Mike Martin-Bench

Submitted by yoopergoblue on

Shawn Zobel ‏ @ShawnZobel_DHQ

Close 36 reps for Michigan's Mike Martin

2:05 PM - 26 Feb 12 via UberSocial for BlackBerry · Details Reply Retweet Favorite

 

Dude has to be disappointed with "only" 36 reps. He and everyone else figured he would challenge for the combine record. Molk wins the battle. Still a fantastic job for Mike!

manchild56

February 26th, 2012 at 4:18 PM ^

to think there was an injury or he was just tuckered out. There is no way 36 is his best or even close to what he can do. Feel bad for him his one and only real goal was to go for 50 plus reps. Well your still the man Mike

mGrowOld

February 26th, 2012 at 4:24 PM ^

That doesnt make any sense to me.  I understand him perhaps not getting the record but to fall that short of even his recent personal best tells me something was very wrong.  He was either injured or his training routine did not have him prepared properly.

He'll have a Pro-day in Ann Arbor soon won't he?  If so I would assume he'll have a chance to up that number but man...what a shocker after all the talk of him hitting 50.  Not that 36 is bad by any means but it's SO far off what he was saying he'd do I'm more than a bit surprised.

vablue

February 26th, 2012 at 6:06 PM ^

That is not that bad of a schedule for a pro athlete.  Boxers train a lot longer and more regularly getting ready for a fight.  And so do countless other pro athletes preparing for big events.  I would also bet most high school wrestlers train more than that and I know for a fact that division one wrestlers train more than that.  Given the performance by Molk, I doubt you can blame this on Barwis.  This could be as much about it being on day 5 and not getting sleep leading up to it, as Molk noted in his interview these guys don't get much chance to sleep while at the combine. 

On another note, I had never actually seen any numbers on what he had done with 225 previously.  We all saw him bench 500, but no numbers on what he was doing with 225.  Is it possible that 50 reps was just a pipe dream and 36 really is a good number for him?  Love to see what the other DTs were doing, that might be telling.

MrVociferous

February 26th, 2012 at 6:16 PM ^

where he benched 225 35 times after doing multiple reps of 400+ pounds.  Both he and Molk trained together and talked about how they do the 225 lift at the end of lifting.  35 has to be really disappointing for him.

MStrength

February 26th, 2012 at 6:34 PM ^

Boxing are a lot different in terms of the demands of the sports. Preparing for a combine isn't about being conditioned and preparing for the demands of a competition like wrestlers and boxers do. You don't need to break someone down for combine tests the same way you do during preseason or even in season conditioning. It's about being your strongest and fastest for those days at the combine. It's very possible keeping that rigorous of a schedule could have overtrained them. I've defended Barwis before but he has a reputation for overtraining his athletes. 

vablue

February 26th, 2012 at 7:07 PM ^

Where does he have this reputation at?  Besides RR haters on blogs.  Boxers, wrestlers and olympic athletes all have the same goal, to peak at the right time.  You can't be overtrained in any competition.  I doubt they came in overtrained at all.  But we will see more tomorrow.

MStrength

February 26th, 2012 at 8:12 PM ^

who are actually in the Strength and Conditioning profession share this view. You won't see many strength coaches have continuous sessions like Barwis did without a peaking phase where volume is tapered down leading up to competition. In track and field, for instance, workouts are very high volume at the beginning of the season and then toward the end of the season are tapered down so that the runners have recovery time to make sure they're fresh for the most important meets of the year. You must let the CNS recover in order to have optimal performance. I've also heard that when Barwis was with M, players would be sore from lifting on game days. That should not happen. Yes you can lift hard during the season, but the volume needs to be much lower. Some athletes, albeit very few of them, can handle what would cause most people to overtrain. Brandon Graham pulled a hamstring when he was running in the combine. He also ran a much slower time than the time that was reported when he was in combine training with Barwis. Molk puts up 41 after hitting 39 reps after working sets when with Barwis. Martin only manages 36 when he states that he believes he can break the record, and I don't think he would say that without knowing he could do it. Don't get me wrong, 36 reps is still very impressive, as were Molk's 41, but all evidence just seems to point to these players working with him not peaking when they should be, but instead getting hurt and performing below what they know they can do. 

