Agassi benches 300 pounds
- Thread starter hewittfan3
- Start date
35ft6
Legend
Dude, you're right, put a picture of Jesus standing over a guy benching, with slogan "Jesus is my Spotter" and it would be a popular shirt. Maybe not with the Christians so much but I'm sure Urban Outfitters would love to sell it.
Rickson
G.O.A.T.
Throw a little kimchee in there and check that. Does she put vinegar on the rice?
Leelord337
Hall of Fame
???????????????
300lb in a smith machine is very good. Especially for his body weight, but that means he could probably only do 265-280lb on a flat bench.
And Jesus is my Spotter Too!
slice bh compliment
G.O.A.T.
Yes, benchpressing is something Darwin looked at very closely. And for good reason.
Oh, and I thought I was pretty strong benching 300 and doing kegstands in college. But did you know Capuchin monkeys can legpress at least two dozen large carrots.
You should see a Galapagos turtle on a Bowflex. YouTube it if you can, it's pretty amazing. Very humbling.
Oh, and I thought I was pretty strong benching 300 and doing kegstands in college. But did you know Capuchin monkeys can legpress at least two dozen large carrots.
You should see a Galapagos turtle on a Bowflex. YouTube it if you can, it's pretty amazing. Very humbling.
hewittfan3
Rookie
haha this thread is going in an amazing direction
Rickson
G.O.A.T.
Why didn't he use 2 pairs of 45 instead of that ridiculous looking pyramid of plates? Also, why were his plates on backwards?
Hot Sauce
Hall of Fame
An ant can bench press 300 times its weight? Isn't it lift? I've never seen an ant on a bench press.
hewittfan3
Rookie
ants actually make them with sticks and leaves. Its quite impressive
Why does this bother you?
Some people like to warm up with smaller weights and work up to the max, hence the pyramid. (Another possibility: there was a big guy like Rickson working out next to him who was hogging all the 45-lb plates, which left Osteen to work with a bunch of 10-lb plates.)
Also, when you are working on a Smith machine, plates can be put on in any direction. You don't even need to secure them with collars.
firstservethenvolley
Banned
This dude is trying to do the Bruce lee 2 finger pushups.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1I_agS_RAg&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1I_agS_RAg&NR=1
G
Gugafan_Redux
Guest
OMG, Slice BH, this blindsided me this Monday morning at the office with too much coffee in me. I'm in tears, and my cube neighbors definitely think I'm on dope!
Rickson
G.O.A.T.
Wait a second! I do remember some guy with a mullet giving me a dirty look for using all the forty fives.
Funny thread. "I can jump 2,000 feet into a block of cement!!! On my head yet!!"
Seriously though, 300lbs one time is not that much for guys who work out regularly. I see people doing that much at my gym every day who surely aren't world class athletes. I won't list what I can bench since I don't want to be picked on either for bragging or being a wimp.
Seriously though, 300lbs one time is not that much for guys who work out regularly. I see people doing that much at my gym every day who surely aren't world class athletes. I won't list what I can bench since I don't want to be picked on either for bragging or being a wimp.
dennis10is
Banned
Good one,
May I risk eternal damnation by suggesting:
"Jesus is his ballboy"?
Rickson
G.O.A.T.
300 is light for me, but to get 300, you'd have a strange plate set. four 45s, two 25s, two 10s, and finally, two 2 and a halfs. It would be easier to get 295 or 305 rather than an exact 300. Another thing is that when you're moving such a big weight, you don't bother moving up 5 lbs. Some of you might think that 2 1/2 on each side feels different and it may be true when you're dealing with light weight, but at 300 plus pounds, I guarantee you can't feel the difference. This is not an assumption on my part this is what I've experienced. I barely felt the difference when the weight moved up 10 lbs., but with 20, it was somewhat noticeabale. Back to the quoted post. Maybe 300 is heavy to some, but it's as easy for me to press 300 as 135 is for some men.
i think i remeber seeing a tv show once where they had very tiny machines for the animals to actually "lift" weights on. but honestly i can't rember if it was monkeys or ants?
Ronaldo
Bionic Poster
Used monkey bars, eh?
iradical18
Professional
300 really is not that much. Hell most of the guys on my sub-par high school football team could put up 300.
hewittfan3
Rookie
yeah thats expected from football players. But for a tennis player who are normally pretty skinny and are not very muscular. Nadal is pretty much the only muscular player right now
hewittfan3
Rookie
omg..if any of you are watching the tennis channel right now. They just showed Hewitt hitting with Agassi before his match tonight and Agassi's arms are huge. His arms have got a lot bigger
iradical18
Professional
Agassi was by most people's definition "skinny" but he was a top athlete and probably had very good body fat to lean muscle ratio.
hewittfan3
Rookie
yeah but other than David Nalbandian...do tennis pros even have any body fat
Rickson
G.O.A.T.
Gaudio was one cut up mother and he was considered stocky for a tennis player. The skinnier guys are just as cut and some even more than Gaudio.
r2473
G.O.A.T.
Anyone can bench 300+. I was doing it in my mid 20's - I weighed a lean 205lb back then.
I did a few things.
