps.
Squat - 300+
Dead lift 350ish

In an Austin bar with my daughter while she was at Texas State. Couple of guys wanted to impress her, so they start talking to me about working out. One of them asks me if I do planks, I answered, "Yes, some". He fell for it. He challenged me right there in the bar and we dropped, head to head. At nine minutes the place is going crazy and he's shaking like a bird dog passing a peach seed. He dropped about 15 seconds later. He was a collegiate gymnast from Wisconsin wearing what looked like his sisters jeans. I was in boots and Wranglers. I got up, put my hat back on and told him, "Don't Mess with Texas". Place went absolutely wild, and we drank free the rest of the night. I like to party.

I guess I just didnt understand and really still dont the questioning line. I dont think the upper body gauge of strength is solely pushing away. Its pulling to and away in multi directions with holding added in there.

for what ever reasoning here you go, majority of our PRB’s will be in our 20’s

Current Mid 40’s 6’ 220-240 depending on season. Sept Im normally 220lbs and increase during season until Feb, then start training for the mountains again and decrease

Bench PBR was Junior in college 425
rep max was Senior in College durning pre-combine training of 24 or 22 I cant remember.

Today- havent barbell benched in 15 plus years. Only chest I do(outside of pushups) is incline rep 110lb dumbells for 3x10 and normally make 2x8 for last for a total of 5x -6x’s. Its the only exercise I train via reps and not time. Its also the only weight machine type movement I do. I do lots of Timed kettle bells, dumbells, and sand bag/ball work.

I only train from Feb-Aug, My focus is training for mountains.

There's no real deep "questioning line" reasoning to try and understand, just a conversation not unlike what I have with people that I work out with in person. I never said Bench Press was a measure of fitness, only that it was ONE objective measure of upper body strength.

gotcha,

Correction on the bench press, it was 335lbs back in the days.

The only bench pressing I have been doing for many years now is with 25 & 35 lb dumbells on my patio, do three sets of fifteen reps, start off with 25 #, then 35# and back to 25#.
Decided to go to the gym today and just see what I can do on the bench, struggled hard with 185 lbs. and decided to not even consider 225 at this time.

However it did give me the embarrassing motivation to work a little harder at increasing my weight strength to at least one rep at 225 without reducing sets or reps for I am after core strength mainly!

I can’t bench for chit. The most I’ve ever bench pressed was 300 one time. I could squat 515 when playing ball. My biggest goal in life was to be able to whip my father. He was the toughest and biggest man I ever knew. I never was able to whip him until he was 70 and I was 45. You might ask why we still fought? I’m 6’3 254. He’s 6’5 300 and a bad man. He hit me so hard it knocked the breath out of me one day. I realized I was stronger and hit him in the rib s. It was a hell of a fight but the forearms to the head finally did it. How sad is that?

I talk about how bad a man that old bastard was. I remember him when I was a kid at “Dos Amigos.” In Odessa when I was a kid. We were eating dinner in there when I was a kid. These guys kept cussing in front of us kids. Dad asked them to stop and they mouthed off. My old man whipped them badly. Broken arms and bad chit.