FGB

February 26th, 2012 at 8:52 PM ^

"all evidence just sems to point to these players working with him not peaking"

except of course molk putting up the best numbers of any olineman.

maybe it's just that sometimes guys have it that day and sometimes they don't.  i'm guessing the strength coach at OSU isn't terrible and yet Mike Adams, one of the top OTs, can only get 17 reps or whatever.  wes welker catches wide open passes almost all of the time.  billy cundiff makes 30 yard field goals almost all of the time. 

sometimes guys just don't quite get done what they want/expect to get done.

jvick9006

February 27th, 2012 at 9:37 AM ^

The guy at Ohio didn't do combine prep for him. He was just hired from Florida and is one of the best in the business. The majority of college strength coaches don't do combine training. The elite players go to places like Athlete Performance, Parisi Speed School, Velocity in Cali or Florida, IMG in Florida and places like that. These places are the best of the best and provide everything from nutrition to visual training to position drills/training. 

vablue

February 26th, 2012 at 9:15 PM ^

They are number 2 and 3 at the combine, if that is over training than I guess more guys should get some of that.  Plus, I would note the schedule you described was from last month, do you know what they did in the last week or two?  I know they have not trained with him since Tuesday for sure as they had to travel to the combine. 

I do like the "many people in the business comment, got any links for that?  Because last I saw he was offered the biggest contract in division 1 by FSU.  So yeah, people in the business must think he is a real train wreck.

GetSumBlue

February 27th, 2012 at 8:43 AM ^

Anybody who is knowledgable in S&C will not dispute what the guy wrote about peaking. He said perhaps they didn't run a correct taper down to peak at the combine. When both MM and Molk had "disappointing" performances (according to their stated goals) and didn't hit massive PRs, you can probably bet something went wrong in their programming. I'll probably get banned for saying this (gasp), but maybe Barwis ended up hurting them on on this day.

The bit about guys being sore on game days is disturbing though. As stated, volume should be low during the season.

Still in AA

February 27th, 2012 at 8:42 AM ^

I'm a Barwis supporter and I think he does / did a great job with a lot of the guys, but that doesn't mean his methods are the best for everyone.  The person who trained Hemingway obviously knew how to best prep him for the combine.

jvick9006

February 26th, 2012 at 8:02 PM ^

Combine prep is very demanding, physically and mentally. I've trained guys during combine prep. Never would I train guys for 6 hours in one day. It's all about repetition and neuromuscular activation and learning how to perform drills repetitively. It's nothing like boxing or wrestling. The body can only handle so much for so long.

Bluesnu

February 26th, 2012 at 4:29 PM ^

That's really just diappointing and sad to hear.  I've been looking forward to how he'd perform like it was a Fall Saturday.  On the bright side, I imagine he's going to be heading into the league with a chip on his shoulder next year..

Don

February 26th, 2012 at 4:51 PM ^

Will Johnson set some sort of lifting record and he never played one minute, even in exhibitions. MM is certainly strong enough to play; he has to prove he's good enough by making plays on the practice field and in games. Same with Molk. I think they can and will.

SirMedia

February 26th, 2012 at 5:13 PM ^

Long time reader, first time poster.  I was under the impression the the DL workouts were going to be on Monday.  There are no stats for this that I see on NFL website or any others. 

This link confirms that DL workouts are in fact tomorrow.

http://www.nflcombine.net/players/schedule

I've been watching NFL network most of the afternoon and its QB/RB/WR day, have seen nothing from DL.  So where did this number of 36 come from if he hasn't even lifted yet?

 

Brown Bear

February 26th, 2012 at 5:27 PM ^

Anyone saying "only" doing 36 reps is gonna cost him money is a fool. Bench reps only factor a little into someone's draft stock and even so 36 reps is DAMN IMPRESSIVE. Nice work Mike, best of luck the rest of the way.

MSHOT92

February 26th, 2012 at 8:26 PM ^

looking up Mike's page on NFL.COM it shows his strenghts (no pun intended) and weeknesses...his size and lack of pursuit/lateral mobility seem to be a huge knock. To me I would think amazing 'superhuman' strength might have been one fact that could have put him over the top or separate himself from other prospects...hard telling and I agree 36 is about 20 more than I'd do right now, but he doesn't have a lot of other things apparently that jump off the page. THAT'S NOT ME...that's the NFL scouting report...I love the heck out of the kid as a warrior and general badass as part of team 132. Have to say I expected a bit more, but I hope they see the type of kid and player he is, could become at the next level.

 

** REALLY?? OVERRATED? man...just screw this place...how dare I say anything contradictory to the 'brainwash'...what the fuck ever..out.  For the mods, by all means remove my account...done waisting time with this stuff stating an opinion...peace.