Mike Martin is Strong

Submitted by JeepinBen on April 20th, 2011 at 4:25 PM

In other news, Water is Wet.

Bruce Feldman over at ESPN has an article about "College Footballs Strongest Men" 

Hulk Smash ranks as his #2:

 

2. Mike Martin, NT, Michigan Wolverines

The Wolverines defense may have been flimsy, but don't blame Martin. The 298-pounder, a guy who won a high school state wrestling title in his first season competing in the sport, is a freak. He's squatted over 700 pounds, power cleaned 430, hang cleaned 475 and bench pressed over 500. Oh, and he's also run in the 4.9s in the 40.

More positive press for our wolverines on the WWL today. And those are FREAK numbers.

http://insider.espn.go.com/ncf/blog?name=feldman_bruce&id=6396414

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Comments

JeepinBen

April 20th, 2011 at 4:33 PM ^

 

1. Josh Chapman, DT, Alabama Crimson Tide

 

 

He doesn't have the heft of Mount Cody, his former Tide teammate, but in the weight room Chapman isn't taking a back seat to anyone. I remember hearing talk about what a powerhouse this guy was back in his recruiting days. Now up to 305 pounds, Chapman benches a jaw-dropping 580 pounds and squats 630, according to the Crimson Tide strength staff.

Joined: 01/22/2010

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WoodleyIsBeast

April 20th, 2011 at 4:41 PM ^

I figured Simon would be number one, dude certainly shows some impressive feats of strength.

 

Here's how all three stacked up coming out of high school-

 

http://rivals.yahoo.com/michigan/football/recruiting/player-Mike-Martin…

 

http://rivals.yahoo.com/michigan/football/recruiting/player-Josh-Chapma…

 

http://rivals.yahoo.com/michigan/football/recruiting/player-John-Simon-…

Joined: 09/24/2009

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HAILtoBO

April 20th, 2011 at 4:48 PM ^

I heard he put weight on a bar and couldn't do it... so he took a 45lb plate and threw it through the window. Martin Difference. GO BLUE!!!

Joined: 01/17/2011

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papabear16

April 20th, 2011 at 5:32 PM ^

Based on the stats here, I'd have ranked Martin ahead of Chapman.  Bench is nice, but it's not AS relevant to football beyond a certain point.  (And they both have freakishly strong benches.)  Squat is much more relevant, and Martin wins that.  Further, Martin's clean numbers - maybe more relevant still - are ridiculous.  (That said, I didn't see a clean number for Chapman.)

But the ranking is probably less important than the fact that the Hulk wears a winged helmet.

Joined: 06/30/2008

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Footballfan54

April 20th, 2011 at 8:20 PM ^

People's jaws tend to drop at the bench, but hell squatting 700 is unfathomable. Another thing, people really downplay the significance of powerclean. This is probably the lift most applicable to the field because of the explosive nature to the lift. I've seen plenty of guys who are strong as an ox in the weightroom, but do nothing on the field because they aren't explosive. That and quickness are the best things a football player can have in their favor. Good thing Martin has got all of the above

Joined: 04/04/2011

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tdcarl

April 20th, 2011 at 9:06 PM ^

All of those stats are crazy, but the clean numbers jumped out to me. Powercleaning 400+ is crazy. That lift has so many moving parts, so to manage to put up that much weight is very impressive.

Joined: 04/11/2009

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fat_wilhelm

April 20th, 2011 at 10:01 PM ^

I wonder if they mixed up a couple of those numbers. Unless there's something severely off with technique, there's no reason that someone's hang clean should be more than their power clean, especially by that much.

Joined: 12/26/2009

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goblueorbust

April 21st, 2011 at 10:39 AM ^

A power clean starts with the weights being a few inches off the ground, whereas a hang clean starts with the barbell a few inches below the waste. So it is expected that someone hang cleans more, less movement required.

Joined: 09/08/2008

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fat_wilhelm

April 21st, 2011 at 1:03 PM ^

I know what a power clean and hang clean are, but your statement is not even close to being correct.  ROM arguments do not apply to olympic lifts.  By starting from the ground, you have an easier time creating velocity and achieving triple extension, which usually allows for more weight to be used.  If technique is poor and you're just muscling it up with upper body strength, then it's possible the hang clean could be done at greater load, but I highly doubt that anyone cleaning 400+ has poor technique.

Joined: 12/26/2009

MGoPoints: 246

bryemye

April 23rd, 2011 at 7:23 PM ^

Remember when Mike Martin became a UFR demi-god? Yeah, that would have been cool if his teammates weren't clueless/poorly-positioned/not-ready/not-good.

Joined: 09/14/2009

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