In Linford Christie’s autobiography ‘Nuff Respect’, he claims that in training he handled weights of up to 300kg in the back squat. I find this hard to believe, unless he was doing partial squats, but certaintly not parallel or below depth with this weight. This would appear to be slightly more than what Ben used, and i understand that his were parallel squats. It is obvious that Ben could squat more than linford because he was a much better starter.
Does anyone know the actual pb of Linford in the squat, or any other world class sprinters for that matter?
Does anyone know if Ben Johnson’s 620lb x 6reps in the squat has been bettered by any world class sprinters?
Guys like Regis, Cason, Chambers, Burrell and Surin, etc seem capable of pretty big numbers by the look of their legs.
Any information on this topic would be greatly appeciated.
I myself am 5’10", 205lb, with a 495lb full squat. 100m pb =10.61.
i remember charlie saying they didn’t go near a 1RM on squats because ben had bad knees or something to that effect. does anyone know what if it was just a case of tendonitis or something more severe?
We cannot learn too much by comparing sprinters’ poundages in anything other than full squats can we? (and even in full squats technique is important).
i remember watching some clips of linford lifting…during a seminar in italy, back in 1996 (or amybe 1997?), his then coache exposed some of the metodologies employed by him,campbell,jackson., and i say that his squat were parallel,a bit lower than an half squat…in the video, i think he is lifting more than 220kg with lot of speed and multiple reps., also said 140kg pc.the video was recorded before 1992, and his coach told the audience that from then on he got much stronger…the video is available through the site of the italian federation.
www.fidal.it
Watching that guy train in Tampa and reading Speed Trap changed my life. Linford did hurdle mobility and did stuff in the weight room that scared off the Bucs. Eric Rhett (former all pro running back that faded to nothing after getting fat) watched for 20 minutes…then left in his ford exporer.
Ive heard linford was able to do one legged hurdle bounds on the top hrudle level. He woudnlt have been able to do that witout immense strength. So if an 86Kg guy can not bound like that but can lift double his body weight then for LC to be able to bound like that tripple his body weight is probably what he lifted. I personally am lifting double my body weight and I cant even imagine what tripple is. Im 78Kg and last night just even tried to put 200Kg on my back and stand up … that was tough, so for guys who can do 260Kg, and a full squat at that, you have all my respect … as long as it helps you on the track. It’s so easy to get carried away with weights but let the track come first.
“Watching that guy train in Tampa and reading Speed Trap changed my life. Linford did hurdle mobility and did stuff in the weight room that scared off the Bucs. Eric Rhett (former all pro running back that faded to nothing after getting fat) watched for 20 minutes…then left in his ford exporer.”
Clemson,
what kinds of hurdle mobility drills did Linford do? is it just down and unders ect? or is it some magical secret form russia?
I read an article in the Soviet Sports Review in the 1980s which noted that its champion lifters averaged around 1.3 times their clean as a back squat. This would mean that the guy who lifted 235kg Clean and Jerk in 1992 may have lifted around 305kg.
Hence, for a guy like Christie to squat anywhere near this figure would be incredible given that his long levers are not really conducive to olympic style squats.
I have heard that his best partial squat is 290kg.
eroszag,
I tried looking for it on the www.fidal.it site and I can’t seem to find it, I also did a search under his Linford’s name but nothing. Can you direct me please?
I agree with what you say here. Linford has very long levers and whilst he was a world class power athlete, i find it hard to believe that he could squat with 300kg in any manner similar to the depth reached by quality olympic lifters. My guess is that for a FULL squat he would probably have been capable of something in the region of 230- 250kg.
In olympic lifting terms a 270kg FULL squat is considered world class. In Randy Strossen’s (weightlifting expert) IronMind brochures that sell items related to olympic weightlifting, he sells a poster of 1993 world weightlifting champion Ivan Chakarov (Bulgaria) squatting a rock bottom triple in ‘no, no, no’ style- no belt, no wraps (and certaintly no ‘supersuit’), no spotters, with 270kg at 91kg bodyweight.
This lift is made a great deal of by Strossen. Chakarov is about 8" shorter than Linford (with the obvious greater mass given that they were a similar weight but with totally differing heights), and he has both literally and proportionately shorter legs than Linford, which makes for heavier squatting. More over, he is a specialist in putting up heavy poundages. There is no way on earth that Linford could outlift a world champion Bulgarian lifter.
