Ernie taylor's comment on Ronnie coleman's bench

[tony b]

old news dude, this was posted on another thread yesterday.

Is it relevant to Ronnies benching?

[kicker]

I think Levrone and Cormier were stronger on inclines than Ronnie. 

[shortfatugly]

You have thoroughly 0wned me   Thanks for informing me though, because I have told other people these things and I will no longer do that

Lucius fox,

It wasn't my intention to own you.    I am glad to be of some service.   I too like Bruce Lee and enjoy reading of his thoughts, philosophies and many accomplishments.  He was thoroughly shafted when Carradine was given the part that was meant to be Lee's.  And I watched the Green hornet just to see Bruce Lee.  In the Hong Kong and other Oriental countries, THe Green Hornet was called " the Bruce lee show" or something like that.  

Lee certainly did have prodigous power and strength.  

He was able to translate his power to his punches.  I have seen the home movie that was made when he gave an exhibition of his one inch punch at the karate Competition.  The guy did indeed stumble backwards a number of feet then landed on his ass.   Lee did a number of one finger pushups as well.  

The scene where he is kicking that heavy bag was shot when he was training Kareem abdul Jabbar, Lee Marvin & James Coburn in his backyard.  Hard to tell how much the bag weighed as it was hanging straight down with no guy lines.  


And he hurt his back by doing good mornings, not by a kick in the back in a fighting match.  That one made a good scene in the movie but it didn't happen.  

There is no need for anyone to turn Bruce Lee into a myth by exaggeration of his skills and exploits.  His accomplishments as there are, stand on there own as outstanding.  People seem intent into making him into some sort of Chuck Norris joke.  Man, even Chuck Norris is doing Chuck Norris jokes...  

[alexxx]

I think Levrone and Cormier were stronger on inclines than Ronnie. 

Thats because they worked on overall balance of the pectorial muscle. If Ronnie started with inclines for a year straight, he could well pass his flat bench!

[kicker]

Here we go my very first post.
Can only base my knowledge on my personal experience because there seem to be so many crazy claims about this and that.
Just remembering back to when I was at about my strongest (at a bw of about 260-270) I could bench 350 for 10 with no spotter. If I remember correctly I could do 315 for anywhere between 15 to 20 reps fairly easily.
I also recall going for the most reps I could do with 225 and I'm pretty sure I fell just short of 50 reps.
I have heard numerous claims about various bb's and powerlifters able to do far more than this and I can believe there are guys who could do say 100 reps with 225 fairly easily.
However when I gave 400 pounds a go I couldn't even do one rep. I'm definately no powerlifter (only trained as a bb) and have never trained with sets of less than 8 reps but I remember being quite shocked even back then that I couldn't get 400 up.
Also I don't think I was particularly strong, I am fairly tall however (about 6'4) and have long arms so not very helpful when it comes to putting up big numbers.
I also remember an old friend of mine who was a very large non-comp. bb who was about 240 pounds at about 5'8. He had legit 21 inch arms, 22 inch calves and 33 inch quads. His biggest bench was around 420 for 1 rep. So maybe size doesn't always correlate to power because if anyone looked like they could bench 550 pounds this guy did.

That's odd that you could bench 350 for 10 and not get 405 for 1.  According to rep calculators, you're max should be around 470.

Bodybuilders tend to have a greater endurance with moderate heavy weights relative to an absolute max as compared to powerlifters or even the regular gym rat.  Obviously their training methods of high volume and short rest periods have adapted to suit that kind of lifting.

[kicker]

Thats because they worked on overall balance of the pectorial muscle. If Ronnie started with inclines for a year straight, he could well pass his flat bench!

And BB is all about balance.

[alexxx]

And BB is all about balance.

Thats is currect. But Ronnies training routine lacks though.

[LuciusFox]

Lucius fox,

It wasn't my intention to own you.    I am glad to be of some service.   I too like Bruce Lee and enjoy reading of his thoughts, philosophies and many accomplishments.  He was thoroughly shafted when Carradine was given the part that was meant to be Lee's.  And I watched the Green hornet just to see Bruce Lee.  In the Hong Kong and other Oriental countries, THe Green Hornet was called " the Bruce lee show" or something like that.  

Lee certainly did have prodigous power and strength.  

He was able to translate his power to his punches.  I have seen the home movie that was made when he gave an exhibition of his one inch punch at the karate Competition.  The guy did indeed stumble backwards a number of feet then landed on his ass.   Lee did a number of one finger pushups as well.  

The scene where he is kicking that heavy bag was shot when he was training Kareem abdul Jabbar, Lee Marvin & James Coburn in his backyard.  Hard to tell how much the bag weighed as it was hanging straight down with no guy lines.  


