As a former college athlete, when I saw Bloomberg's recap of the RBC decathlon, my interest was thoroughly piqued. The event, partnered with Memorial Sloan-Ketting Cancer Center, raised over a million dollars for an incredibly worthy cause, pediatric cancer research, through a competition in ten events: 40 yard dash, 400 meter run, 800 meter run, 20 yard shuttle, pull ups, dips, bench press, 500 meter row, vertical jump, and the football throw.
It did not surprise me in the least to see so much money raised at the event; Wall Street is awfully talented at raising money. However, given the myriad 100 hour work weeks, I assumed that the competition would be meager, perhaps one or two talented athletes, but otherwise just a fun afternoon out for the denizens of Wall Street.
I couldn't have been more wrong.
The winner, Barclays' Mark Rubin, defended his title as the previous winner, and is far from what one would describe as "un-athletic".
Rubin, a former Pennsylvania State University safety who spent time with several National Football League teams
What's more, he wasn't the only former NFL player in the mix!
Former Harvard University football captain Collin Zych, who attended training camp with the Dallas Cowboys in 2011, finished in third place, followed by fellow first-time Decathlon participant Tom McCarthy of Morgan Stanley. (MS) McCarthy was captain of the football team at Yale University in 2011 and spent time in NFL training camps with the Atlanta Falcons and Jacksonville Jaguars.
This group was no joke, and their performance was remarkably impressive. Looking at the results for the bench press, where the participants lift 175 lbs. as many times as possible, is especially instructive. A participant, in order to get into the top 8, would have to perform more than 22 repetitions, and be a woman. A man would have to exceed 36 repetitions.
I don't know about you monkeys, but I'm feeling awfully fat after seeing those results. How do you think you would've done? Anyone here think they can compete?
Damnnn. Mad respect.
Super motivated now. I am going to hit the gym today!
Some of the things that really blew me away
-A 73 yard football throw -A 40 inch vertical jump -A 4.39 40
I've got to wonder if the 40 was electronically timed or hand timed, 10 guys under 4.8 is a lot.
I have no frame of reference on the shuttle or rowing, anybody want to comment if they were any good?
The running times were atrocious, but given the point system it would make way more sense to do ok on those and really focus on lifting for strength/sprints.
Electric timed or not, that is still moving
What woman that works on WS can do 175, 22x?? Not sure what I used to be able to do when I was actually lifting, but it probably wasn't even 20x.
40in vertical is insane for a guy who makes his living sitting at a desk
A 40 inch vert is still incredibly impressive for someone who makes their living playing professional sports. That would be like top 5 at the combine every year
175 36 times? Whoosh
Yeah, the overall woman's winner was in compliance at S&P I think.
Bench press isn't that impressive. 175 lbs is like air for most experienced lifters.
shouldnt it be 185(1 45lb plate and a 25lb on each side)? when i went through the combine we did 225(2 plates on each side) 175 just makes it wierd.
I sent this to our group in charge of our fitness centers at Cap1
Sign me up
I thought that was peculiar as well. If I had to guess, perhaps the plates and bar is metric and they're rounding, or maybe the bar is 35# instead of 45#. Just a shot in the dark though.
That's to get into the top 8, I strongly suggest you take a look at what it would take to win the women's competition in bench press.
I'm sorry, but that cannot be with 175lbs. Where did you see the weight anyways?
The winner for men's bench was also 42 reps; unless you think that a woman benched the same weight as a man for the same amount of reps? (not being sexist, just trying to be logical)
it was 175 lbs.
look at the pictures http://www.businessinsider.com/rbc-decathlon-wall-street-athlete-photos…
Definitely was less for females considering the average bench press for a woman is 60% their bodyweight and these girls didn't look very big.
Actually if you look up "RBC Decathalon" on youtube, you'll see some videos from the 2012 competition and it's a 45 with 2 10s. so 175 is right
Yea well not as impressive as Private school Lacrosse....haha.
175 is dumb imo.
70+ dips by Jay Li is quite a feat!
Yeah, I see that the men are using 175 (which is a strange number to choose?), but didn't see any women on the bp. Just trying to make myself feel better by the fact that a woman didn't bench 175lbs 42x, which would be astonishing.
Yeah, I have no idea how a woman got 42 reps at 175#, I thought that was strange, too (also not trying to be sexist).
