Guest contributor: Graeme Keeton (Good Talk)

Sitting back and watching your favourite athletes throwing weights overhead, sprinting 100m or knocking down a 20st man, it’s easy to fantasise about yourself doing the same. It’s not until you load a barbell with 100kg, stand on that start line, or see a 20st man running at full speed, though, that you can really appreciate the level some of the world’s best athletes are operating on.

From weightlifting, to track and field, swimming and the fastest 5km in the world, here’s how some of the best stack up. How do you compare?

 

Michael Jordan (basketball)
What: 48” (122cm) vertical jump

Jordan has a recorded vertical jump – that’s straight up with no step – of 48”. Combined with a ton of natural ability, this explosive leg power is what allowed him to out-jump his opponents time and again.

 

To put Jordan’s leap into perspective, and for when you’re testing your own, the average NBA vertical leap is around 28” (71cm).

 

Bruce Lee (martial arts)
What: Two-finger push-up

Lee was known for all kinds of legendary feats of strength, including kicking a 135kg punching bag into the ceiling. While we can’t vouch for every one of the great man’s supposedly superhuman talents, one thing we know for sure is that he was an absolute boss at push-ups. In this video, Lee can be seen repping push-ups with just his index finger and thumb.

Maybe practice regular push-ups, and then single-handed first if you’re going to try this one.

 

Manu Tuilagi (rugby)
What: 200kg bench press

Samoan-born Tuilagi is a big guy, weighing in at 110kg, but even so, at 90kg over bodyweight that bench pretty is pretty damn impressive. Couple that with a 100m sprint time of less than 12 seconds, and you’re not having a fun time if this guy comes at you.

 

David Durante (gymnastics)
What: Sally up/Sally down with free-standing handstand push-ups

The ‘Sally up/Sally down’ challenge pits athletes against the track ‘Flower’ by Moby. Usually performed with regular push-ups or squats, whenever the line ‘Bring Sally up…’ is heard, you’re in the up position of the movement. When ‘Bring Sally down…’ is heard, you’re in the down position of the movement.

David Durante is a former USA elite gymnast, who takes on the challenge with free-standing handstand push-ups. Good luck to you, is all we’ll say.

 

Dan Bailey (CrossFit)
What: ‘Diane’ in 01.35

‘Diane’ is a benchmark CrossFit workout which consists of 21 – 15 – 9 reps each of deadlift at 100kg and strict handstand push-ups. Most people will do well to get this workout done is five minutes; at the 2012 Regionals competition, Bailey smashed everyone with a time of 01.35.

Bailey is a former track sprinter, and excels at short, explosive workouts. Check out the video and see for yourself.

 

Michael Phelps (swimming)
What: 100m butterfly in 51.21

Phelps is an American competitive swimmer and the most decorated Olympian of all time, with 18 gold medals. At the 2012 Summer Olympics, Phelps swam the 100m butterfly in 51.21. To put that into perspective, that’s two lengths of a full-size Olympic swimming pool in less than a minute.

We’d wager that the average strong swimmer would be pressed to beat that time using the arguably faster front crawl (freestyle stroke).

Click on the image or link to check it out courtesy of the official Olympics YouTube channel.

 

Kenenisa Bekele (running)
What: 5,000m in 12:37.35

Bekele is an Ethiopian distance runner, who holds world records in both the 5,000m and 10,000m races. If most fit runners complete a 5,000m run in under 20 minutes, it’s a good day. At under 13 minutes, Bekele’s time identifies him as not only an outrageously talented and fast runner, but also a master of pacing. Go out too hard on your first 1,000m and you will perish, go to slowly, and you’ll never know what could have been.

Let us know how you get on trying to beat some of these guys! If you can get close, we might even send you some free Wingman stuff.