How fit should a man be?

G86

SugarHigh wrote: »

If you can't do a lift with good form then you clearly can't do the lift. What is the point in measuring how much you can lift with bad form?

This is ridiculous, go to any PL comp and tell me the lifts look perfect? You won't, because they don't.

You're obviously not going to go around pulling your max everyday, but for the sake of testing MAXES your form is always going to be flaky.

Bottle_of_Smoke

G86 wrote: »

That's bullsh!t, your form is never going to be brilliant on your max effort.

Its not bullsh*t. Counting your bad form lifts is like saying you're a genius for cheating on an IQ test

SugarHigh

--Kaiser-- wrote: »

I like this definition:

"Every man should be able to save his own life. He should be able to swim far enough, run fast and long enough to save his life in case of emergency and necessity. He also should be able to chin himself up a reasonable number of times, as well as to dip a number of times, and he should be able to jump a reasonable height and distance."

Sounds nice but is actually a load of balls. "He should be able to swim far enough" what's enough? So if I get stranded 50 miles at sea I should be able to swim home?:D

And what's a "reasonable" number of chin ups? The quote doesn't answer anything.

SugarHigh

G86 wrote: »

This is ridiculous, go to any PL comp and tell me the lifts look perfect? You won't, because they don't.

You're obviously not going to go around pulling your max everyday, but for the sake of testing MAXES your form is always going to be flaky.

I said good form not perfect form.

G86

Bottle_of_Smoke wrote: »

Its not bullsh*t. Counting your bad form lifts is like saying you're a genius for cheating on an IQ test

You're not getting what I'm saying.

I had savagely bad form on my deadlift for ages, so I lowered the weight and worked on it for weeks before lifting anything near heavy. So, I'm NOT advocating lifting with bad form.

What I am saying, is that your max effort attempt is not going to look great form wise. If you don't want to test it because of that then grand, but it still counts imo. I know it counts in my training at least, and in everyone elses that I train with.

Bottle_of_Smoke

G86 wrote: »

You're not getting what I'm saying.

I had savagely bad form on my deadlift for ages, so I lowered the weight and worked on it for weeks before lifting anything near heavy. So, I'm NOT advocating lifting with bad form.

It comes across as if you are. Its a thread about how fit a man should be and you're talking about what a man should be able to do. Lifting with poor form to me is pointless because it is impossible to know how bad the form is. Sure I could squat a lot heavier if I used my knees locking into place for the final push but it would be meaningless because it doesn't make me stronger, just damages my knees

What I am saying, is that your max effort attempt is not going to look great form wise. If you don't want to test it because of that then grand, but it still counts imo. I know it counts in my training at least, and in everyone elses that I train with.

I don't understand why it should count. You're not making yourself stronger, just damaging yourself and appealing to your vanity by having a higher number on the kilograms you're lifting

G86

Bottle_of_Smoke wrote: »

It comes across as if you are. Its a thread about how fit a man should be and you're talking about what a man should be able to do. Lifting with poor form to me is pointless because it is impossible to know how bad the form is. Sure I could squat a lot heavier if I used my knees locking into place for the final push but it would be meaningless because it doesn't make me stronger, just damages my knees



I don't understand why it should count. You're not making yourself stronger, just damaging yourself and appealing to your vanity by having a higher number on the kilograms you're lifting

We're obviously singing from completely different hymn sheets, lets leave it at that

I'm kind of intruding anyways since he asked for mens opinions!

itsallaboutheL

G86 wrote: »

I know alot of fat bastards who can deadlift 2x bodyweight:D

In all seriousness though, I get what you're saying about the 'average' guy, but I've a friend who never squatted before and she came in and squatted 90kg on her first effort 2 weeks ago.

G that was just freakish, you cant you her as an example of what's normal.

Joeyjoejoe83

BigDuffman wrote: »

Dunno if its ego stroking or just sillyness. But unless people on this forum represent the fit segment of society what I'm seeing as being the basic level of fitness on here is silly.

I work in the sports industry and can safely say that being able to do 1 armed pressups is not a necessity for the average male.

In my books. A measure of fitness is completely down to the age and profile of the person.