Here's the 175# bit (link below), go down a bit on the page and put your mouse over the bench press. I don't see any reason to think that the women's events are different but who knows.
https://www.thedecathlon.org/the-event/
Deleted
^^^^ have you ever seen a 45lb plate before?
the caption clearly says "
Stephen Hardin from Raymond James bench pressing 175lbs. for 28 reps.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/rbc-decathlon-wall-street-athlete-photos… "
Not sure what sport you played or what "experienced lifter" means, but to put it into perspective, the highest number of reps at last year's NBA combine (benching 185) was 23 reps. While bench press is a largely irrelevant stat for hoopers, they're still some of the most athletic specimens on the planet and are only repping close to that weight 23 times. Unless you're in a top D1 or NFL weightroom, you would be hardpressed to find more than one person in any given gym that could do that. The highest vertical in that class was also 40", the same as these white guys from top schools working in high finance. Unimpressive is not the right word.
I'm quite aware about the NBA combine. They are the most athletic specimens for certain things, pushing objects is NOT one of them. Also, regarding D1 athletes and NFL weightroom athletes they are also terrible at bench press compared to a powerlifter. The form used by NFL athletes is atrocious, no back arch, bench pressing without squeezing the shoulder blades together, proper grip strength etc. This forces them to move the bar 20% farther than someone who powerlifts and knows proper mechanics of a bench press.
In addition, name an everyday thing you do that builds chest muscles. Now name an everyday thing you do that builds back muscles. There is a reason NBA players are terrible at bench press, they have never trained a push exercise in their entire life. Even someone that is a construction worker has limited pushing incorporated into their day, limiting their muscle gains and muscle memory to almost nothing for pectorals and triceps. Not only is bench press totally irrelevant for "hoopers", it is totally understandable while most of them suck at bench press. Can I do 42 reps? Never said that, but can definitely do less than my bodyweight for 30+.
Edit: And to touch on the mechanics of the bench press once again, do you realize basketball players have the worst human anatomy for completing a push exercise? Long, lean arms...
Agreed on all points. I just meant it's still a very impressive feat for these guys to accomplish, regardless of their backgrounds. I'm battling the fupa if I'm not in the gym at least 3-4 days a week and these turbo 1%ers are out here winning decathalons
Okay, fine. NBA players have physics against them when it comes to pretty much all the major lifts.
You kids saying it's totally trivial is kind of ridiculous though. When was the last time a powerlifter worth his/her shit even tried to do 30+ reps of anything? Maybe 20 reps with a super low weight to watch form at the start of the pyramid. Max 2-4 reps at the highest weight.
I guarantee that any level of collegiate football player can almost certainly rep 175 30+ times on a bench press.
This is exactly what I was going to say. They would blow me away in some other categories, but that one I can actually do
You can bench 175# over 40 times in a row?
I can definitely do 30, probably 40, especially if I worked at it. I'm not some bigshot either. High school combine does 185 for reps.
You guys are all crazy. I wish I could do 1 rep at that weight. The most I've ever been able to BP was my own weight, 135lbs. As a hockey and soccer player I think I would do fairly well in the rest of the events though.
I think that the other categories are the only things I'd stand a change in (aside from the vertical, which is ridiculous). I'd be pretty happy if I could bench my own weight even 25x.
Kevin Durant wasn't able to do 185 at the combine.
Very appropriate username.
Are you 12?
no, just 6'1".
Also, I find it funny that all of you are also arguing about what a football player, or other extreme athlete can do. My question to that is... Who cares?
What can you, your regular average finance joe put up, and how many times? Besides the ones that are at the gym a lot on here, i'm sure most of you wouldn't be able to put up 175 20 times.
I'm an athlete at a big time sports school. This is absolutely spot on. Even the kicker can rep 175 at least 15 times. High-school combines that still test the bench press usually go 185...and that's for the skill players.
Any athlete (and obviously Wall St. is full of them) can bench 175 easily. The other stats are pretty impressive though.
And ya, basketball player don't give a fuck about the bench. Even the strongest of guys will lose their bench if they don't keep up with it. It's unlike a lot of lifts, you have to keep it going or you will see a huge decrease and have to work your way back up. Basketball players have much better things to do with their time.
I love every1 hating on the 175 bench. Guys, you do realize it's for reps? Is being able to do it once impressive? No. Is it an appropriate weight for a "rep contest"? Yea, Id say so. I mean the NFL combine uses 225, so unless we're comparing NFL players that get paid to live in the gym to finance bros- I'd say taking 50 off is about right. Oh, and unless you stick a needle in your ass, I'd say 20 reps is the starting point of "impressive" for that weight. That works out to almost a 300 pd 1RM.