And he hurt his back by doing good mornings, not by a kick in the back in a fighting match.  That one made a good scene in the movie but it didn't happen.  

There is no need for anyone to turn Bruce Lee into a myth by exaggeration of his skills and exploits.  His accomplishments as there are, stand on there own as outstanding.  People seem intent into making him into some sort of Chuck Norris joke.  Man, even Chuck Norris is doing Chuck Norris jokes...  

 Yeah, I was surprised when I found out that the Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story kick in the back was made up. I watched it when I was a kid and thought it was all real except for the samurai demon. Only years later did I realize the "artistic license". Of course, I should have realized that stumbling back 12 feet and being knocked through the air 12 feet are kind of different. Cool to see another Bruce Lee fan and always cool to talk to someone that is very knowledgable about something, especially on this site, which has many selfproclaimed experts.

[badlad]

Kicker - I guess everyone is different.
But I did indeed expect to be able to do 405 for at least a few.
I remember taking it down reasonably easily and getting it halfway backup and that was it.
470 would have been cool.
Just thinking - there was a guy at my gym who didn't train legs - pretty much only ever did benchpress and arms. out of shape kinda body but was pretty damn strong on bench.
He would do 315 for 6 and the last 2 reps always looked pretty hard for him. But his max bench for a single was 485 on a good day.
Most reps I ever saw him doing on 225 was probably only about 15.
Takes all sorts I guess.

[Zeratul-Dark Templar]

OK...

Don't be so quick to accuse E.T. of bullshitting.  He may have never actually said that in the first place.  It's gotten so bad, you can hardly believe anything you read in FLEX or some of the other mags anymore.  It's looking more and more like the mags are either not checking their facts, or intentionally exaggerating things under the guise of "journalistic license" just to be sensational and sell a few more issues.

Excellent point, I have 2 good examples:

1) Flex had a feature article, Bob Cicherillo kills 'sacred cows', one was the barbell row, which he insisted he no longer performs and certainly doesn't recommend. Literally 2 months later there is a short excerpt in 'Gym Bag' where Bob Cicherillo discusses the benefits of, you guessed it, barbell rows and the importance of a full range of motion and back parallel to the floor (lol the most vulnerable position for injury).

2) Dennis James claims in 1 deltoid article that he touches his traps on behind the neck presses. A few months later, another James deltoid article warning explicitly that lifters should, under no circumstance, lower the bar lower than ear level, because it puts the rotator cuffs at risk.

[Karl Kox]

Where are the pics that some one posted a while back of his drain plugs ?

[LuciusFox]

 It's almost like someone passed a law saying that these guys with huge upper arms have to have forearms that are small, even for the average pro.

[shortfatugly]

Yeah, I was surprised when I found out that the Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story kick in the back was made up. I watched it when I was a kid and thought it was all real except for the samurai demon. Only years later did I realize the "artistic license". Of course, I should have realized that stumbling back 12 feet and being knocked through the air 12 feet are kind of different. Cool to see another Bruce Lee fan and always cool to talk to someone that is very knowledgable about something, especially on this site, which has many selfproclaimed experts.

lol...

no problem lucius.

[MCWAY]

If Ronnie could bench anything close to those numbers, he could show up at a powerlifting meet any given day in the offseason and break some records.  Believing those kinds of numbers is like believing Bruce Lee was actually a badass.

Wasn't Coleman once a powerlifter? I recall a few blurbs in MuscleMag where he, in his early days, competed in a drug-tested powerlifting federation.

[Man of Steel]

Don't know it was mentioned, but is it possible that the magazine misprinted the stat and printed 550lbs instead of the correct 505lbs or 450lbs for 15 reps?



MOS

[alexxx]

Don't know it was mentioned, but is it possible that the magazine misprinted the stat and printed 550lbs instead of the correct 505lbs or 450lbs for 15 reps?



MOS

No no they have it right! I read Ronnie Coleman deadlifts 800 pounds for 12 - 15 reps. It was printed in Flex magazine so it must be true!

[Scimowser]

i couldnt get 315 till i benched 225 for 10
when i was benching 225 for 5 ... i could barely get 264 for 1

that works out just about right. This is how you do your 1rm:

2 reps - *weight by 1.07
3 reps - *weight by 1.12
4 reps - *weight by 1.15
5 reps - *weight by 1.18

therefore 225*1.18 = 265lbs  NOT 315

10 reps - *weight by 1.33 so 225 *1.33 = 300lbs

in Ronnies case he benched 495 for 5 reps, so his 1rm for then works out as 584lbs