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AFL players max bench

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L

lil big man

Debutant
Dec 11, 2005
118
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Australia
AFL Club
Gold Coast
I was at a forum thing last week with some of the gold coast players and Shaun Hart was paying out on some of the players in attendance for trying to look buff in their tight shirts.
Anyway one of the players mentioned that Guy McKenna is still lifting about 160kgs for his max bench... and i was wondering if anyone knew which players would be lifting the most? and what that would be?
 

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cptkirk said:
chiefton did 150 back in the 80's or 90's
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I was told his PB of ~150kg was the 90s record for players. Keenan Reynolds hit 145kg as a PB which stood at the Bulldogs (North too after he went there?) until Minson hit 150kgs (broken pre-season by Barry at 155kg)
 
I tried starting a few threads like this a couple of years ago, but stupidly, I had them on the Lifestyle board, and the main board. Needless to say people could only contribute crap like "Bryce Gibbs can bench press two Powerade bottles OMG LULZZZ!11".

So good thinking on creating it here.

I know Fraser Gherig could bench approx. 170kg. To me that almost sums up the whole situation; guys with "bodybuilders" muscles are more likely to lift less (inc. AFL players), as they tend to focus more on working the muscles themselves as opposed to lifting for numbers. Gherig was big, but more like a manual labour big than anything.

A few other records I've heard of is Damien Peverill lifting 150kg, Mal Michael 160kg and Jonathan Brown 152kg.

I've personally seen a few players doing bench, including Tom Lonergan, Shannon Byrnes, Leo Barry, Brent Prismall and David Wojcinski; however none of their lifts are worth mentioning.
 
leapin leo apparently id 300pd (135kgs) on his forst day there when he was 17

i couldn't imagine pevrill doing 150 myself...maybe it was the bar levitating trying to get away from his ugly head
 
cptkirk said:
leapin leo apparently id 300pd (135kgs) on his forst day there when he was 17
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He was doing 90kg for 6 reps when I saw him, but he was doing it easily. This was also in 2008, when he was what, 29? So it wouldn't surprise me.
i couldn't imagine pevrill doing 150 myself...maybe it was the bar levitating trying to get away from his ugly head
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Ha. While you're probably right, as the man is hideous, it doesn't surprise me. Again, appearances have nothing to do with it. I remember when I was 17, I used to train twice week for footy. I weighed 65-70kg, and I was benching 100 for sets of 10; 130kg for 2-rep max. Proper form, too. Now, I weigh just over 95kg and I usually do 90-100kg for sets of 10-12; 125kg for 3-rep max.

To me, lifting heavy weights is a piece of piss if you lift consistently enough. Considering most AFL players train for strength, as opposed to size, I'm surprised 150kg is in the top 1%.
 
I think I remember seeing the Gherig was a beast on the bench press and could lift something ridiculous like 180 or something
 
I went to the same high school Leo Barry went to. He'd left about 8 years before I finished, but his bench press record still stood the whole time I was there, and this was at a school that almost exclusively played rugby. Sure it was only high school, but he was a strong fella.

Edit: Oh, and I can't remember what it was, but it was certianly more than 90x6.
 
Whomb said:
To me, lifting heavy weights is a piece of piss if you lift consistently enough. Considering most AFL players train for strength, as opposed to size, I'm surprised 150kg is in the top 1%.
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Perhaps, but they only have a small window to break their PB; players often lose a bit of bulk during the season as the focus switches to recovery between games.
 

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Another afl bench thread!
Dunstall is always spoken about by past and present players as the strongest of all time. I've heard this at numerous afl sportsmans nights and from an ex premiership teammate.
 
keyboard_warrior said:
i dunno about max bench but what delidio did on aust greatest athlete was redoinkulous. i think it was 35 reps at 75% bodyweight.
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This doesn't sound impressive at first but when you think about it and what you can normally do in the gym as part of your routine, it is pretty good.
Those last few reps are the killer.
I think the power to weight is more impressive than just throwing weight numbers out there.

How much do Gehrig a Hall weigh? 110kg?
 
daveyboy3 said:
How do those afl numbers compare with the bigger guys at people's local gym?
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I rarely ever see guys at my gym lift over 100kg. Even the big boys. Not to say they cant. They arent doing single maxes either.

The other week though there was a mammoth bloke that was lifting 140kg like it weighed 20kg. Just kept pumping them out and after didnt seem exhausted.
 
To me, lifting heavy weights is a piece of piss if you lift consistently enough. Considering most AFL players train for strength, as opposed to size, I'm surprised 150kg is in the top 1%.
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they don't really train for absolute strength but rather relative strength
 
Mick Martin could bench over 150k.

Naturally the average gym goer will struggle to lift his own body weight, anything over and above that is exceptional and im talking about a dedicated gym goer.

Footballers that have to balance gym with fooball training involving cardio etc... and lift up to 50% or more than their body weight are either freakingly strong or on some kind of enhancer.

Professional power lifters dont bench as much or much more than some footy players and their on everything under the sun so you make your own mind up.
 

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We have a bench competition being held in Perth this saturday in Osborne Park. Be interesting to see the comparison. I think you will find the 200-300kg range being tested.
 
PINNACLE HEALTH said:
Professional power lifters dont bench as much or much more than some footy players and their on everything under the sun so you make your own mind up.
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What?!

You're kidding, aren't you? Most bodybuilders can lift around 180kg; I imagine a big 300lb powerlifter can lift a hell of a lot more.
 
Magpie Magic said:
I'm curious as to who has the best bodyweight to lift ratio in the AFL.

Also wouldn't mind knowing who squats the most.
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From what ive heard down in Geelong, gary ablett is an absolute freak with his squatting ability.

In terms of bench pressing for elite AFL, 150kg is more than enough and im sure all their strength and conditioning coaches would not want them focusing on a max bench press which is not going to increase their sport performance at all. How is being able to lift 180-200kg whilst lying on a flat bench going to help you in a game?
 
Spange said:
We have a bench competition being held in Perth this saturday in Osborne Park. Be interesting to see the comparison. I think you will find the 200-300kg range being tested.
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What time and where in Osborne Park?
 

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AFL players max bench

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