Lol, yes I have a degree in 'The physiological implications and limitations in exercise science' and a minor in benching.

Wtf.

If I wanted to be a dick I would say that it would be no problem and silently enjoy the intrinsic value of watching you fruitlessly push yourself for a year while you inevitably fail hard and lose 20k.

Benching 1.75xBW in a year is tough enough let alone the running qualifiers.

Gogogo steroids.

In about 2 years of reasonable (chest/dips once a week) weight training and taking creatine & NO2, I added around 40 lbs to my 1rm (225-265) while maintaining a decent jogging/running weight of 170-175 at 5'10. You are starting off far weaker and you want to get there twice as fast. Will not happen. It would be very very hard to get there if you went full SS and gained a lot of weight strictly to bench more, but to gain that much strength while even entertaining the idea of losing weight to run marathons... not gonna happen.

As far as friendly, in your other thread I laid out a plan that was far superior to meeting your goals of being more "healthy", and it would have made you look better too. But since you know it all and are waiting for Dr. Dickhead, PhD before you believe anyone that you're attempting something stupid and pointless, go ahead and have a smiley while you waste a year:

I think benching that much in a year is pretty trivial for someone who is dedicated enough.

The difficulty/impossiblity is doing that while being 165 lbs.

Add in the fact that you need to maintain some sort of aerobic endurance.

Look around this forum, there are basically 2 people who have that big a relative bench and MAYBE 1 of those 2 could run a 6 min mile and a 4 hr marathon.

Admittedly no one is really training for exactly this bet but we have a lot of people here who have been training for a long time and the fact that so few would even have a shot at this bet has to tell you something.

That being said if you stick with your training the worst case is you're out 20 grand and in somewhat better shape. The worst case if you give up is your out 20 grand with nothing to show for it.

I had elbow injuries many years ago and I'm pretty sure they were directly related to doing flat bench skull crushers, which should actually be a little easier on the elbows than the standing ones, imo.

I recently read an article that suggested that decline skull crushers are one of the best muscle building exercises for the long head of the tricep, and they are also good for the shoulders. I've done them a few weeks now and they're quite easy on the elbows and shoulders, while getting the triceps pretty pumped.

Tx - what's your opinion on that?

DT is one of the strongest and most knowledgeable people that posts in this forum.

+2 to find a new trainer, and stretching for that long is a total waste of time.

The only stretching you should be doing is to give yourself some crazy arch that decreases the ROM on your bench.

Fwiw I bench slightly over 1.5x BW @ 160. It took me the better part of one year to get from like 1.4x to 1.5+x. Granted I trained squat/deadlift consistently during that time, but otoh, I never did any sort of conditioning with any frequency.

Doug Funnie is in a similar boat. The point is that saying 'getting a 1.75xBW RAW bench in a year is trivial' is pretty stupid. Angleshooting by either buying a bench shirt or using roids is the most realistic shot you have at winning this.

Good luck, though.

I don't think anyone has said that.

learn how to do this imo

I know you qualified your original statement by bringing up the other elements of the bet. But going from ~1xBW to 1.75xBW in a year is no joke, even without the running requirements.

Yeah 1 year isn't all that long in training terms. 1 injury and the prop bet is over.

Reading comprehension FTL.

I said benching 260-290 is trivial.

I didn't say benching 1.75x bodyweight was trivial. In fact I explicitly said that it was difficult/impossible.

Such a bad bet to take. I have about a 1.65x bw bench at 205 and I know it would take me at least 2 months of a specialized program to get that last 20lbs if I could even manage the same weight.

And fwiw I've been training a solid 2.5 years, with on and off training before that, and I can't run a 6 min mile or a marathon in my current cardiovascular condition.

Ah, my fault for not reading the post you were quoting. My apologies.

Look, there is just no point, especially in week 2, of talking about why I'm going to fail or how stupid the bet was. It's just a complete waste of time. I am happy I took the bet and would do it again in a second. I'm motivated, eating healthy, and going to the gym everyday.

Even if I do fail, I find it hard to believe that nothing informative will come from my experience. So I only get to 1.5, or heck, only 1.3. Who knows? It will be interesting to see what the human body can do in a year.

For everyone who says "you are screwed, buy out, take roids" - it's not happening and it's not worth it. I'm doing this because I want to challenge myself and get in the best shape that I can - there is value in that to me.

I do appreciate all of the help. But, instead of thinking about how dumb it is, just think like this: "if it is possible, what should Jared be doing."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KX5jNnDMfxA