As posters have mentioned, I've had people in front of me who claim to be able to bang out 60 press ups who then start doing some bizzare "nose dive" or start dry humping the ground. When corrected most of them struggle to blast out 30! In general, if your getting into tripple figures when doing reps of LME your doing it wrong or you weigh less than your picture.

So it is hard to base someones fitness based on a standard measure applied to anonymous internet posters!

I know super fit athletes who could not do 3 pull ups. I also know super strong blokes who could not do 2 miles!

The OP asked for the average man. It appears we have some fitness freaks with us here on tGC:D

In my books what would be considered an average to fit scale is:

2 Miles 15 Mins
35 Push Ups in 60 Seconds
40 Sit ups in 60 Seconds
10K in 50 mins

Bearing in mind that majority of the male population over 28 are NOT fit. And are more than likely not to be involved in sports / general fitness.

Thanks for the reply, this thread was becoming a dick measuring competition.

In my opinion I don't feel anything requiring weights should be cobsidered(except maybe a couple of 15s for biceps and squats). Saw a magazine in papershop which sums it up, it was called 'muscles and fitness', i.e two separate things.

BrianD3

I've been deadlifting for over 7 years and have deadlifted over 3.2x BW so I think I know what I'm talking about. I find it impossible to believe that "most" men can deadlift 2x their bodyweight - even if you allow them to use bad form.

As already stated, most men don't train with weights. And of those that do, many do curls, bench and nothing else. People with manual labour jobs would generally be stronger than the average office worker but 1 rep maxes aren't what they're about. Can the "average" 15 stone labourer deadlift 150 kg for 1? I doubt it, and that's a long way off 2x BW

Deadlift strength standards.
http://www.exrx.net/Testing/WeightLifting/DeadliftStandards.html

A double bodyweight deadlift is somewhere between intermediate and advanced level
according to the above.

Intermediate definition
"A person who has engaged in regular training for up to two years. The intermediate level indicates some degree of specialization in the exercises and a high level of performance at the recreational level"

Advanced definition
"An individual with multi-year training experience with definite goals in the higher levels of competitive athletics"

Greyfox

Rycn wrote: »

One-arm Pushups x 10 each side
One-leg squats x 10 each side
Pullups x 10
Hanging Leg Raises x 20
Bridges x 20
Handstand Pushups x 15

If you can do this you are a real man.

I've never even attempted to do any of the above and have never done more then 10 push ups or sit-ups, I just don't see the need

I can survive a hours 5 a side football, spending as much time in goal as out and doing as little running as possible and dying afterwards, once you can do this then you've hit the minimum fitness you need for a decent life

Rycn

Greyfox wrote: »

I've never even attempted to do any of the above and have never done more then 10 push ups or sit-ups, I just don't see the need

I can survive a hours 5 a side football, spending as much time in goal as out and doing as little running as possible and dying afterwards, once you can do this then you've hit the minimum fitness you need for a decent life

Exactly.

Logical Fallacy

In a thread like this, the answers given are going to fall into line with what people's goals are. You won't have a guy who runs marathons come along and say a 3x BW deadlift is a must, same way as you won't have a dude who likes powerlifting espouse the need for a sub 4 hour marathon time.

You should be fit enough to achieve your goals, whatever they may be, that's about it.

Anything else is far too broad strokes an answer to give a **** about.

BigDuffman

Joeyjoejoe83 wrote: »

Saw a magazine in papershop which sums it up, it was called 'muscles and fitness', i.e two separate things.

Exactly, hit the nail on the head, two seperate goals. I wouldn't rule out all weights though. They needn't be heavy but they have their place.

--Kaiser--

SugarHigh wrote: »

Sounds nice but is actually a load of balls. "He should be able to swim far enough" what's enough? So if I get stranded 50 miles at sea I should be able to swim home?:D

And what's a "reasonable" number of chin ups? The quote doesn't answer anything.

My point is I would put abilities that you would use in real life as a measure of fitness, rather than something abstract like deadlifts or endurance running.

Two of my brothers train for marathons, but neither can come close to me in a 200 metre sprint. Which is more valuable in a real life situation? Being able to sprint to save a friend or family member, or being able to run for 2 hours straight?

