why does the nfl gage upper body strength by how x’s u bench 225 ?
[quote]BigMike wrote:
why does the nfl gage upper body strength by how x’s u bench 225 ? [/quote]
Because the combines are a waste of everyone’s time.
Seriously. It was arbitrarily chosen and doesn’t test anything worthwhile on the field.
Same with the 40 generally. Lateral speed wins out for most positions.
-Dan
Laziness. Their strength coaches didn’t want to have to keep changing the plates on the bar to figure out who was actually stronger, so they came up with a random weight to bench X number of times.
[quote]BigMike wrote:
why does the nfl gage upper body strength by how x’s u bench 225 ? [/quote]
I’m not aware of a purely scientific reason. 225lbs is above average in strength. The number of times you can lift it relates to endurance as well. It also happens to be close to the average weight of those on the field that you would be going up against. I personally would hate to see the person in the NFL who couldn’t bench 225lbs, at least, for reps.
[quote]BigMike wrote:
why does the nfl gage upper body strength by how x’s u bench 225 ? [/quote]
because 224.9 seemed too low and 225.1 seemed too high. voila! 225!
i know im not being helpful. i have no idea and I dont think even they could fully justify it. I guess they felt it represented a good balance between conditioning/strength that is needed in profootball. poostix.
because 225 is exactly 100kg, and if they ever want to export NFL to France they needed a number in kilo’s that was easy for them to remember. I know this for a fact.
[quote]juninho wrote:
because 225 is exactly 100kg, and if they ever want to export NFL to France they needed a number in kilo’s that was easy for them to remember. I know this for a fact.[/quote]
Most people accept the conversion of 1kg = 2.2lbs. If you want to get REALLY technical about it 1 kilogram = 2.2046226 pounds. However most people would be okay with this: 100kg = 220lbs.
This is a little off topic but when Fred Smoot was drafted by the Redskins, the report was that he couldn’t even do 1 rep at 225 pounds at the combine. It doesn’t seem to make much difference since he’s still a damn good cornerback.
Maybe because it’s the bar and two plates on each side (it looks good). 135 lbs is too sissy for the NFL, and 315 lbs is too heavy for the lighter players. 225 has always been a benchmark number.
[quote]BigMike wrote:
why does the nfl gage upper body strength by how x’s u bench 225 ? [/quote]
Because a Standing Military Press for 135 doesn’t seem as impressive, though it’ll probably build a better player.
may be becasue it equates to approximately 100kg
personally i think they should make player max out on the big 3 plus snatches and cleans.
It is without reason. It is/was a random # that, when put in place, was a respectable poundage for reps. It means almost nothing and very little value is placed on it. It is now more a competition for the players amongst themselves than any evaluative material.
My brother was the head national scout
for the Wash. Redskins the past 2 years. He is now with the 49ers.
Just to give some credibility to the info.
Would a one rep max in three different exercises not be a better measurement? Like Bench, Squat and Deadlift just to steal from powerlifting? The reps thing is crap, like a guy could rep 225 30 times and his max could be 300. SOme other guy reps it 20 times and his max is 400. So who is stronger?
[quote]ConorM wrote:
Would a one rep max in three different exercises not be a better measurement? Like Bench, Squat and Deadlift just to steal from powerlifting? The reps thing is crap, like a guy could rep 225 30 times and his max could be 300. SOme other guy reps it 20 times and his max is 400. So who is stronger?[/quote]
You got a good point. Just like Tom Platz and Dr. Squat. They had a squat off before and at the time, they were both 198. Platz squatted 500 pounds for 23 reps, while Dr. Squat did it 11 times. When it came time for max squat, Dr.Squat had 840 and Tom Platz was around 600.
Risk reward.
For the NFL types, not getting hurt lifting weights is rule 1-5. Hard to get hurt with 225 and the reps gives a relative and easy way to judge upper body strength. You could probably train for high rep sets specifically, but to do 30 or even 20 reps you have to have some upper body strength. Only matters if you are way below the mean for your position.
jack
[quote]juninho wrote:
because 225 is exactly 100kg, and if they ever want to export NFL to France they needed a number in kilo’s that was easy for them to remember. I know this for a fact.[/quote]
this is the most idiotic reply i have ever heard. it’s just a blatant LIE. You KNOW this for a FACT?!?! bullsh-t, we’re american, we’re ameri-centric and proud of it. You’re telling me that when they started having the combine x number of years ago, some jackass decided that one of the most minor aspects of the entire draft process had to conform to the metric system? And then you pick an explanation that doesnt even hold up ie 100kg =/= 225? ridiculous.
i’d be willing to bet it’s because there would be players who wouldnt even be able to get one on the 315 but they ASSUMED nobody would bomb out with 225. of course, thats a guess, i dont know it for a fact
[quote]sasquatch wrote:
My brother was the head national scout
for the Wash. Redskins the past 2 years. He is now with the 49ers.
Just to give some credibility to the info.[/quote]
The 49ers. Well he certainly has his work cut out for him 
I motion that instead of benching they do tricep kickbacks on a stability ball with the pink weights and only measure the strength of the non-handedness arm (a right hander uses his left arm and vice versa)
instead of squats they can do thigh abductions at 65 pounds on a cybex machine.
I have no beef with the players abilitys (which, even for the not so great ones is usually amazing) but the combine could definately be restructured to give a better idea of performance
[quote]Dr. Ryan wrote:
sasquatch wrote:
My brother was the head national scout
for the Wash. Redskins the past 2 years. He is now with the 49ers.
Just to give some credibility to the info.
The 49ers. Well he certainly has his work cut out for him :)[/quote]
Yah–he’s really looking forward to the ‘challenge.’ But he just disliked the ownership so much in D.C., that he opted out on his 3rd year and went with his buddy–who took V.P. of football op.–to the west coast.
The question above about Max related to an expression of muscular endurance (Platz vs Dr Squat) has everything to do with muscle fiber make-up (and probably some training parameters). Your most explosive athletes will be able to do relatively less reps if they have identical maxes…because they are so damn white fiber dominant…now those two examples seem a bit extreme… but illustrate the point very well…
It is the same reason why certain extremely dominant players in the NHL don’t have super high VO2 maxes, etc… they are just fast twitch explosive types…