NFL BENCHES THE BENCH PRESS?

The Annual NFL Combine took place recently. This is where prospects are tested and measured every which way to help teams predict which dude will be a good football player.

One of those tests is the Bench Press, and the goal is to make 225 lbs go up and down as many times as possible. It’s a test of strength and stamina, so they say.

I say it’s irrelevant and needs to go.

VIDEO (click image to play):

But if the NFL really has to measure something, there’s a quicker, safer, and smarter way to get some applicable information.

Check this out: Since 1994, only 19 dudes have performed more than 40 reps. Out of those, 16 have actually played in NFL games for anywhere from a few games to having a multi year productive career. One is a hall of famer.

Quick side trip: How often in a game will a player push another player 40 times in a row when the average length of a play is 4 seconds? Now back to our show.

The all time reps record is 51, held by Justin Ernest. He never played a down in the NFL. The all time worst record was 1, set by Fred Smoot. He went on to be a member of an impressive Washington Redskins defense in 2004 and during his 4 year stint in Washington recorded 16 interceptions.

The point?

The bench press certainly isn’t a good predictor of future football performance. In a 2017 article by Brian Nealon in Muscle and Fitness Magazine titled Christian McCaffery Is Proof The Combine Bench Press Doesn’t Matter, Shannon Turley, his strength and conditioning coach at Stanford said:

"It has nothing to do with playing football. I don’t care how much guys can bench, squat, or power clean."

Of course Christian has gone on to be a top level player in the NFL each year. 

“OK Brian,” says the NFL, we ditch the bench press, but we still want “measureables”. What happens now?”

You put the viiivPRO on stage, have a player sit down in the seat, move him to a 120 degree arm angle, then he gives a maximum effort push for 5 seconds creating as much force as possible.

Done.

Who’s next?

“And how is this better,” they ask?

• Well, first you have a much more relevant test. Players are seated; you don’t play the game on your back.

• Second, players use their strongest joint angle; it’s a game of leverage and every player is coached to use those angles.

• Third, players quickly produce maximum force; the average play lasts 4 seconds.

• Fourth, the time savings per test.

• Fifth, no training for the test is necessary; the traditional way simply adds to the accumulated damage these players have already suffered from years of weight lifting.

Next the NFL asks, “So what would this tell us?”

It gives you a more accurate picture of a players striking-power producing capability; a highly relevant ability especially in blocking, shedding blockers, and fighting off tacklers. 

Football is a game of power.

Ten, 20,30,40 repetitions doesn’t tell you much about how powerful a player is. Instead imagine seeing scores of 700, 800, 900 lbs of force generated quickly. 

Now we’re getting somewhere, and it’s quicker, safer, and much more applicable.

C’mon NFL. It’s a dinosaur. Can we just move on from the bench press already?