Similarly, in MMA I used to spar with a guy who did bodybuilding. He was the same height as me but had an extra 10 kgs (at least). Yet in sparring he was slow, it was easier to get an arm/leg bar on him because his muscles were so big and he would look ready to pass out after about a minute of a (mild) bout. I'm sure he could lift quite a lot, I'd still be more worried about the boxer I knew who could do 50 push ups in 30 seconds.

SugarHigh

--Kaiser-- wrote: »

My point is I would put abilities that you would use in real life as a measure of fitness, rather than something abstract like deadlifts or endurance running.

Two of my brothers train for marathons, but neither can come close to me in a 200 metre sprint. Which is more valuable in a real life situation? Being able to sprint to save a friend or family member, or being able to run for 2 hours straight?

Similarly, in MMA I used to spar with a guy who did bodybuilding. He was the same height as me but had an extra 10 kgs (at least). Yet in sparring he was slow, it was easier to get an arm/leg bar on him because his muscles were so big and he would look ready to pass out after about a minute of a (mild) bout. I'm sure he could lift quite a lot, I'd still be more worried about the boxer I knew who could do 50 push ups in 30 seconds.

lol are you one of these people who believe in practical strength and that somehow dong deadlifts and squats aren't building up practical strength but just some imaginary gym strength?

If you're worried about saving your life than why not just train MMA which will also involve doing weight training.

Two of my brothers train for marathons, but neither can come close to me in a 200 metre sprint. Which is more valuable in a real life situation? Being able to sprint to save a friend or family member, or being able to run for 2 hours straight?

Say they are chasing you...after 200 meters you are ahead but already tired and they still have 2 hours left in them, what happens?

Killme00

To be honest it depends on how fit he needs to be. The relationship between 'need' and 'want' should be explored. We all want to be fitter, faster, stronger but we dont all need it and most of you average males are just wasting your time...especially with your situps :pac:

Dravokivich

the thing with situps is, you'll find new people doing it because they would of done'em in school and would be a basic exercise that they'd know.

no one would have told them how worthless it is to burn off a tubby belly.

instead of sniggering, try speaking with'em and advise'em.

ted1

i can swim a mile without getting tired. I can do over an hour of tough cardio without getting keeling over. I'm 95kg and 5 11 tall. I've no bother carrying the bags in from the car. I find weights boring and run 10k in about an hour but that is around killiney so its 40% uphill 20% flat and the rest down hill. I consider myself fit .

foxyboxer

A fit man can..........


http://www.menshealth.com/mhlists/be_fit/

Joeyjoejoe83

foxyboxer wrote: »

A fit man can..........


http://www.menshealth.com/mhlists/be_fit/

Hmm I agree with most of those, but the ones about bodyweight are like the BMI test, not representative of non normal people. Benching 1.5 times my body weight is 156kg and leg press 2.25 times body weight is 234kg......thats a mental amount!

itsallaboutheL

Joeyjoejoe83 wrote: »

Hmm I agree with most of those, but the ones about bodyweight are like the BMI test, not representative of non normal people. Benching 1.5 times my body weight is 156kg and leg press 2.25 times body weight is 234kg......thats a mental amount!

I can do it.:pac:

Joeyjoejoe83

itsallaboutheL wrote: »

I can do it.:pac:

Yeah but my point is that you wouldnt be normal(not an insult btw). The thread is about what an average man can do, your clearly work on the weights alot more than average.

itsallaboutheL

Joeyjoejoe83 wrote: »

Yeah but my point is that you wouldnt be normal(not an insult btw). The thread is about what an average man can do, your clearly work on the weights alot more than average.

TBH i wouldn't consider anything on that list to be normal.

Plus they lost all credibility with the leg press.

AnonymousPrime

Joeyjoejoe83 wrote: »

Weird title I know, but having embarked on a bid to be fitter, I was wondering what men in general feel should be the standard in order to be considered physically fit. I am putting this in tGC as I am looking for normal men's opinions and not fitness junkies.

Eg, I feel you should be able to run a 10k in <50mins, do 100 sit ups and 50 press ups, each without breaks.

Fit enough to chase down kill and gut a fully grown deer, with enough energy left to drag it home for the missus.