Football Combines Mystery

[Guest guest]

I've been talking with a number of young men who are prepping for the college

coaching combines and they tell me they are required to do a maximum repetition

bench press with 225 pounds as one of the items on their list. Apparently they

are not generally concerned with the form it's performed with, merely the number

of reps performed. Thus the candidates usually are desperate to increase this

number by any means possible, usually when discovering they cannot do the

desired number of reps for a higher placement.

They also tell me of shuttle runs for agility testing and timed sprints to

measure speed, which make far more sense from an operating standpoint for

football.

It strikes me as quite odd though that this requirement of a 225 pounds for

maximum reps still persists as a coaching combine standard by which players are

judged? When you examine the requirement, it has little to do with football.

It doesn't really measure strength, but chest endurance in larger people... the

linemen they are up against are now far larger than 225 pounds? And it's not a

logical thing to ask of say, a wide receiver?

For those players whose bread and butter is speed and hand skills, a 225 for

reps bench press is meaningless. For those whose bread and butter is speed off

the line in a more deadlift or tire flipping position, such light repetitions in

a bench press for high numbers is not meaningful either. Some people who are

quite well built for football also are NOT built to bench press effectively

either... for example your taller tight ends, with longish arms and thus less

effective leverages for the bench press?

Is there any discussion among the coaching combines and NFL scouts to make a

different standard or remove this somewhat strange combine measure?

The Phantom

aka Schaefer, CMT, CSCS, competing powerlifter

Denver, Colorado, USA