Most Ivy League football players can put up 225 10+ times easy. 175 is a complete joke. Hell, I'm a few years out of school and can do 225 15x.
That's fine, my point was just that the average joe can rep 225 a whopping zero times- thus my comment that 175 was perfect. If there was some sort of filter on who could participate in this shit (which I'm assuming is what I overlooked?)- then sure 225 would have made more sense.
Everything to compensate for that 6 inch.
This is ridiculous. The whole philanthropy aspect and how they incorporated the wall street ego into a physical competition is very amusing.
Holy shit I'm on bodybuilding.com, even the insecure butt hurt wafted into this forum.
Wow didn't realize that most people on WSO were bodybuilder demi-gods. If I tried to do 175 40x I would be taking a nice leisurely trip to the morgue.
this i was amazed how people think thats amazing...
also, no weight classes right? joke event.
No one thinks lifting 175 is "amazing." I infer that you guys think people are dumb for thinking 36 reps is impressive. Okey dokey.
A couple years back, someone on WSO posted a link to a bodybuilding.com forum and everybody ripped on those guys. At the time I thought well, WSO is just the finance version of those dudes sometimes. Christ, this is just like a discussion those guys would have.
What's sort of amazing is bench pressing a car. You don't even have to pay for the gym then, just walk into any parking lot, slide under the nearest parked car, and start getting your swell on.
What I don't understand is how setting the lift at 175 lbs is fair for guys that weight less than that? They should probably change that event to push-ups, or have different weights for different athletes.
I second this. The percentage of my body weight in bones is a heck of a lot more than the percentage of someone who weighs 180.
So you are 6'1" and weigh 135 lbs?
yes...
Ok, please, everyone in this thread just shut up. You are not as athletic as you think you are, you're most likely an overweight, uncoordinated slob. I swear everyone in this forum just talks themselves up "Oh yeah, I can easily do a 40 inch vertical" - no you can't.
There should be a Business group that instead of hitting happy hour after work...hits the gym...just saying
jebus!!! these guys and gals are beasts. I think it's about time to take my fat lazy ass to the gym. It's been 10 years since I last visited a real gym.
Sign me up. I try to do this and get flamed every day I go. I'm in coverage though so everyone's pretty out of shape.
That's the whole point of proving yourself as an "elite athlete". CrossFit doesn't have weight class standards for that exact reason - they do have differing standards for men and women though, which probably would have made more sense here rather than having women also bench 175.
Props to those who competed, especially those who won. This thread is so embarassing, I can't imagine how many of you are wearing Tapout and Affliction shirts right now
I competed this past weekend and figured I'd chime in. To clarify - women benched 75 lbs. The website has all the standings and rules.
As for the other comments - big guys think the event favors running/body weight exercises and small guys think it favors lifting. That probably means you have the right mix of events. Some guys kill the lifting events but don't run well and vice versa - it's a tough event to train for.
Let's not forget that it's a charity event that raises $ for a great cause!
Congratulations man, and thanks for the insight
I also competed this weekend. Look, $1.3 mil was raised at a great event. Ten events in four hours is not easy, period. All the events were different and all told favored no one. Mark Rubin was a beast at any level. Running, strength, skill and agility were all tested by big and small men and women. The bench of 175 is doable up to 20 reps. After that it gets harder and harder. There is a huge difference in doing 20 reps, 30 reps, 35 reps, let alone 40 or 42. Go to your gym and try it. By the way, the guy who won was 48 years old and weighed 185.
Read my comments, I'm on your side here. Couldn't be more impressed with the guys and gals that trained for that, let alone the fact that every participant I saw had raised at least a few thousand dollars. Have the utmost respect. Will you be competing again next year?
I thought Brady's post about marrying the ladies of Wharton was lame. Then I read some of the responses here. Wow.
Oil&Gas she-trader from mother RUSSIA
This seems like a really fun event. Also, benching 175 lbs for as many reps as they were is impressive, especially given the fact they work in finance.
I also always found it cool how a lot of these ex-NFL types succeed on Wall Street. A good example is Pete Najarian on CNBC - dude played linebacker in the NFL for a few years and is now worth well into the 8 figures from options trading.
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