One thing is certain though, many track and field athletes in the uk can outlift the best weightlifters in the uk in the power clean exercise. For example, i read on this forum that Linford was capable of 170kg power clean in 1998 at 92kg bodyweight. The British record holder in the 94kg weight class is David Guest (5’7") with 196kg in the clean and jerk. I saw him at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester max out at 185kg in the clean and jerk and he had to dip very low to recover from his cleans. Percentage wise, one would calculate that his power clean would be in the neighbourhood of 155- 165kg. Jonathon Edwards can power clean 150kg at 72kg bwt, and not many weightlifters up to the 94kg class in Britain could match this lift. Interestingly, i had a conversation with a group of weightlifters in the athletes village (i was a volunteer) who were impressed by Edward’s power clean and of Steve Backley’s ability to power snatch 110kg. They did say however that they doubted that Edwards, Backley or Christie would lift much more in full squat cleans and snatches. The point- the power exercises were specially targeted feats of the said athletes.
Rob, I do not dispute the points you are making (and in fact Chakharov, along with Dimas and Vanev, is my favorite lifter). However understand that for olympic lifters the squat is also an assistance/general strength movement (just like for sprinters and other athletes), putting up big number in the squat is not as important as HOW the squat is done and how it transfers to gains in the competition lifts. It’s all about how much you an snatch and clean & jerk, not how much you squat. In my strength peak I could full olympic back squat very close to 270kg and front squatted 200kg. Had I had the technical skill (and maybe neural efficiency) of the top lifters this would have been good for at least a 160kg snatch and 180kg clean & jerk, which I never approached (in training my best snatch was 137.5kg with straps and my best clean was 170kg … in competition I sucked as I followed an other coach’s plan and never actually competed without an injury!).
In fact, when I trained at the Canadian equivlent of the olympic training center in Montreal I trained with Sacha Amede (then 94kg canadian champ with 155 and 185 … now up to 160 - 190). I would kick his ass in squats, front squats, deadlifts, push presses and bench press but he would destroy me on any competitive lift or their variations.
That having been said, I do not dispute that a 290kg full squat from a tall sprinter is somewhat hard to believe. But even a 290kg half (parallel) squat is impressive for such an athlete. And when it all comes down to it, WHO CARES! Seriously, for an athlete all that counts is performance in their respective sport. What they do in the gym is not important in itself. Athletes should stop worrying about gym numbers and start thinking in terms of “will I improve because of what I did in the gym?”
So with that having been said, it’s quite possible for an athlete to squat more than a top level olympic lifter. I helped train Pascal Caron who was twice a member of the Canadian bobsled team. He squatted 505lbs (230kg) and that was the fullest squat I ever witnessed at a bodyweight of 167lbs (75kg) on 5’7" (note that he also bench pressed 425lbs at a weight of 172lbs). I also trained with Jacques Demers (former silver medal winner in the old 75kg class in the 1984 games) and at the time I trained with him he had a best back squat of 220kg at 76kg (granted he was 40 years old, but he was still snatching 130kg and clean & jerking 170kg). Same weight as Pascal (but on 5’4") much much higher olympic lifts (Pascal has PB of 100kg in the power snatch and 125kg in the power clean) yet a lower squat.
And the world is full of examples of shot putters being stronger than superheavy olympic lifters OF THE SAME COUNTRY. And that doesn’t only refer to squat and bench but also to the competitive lifts in their power form (power clean, power snatch).
Ben was doing squats to parallel normally and only did 1/4 squats after the injury in May 1988. As Ben weighed 173 and Linford was more like 200 lbs, I don’t doubt for a minute the numbers quoted. Also, Linford was an excellent starter.
On a side note I personally find parallel squats to be almost as hard as full squats mostly because of the lessened stretch reflex. I can only squat around 10% more when I do a true parallel squat than when I do a full squat. However I can quarter squat the world.
So when peoples dismiss lifts such as Ben’s and Linford’s squats on the ground that they are not full squats it’s a bit idiotic. If they are true parallel squats it’s still impressive to me.
What always amazes me about LC was how supple he could be even with such huge numbers.
I’m sure Ben was exteremely flexible too, but Linfords felxibility for such a strong guy always amazed me.
I also think he had a small advantage coming to the sport a little later and having enjoyed himself a little before deciding to commit 100%.
I think it gave him a ‘better’ dedication as he definietely knew what he wanted?