1. Start doing squats, deadlifts, and dips.
2. For your working sets start with a weight you can do comfortably 3-6 times then increase the poundage by 2.5 pounds every week no matter what.
3. Lift heavy!! Lifting heavy is 70% mental. The first time you lift 275-300lb, your brain says OH @#$! this is heavy. And you psyche yourself out.
I started lifting in a smith rack/squat rack it gave me the safety net my mind needed to to allow me to go heavy.
4. Practice the lock out, Locking your elbows.
There ya go easy
I agree with all this.
1) Yes. Stop doing "isolation" excercises if you want to gain mass.
2) Yes. 3-6 reps seems reasonable. I was told 5-8 reps and 2 sets.
3) Yes. BEST to not use the smith rack, but I see what you mean. But yes, if you want to lift more weight and increase mass, you have to lift heavy and keep adding weight. You MUST beat your previous mark on the excercise. Sometimes I can only add a pound, but 1 adds up faster than 0. Most people lift the same weight for months at a time (all you are really doing is getting a "pump", but you are not going to get bigger).
I would also add that you should practice eating like a horse. You have to eat, eat, eat (even when you are not hungry, you have to eat). And, save your money and skip the "supplements"; they don't work. You may want to get some high quality protein powder (if you can find it), but even that is not really necessary (just a bit more convenient at times).
Leelord337
Hall of Fame
Rickson
G.O.A.T.
yeah, your guy actually has some body fat: in this pic he isn't actually cut
And those ugly big nipples!
Ano
Hall of Fame
To the OP, this topic was debated for more than 1 year in this thread:
http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showthread.php?t=30568&highlight=agassi
http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showthread.php?t=30568&highlight=agassi
Last edited:
hewittfan3
Rookie
so once its been talked about we cant talk about it again?
I think the disturbing comments about Hewitt's nips is all the reason I need to kill this thread ;-)
And I looked at the old thread they kicked, beat, dragged out this one
Really lean tennis players are few and far between these days. Hewitt on those pictures has some bodyfat, probably more than 10%... and if you saw the Gasquet/Tsonga at a nightclub pictures from a few weeks back, you know what I mean.
Gaudio is exceptionally ripped for a tennis player, very few come close.
A lot of tennis players are skinny but slightly fat, they are "skinny-fat". Probably because they have become mildly insulin-resistant from all the pasta/pizza/energy drinks/energy bars they consume on a daily basis.
nadalfan!
Professional
Found out my own answer! Good article:
Is Nadal Sending Out The Wrong Message
With the modern tennis focus on power and the physique of Rafael Nadal, players are hitting the gym in the quest to become stronger and, hopefully, more powerful on court.
Increasing strength can improve the intensities at which players can perform (as well as reducing the potential for injury), but can you be too strong?
For example, there have been many past players who were acknowledged as being very fit, but I think you would agree were not visually brimming with strength and power like Nadal.
Would those former stars have been more “talented” than a Nadal if they had been stronger?
Would they have been that much better if they had been training today?
There is no question that strength without skill, or even good skill levels with low strength, will produce less than optimum results. But does it really matter if a player can squat 440+ lbs (200+ kg)? Is a squat of 220 lbs (100 kg) along with great stability, power, body control, and skill, etc. a better combination?
I can hear some of you saying, “Why not have all these and a 440+ lbs) 200+ kg squat”?
The main problem I see is that many coaches and fitness trainers are getting their players to weight train using “old” non-sports specific bodybuilding principles focusing on building size in isolated muscles using exercises that focus primarily on one plane of motion.
Is this the fault of the players like Nadal – is Nadal sending out the wrong message?
Let’s get back to that 440+ lbs (200+ kg) squat.
To work on the squat in this way means at best that the player loads up the bar to the point where they need a “spotter” for safety reasons or they use a cage that is safer, but because the bar is fixed it does not allow them to work in a multi-planer environment – which after all is how the game is played.
The big problem with both of these scenarios is that the excessive loading that must occur to the spine and joints on an ongoing basis must impact on the risk/safety ratio over time. The greater the loads we use in this way surely increase the chance of injury and in my experience players often "fail" because of the physical and mental pressure of the bar on their backs rather than because of fatigue in the legs.
While I completely understand the push for greater loads to improve absolute strength levels, I feel that there is a different way to improve performance and reduce injuries. There is no doubt that for a player to improve strength they must train at intensities high enough to elicit a strength response (principle of overload).
Nevertheless, I feel that there is a better way to increase muscular and nervous system loading, yet lessening the strain on the spine and joints. To achieve this I recommend the use of single leg exercises that not only produce great strength gains, but also increased stability and balance without the risk of back and joint injury.
If we think about it the game is played predominantly on a single leg basis anyway. You can still do maximal lifts just as one would with double leg squatting, without the excessive loads on the spine and joints.
NOTE - You can also use this type of training on the upper body with the use of dumbbells. This again forces a greater nervous system response.
I also believe that training in this way improves tennis specific strength in a way that provides an added skill component to a players’ physical training, which will reap rewards they can transfer directly to the court.
Ultimately, it's not that Nadal is sending out the wrong message; it's that the message being sent is being wrongly interpreted by much of the coaching and playing community.
Let's not forget that Nadal is a very talented player, who was born with innate tennis skills that he has honed over the years. The physique he has and the physicality of his game enhance his considerable racket skills without which he would not be the same player.
Don’t misunderstand me; the physical side of his game is very important just as it is to many of the top tour players, but to train the nervous system (by adding balance and stabilizing challenges) alongside the muscular system is a superior form of training from both a skill enhancement and functional basis as well as being a safer environment for the players.
After all in a multi-skilled sport like tennis the objective is to improve sport performance and reduce injury potential, not build entrants for body-building competitions. So do your strength work wisely, which means as a sportsperson not a bodybuilder (there is a difference), which will leave you more time to enhance your skill development.
Is Nadal Sending Out The Wrong Message
With the modern tennis focus on power and the physique of Rafael Nadal, players are hitting the gym in the quest to become stronger and, hopefully, more powerful on court.
Increasing strength can improve the intensities at which players can perform (as well as reducing the potential for injury), but can you be too strong?
For example, there have been many past players who were acknowledged as being very fit, but I think you would agree were not visually brimming with strength and power like Nadal.
Would those former stars have been more “talented” than a Nadal if they had been stronger?
Would they have been that much better if they had been training today?
There is no question that strength without skill, or even good skill levels with low strength, will produce less than optimum results. But does it really matter if a player can squat 440+ lbs (200+ kg)? Is a squat of 220 lbs (100 kg) along with great stability, power, body control, and skill, etc. a better combination?
I can hear some of you saying, “Why not have all these and a 440+ lbs) 200+ kg squat”?
The main problem I see is that many coaches and fitness trainers are getting their players to weight train using “old” non-sports specific bodybuilding principles focusing on building size in isolated muscles using exercises that focus primarily on one plane of motion.
Is this the fault of the players like Nadal – is Nadal sending out the wrong message?
Let’s get back to that 440+ lbs (200+ kg) squat.
To work on the squat in this way means at best that the player loads up the bar to the point where they need a “spotter” for safety reasons or they use a cage that is safer, but because the bar is fixed it does not allow them to work in a multi-planer environment – which after all is how the game is played.
The big problem with both of these scenarios is that the excessive loading that must occur to the spine and joints on an ongoing basis must impact on the risk/safety ratio over time. The greater the loads we use in this way surely increase the chance of injury and in my experience players often "fail" because of the physical and mental pressure of the bar on their backs rather than because of fatigue in the legs.
While I completely understand the push for greater loads to improve absolute strength levels, I feel that there is a different way to improve performance and reduce injuries. There is no doubt that for a player to improve strength they must train at intensities high enough to elicit a strength response (principle of overload).
Nevertheless, I feel that there is a better way to increase muscular and nervous system loading, yet lessening the strain on the spine and joints. To achieve this I recommend the use of single leg exercises that not only produce great strength gains, but also increased stability and balance without the risk of back and joint injury.
If we think about it the game is played predominantly on a single leg basis anyway. You can still do maximal lifts just as one would with double leg squatting, without the excessive loads on the spine and joints.
NOTE - You can also use this type of training on the upper body with the use of dumbbells. This again forces a greater nervous system response.
I also believe that training in this way improves tennis specific strength in a way that provides an added skill component to a players’ physical training, which will reap rewards they can transfer directly to the court.
Ultimately, it's not that Nadal is sending out the wrong message; it's that the message being sent is being wrongly interpreted by much of the coaching and playing community.
Let's not forget that Nadal is a very talented player, who was born with innate tennis skills that he has honed over the years. The physique he has and the physicality of his game enhance his considerable racket skills without which he would not be the same player.
Don’t misunderstand me; the physical side of his game is very important just as it is to many of the top tour players, but to train the nervous system (by adding balance and stabilizing challenges) alongside the muscular system is a superior form of training from both a skill enhancement and functional basis as well as being a safer environment for the players.
After all in a multi-skilled sport like tennis the objective is to improve sport performance and reduce injury potential, not build entrants for body-building competitions. So do your strength work wisely, which means as a sportsperson not a bodybuilder (there is a difference), which will leave you more time to enhance your skill development.
superman1
Legend
People who have no clue about weight training at all go into the gym and just curl and bench.
People who have some clue about weight training stick to compound exercises only. They've done a bit of research online and have actually written out a solid routine.
Strong, muscular guys who know what the hell they're doing in the gym do both compound AND isolation exercises, because they have learned through experience that both are important, and that you can increase your lifts on the compound movements by doing isolation exercises. Personally, once I started doing tricep pushdowns, my bench press immediately went up because triceps were my weak point, and doing bench itself wasn't working my triceps out hard enough.
This makes me cry with sadness.
While i understand that tennis isn't a power sport in the way football is, I would be really impressed if any tennis player could squat 400+lbs. It's also besides the point. Most formal athletic conditioning programs today work on various, various aspects of performance -- agility, balance, explosiveness, speed, strength, overall conditioning, and so on. Lifting heavy weights is only one aspect, and any person who's done HS sports knows this.
