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The Rindo GPP Manly Man Test


Mike Rinderle

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So, I wanted to post this up before I tried it.  Going to try and run through the whole list in one day, sometime in the next week.

I've always had this list of things I thought most men should be able to do from a strength and GPP standpoint.  Things that 90% of the men walking the planet should be able to perform with some training (barring injury or handicap).  Not elite numbers, just a list of things we men should be able to perform in case we're called upon to um, well, er... be a man.  Some are easier for small guys and some for big guys, but these are kind of the minimum standards I personally always thought men should be able to do.  

Here it is and I welcome feedback:

Push press 135

Bench 225
Squat 315
Deadlift 405
Carry 168.5 lbs 20 yards
3 Pull ups / chin ups: 
2 minute plank
100m 15 seconds
<8 min Mile

I'm going to test myself against all of these in one day just to see where I stand.  If there are any I can't do, I will train my butt off to get them.

Reasoning behind the feats:

Lifting: I've always thought the 1,2,3,4 plates standard was something every man could attain no matter size.

The 168.5 lb carry: That's the weight of the average American woman.  I figure 20 yards gets you out of any burning house.

Pull ups/chin ups: minimum standard of 3 is good enough for the marines... good enough for me.  Even big guys should be able to get 3 with work.

Plank: a lot of guys can't or shouldn't do situps due to their backs, so I substituted what I considered something about as hard as 50 situps.

100 meters: every man should be able to sprint toward or away from danger.  15 seconds seemed reasonable at 50% longer than world class.

Mile run: I always considered 8 minutes to be a solid standard for a mile.  I thought about making this longer, but came to the conclusion that if I have to run away from something for more than a mile, I'd be better off not running and just fighting whatever it is fresh because it's going to eventually catch me.  Lol

I'd say that my biggest problems right now will be the presses due to my shoulder tear and I'm guessing the mile run may kill me.  Especially after the other stuff.  We shall see.

There are other things on the list every guy should know how to do, but I'm not going to be able to test them on the same day or know I'm able to do them.  Some examples are:

Be able to protect yourself or others in a fight

Swim 100 meters

Survive for a week withought modern comforts or technology.

Etc.

Let me know what you think and I'll post the results (good or bad) after I give it a shot.

My lifetime PRs for each of these:

- Push Press: 200

- Bench 345
- Squat 425
- Deadlift 600
-Carry 200 lb stone a long way
' Pull ups / chin ups: 12
- plank: no idea
-100m: no idea, but I ran a 53 second 400m in high school
- Mile: no idea, but I ran a 16:30 5k in high school cross country, so at least 5 minutes.

 

Edited by Mike Rinderle
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I would love to see others give this a shot too.  Give it a run and post your results.  Doesn't have to be done all in one day.  Video would be awesome.

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Push press 135  Easy enough

Bench 225 - I cannot do barbell bench press due to my left shoulder.  I just did 60# DBs for 20 which is the left shoulders limit - not the same I know
Squat 315 - haven't done any back squats in a long while but I think I can do it with a few weeks work - I've been doing step ups for quite a while now - much better for carrying a pack
Deadlift 405 - that's about my limit the last few years but I'll guess I can do it still - that's a few pounds over double BW
Carry 168.5 lbs 20 yards - yes - your example made me think we're putting someone over our shoulder and carrying them?

 Pull ups / chin ups:  - 3 - come on really - 3?  considering your numbers on the other challenges - this should be 8 or 10?
2 minute plank - also easy - I do this all the time on the rings
100m 15 seconds - I did 100 meters a few years back with my track kids - Not sure of the time.  I think I broke 15 but not by all that much :).  Not sure about this one.  I think this will be harder than people think.
<8 min Mile - running a mile with my knees would put me in the hospital - my lungs would be fine.  Put in a Rowing or biking test and I'd be OK.

I know it's easy to talk tough - right now I'm in the middle of my 70th birthday challenge - 70 items of various things.  I love challenges - I'll try this after the 70 list is done.

Edited by climber511
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8 hours ago, Shoggoth said:

The mile would kill me lol

I think it will do me in as well.

7 hours ago, climber511 said:

Push press 135  Easy enough

Bench 225 - I cannot do barbell bench press due to my left shoulder.  I just did 60# DBs for 20 which is the left shoulders limit - not the same I know
Squat 315 - haven't done any back squats in a long while but I think I can do it with a few weeks work - I've been doing step ups for quite a while now - much better for carrying a pack
Deadlift 405 - that's about my limit the last few years but I'll guess I can do it still - that's a few pounds over double BW
Carry 168.5 lbs 20 yards - yes - your example made me think we're putting someone over our shoulder and carrying them?

 Pull ups / chin ups:  - 3 - come on really - 3?  considering your numbers on the other challenges - this should be 8 or 10?
2 minute plank - also easy - I do this all the time on the rings
100m 15 seconds - I did 100 meters a few years back with my track kids - Not sure of the time.  I think I broke 15 but not by all that much :).  Not sure about this one.  I think this will be harder than people think.
<8 min Mile - running a mile with my knees would put me in the hospital - my lungs would be fine.  Put in a Rowing or biking test and I'd be OK.

I know it's easy to talk tough - right now I'm in the middle of my 70th birthday challenge - 70 items of various things.  I love challenges - I'll try this after the 70 list is done.

Feel free to substitute equivalent feats Chris.  Can't wait to see how you do.

I stand by the Marines on 3 chins.  Lol.  I think for larger individuals, the 3 chins or planks might be the hardest to accomplish.  

Overall, I think heavier men will find the first half easier and the second half really tough.  Lighter gents will find the 2nd half easy and the first half tough.  But, I think these are all attainable with enough work.  If my shoulder wasn't so jacked up, the first three would be easy.  I'm not even sure I can get a straight bar on my back these days.  May have to use the SSB for squats.

On the carry, I don't care how you do it.  If you have a big sand bag, over the shoulder would be the way to go and would mimick carrying a body the best.  I don't have one, so I'm just going to pick up a big enough stone and walk.  Lol.  You could even Steinborn a barbell onto your shoulders and walk, but you have to pick whatever you carry off the ground.  No squat racks, platforms to raise the weight up or frames.  It also has to be a single item.  No splitting the weight up and doing a farmers.

All in all, I think everyone will look at this list and see different things they think are easy or hard based on their own build and strengths.  But if you can do all of these, I think you are pretty darn well rounded.  If you could get all of these (or equivalents at 70, that would be amazeballs my friend.  At 50, Im looking at this list as a death sentence.   Lol

Edit: I agree that 15 seconds on the 100 is going to surprise a lot of people.  I'm not sure what I will get, other than a torn muscle.  Lol.  This was the one I was least sure about on the standard.  I pretty much just guessed based off what was world class.  Maybe 16 seconds?

Edited by Mike Rinderle
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I just know at the start of track season - quite a few high school aged kids (that are multi sport athletes) don't run much faster than 14 or so and 11+ is a good time for our small school.

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I think I may try this today, time permitting. Stay tuned.

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Just now, climber511 said:

I just know at the start of track season - quite a few high school aged kids (that are multi sport athletes) don't run much faster than 14 or so and 11+ is a good time for our small school.

OK, good input.  Let's make it 17 seconds for the hundy.  Thanks Chris!

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How about putting in a 2000 meter row on the Concept 2 rower to match the mile run.  8 minutes is a fairly good 2000 row and matches your mile time.  Guys our age might not have the knees for a run but can row or bike for a similar aerobic test .  In my case 8 minutes would be the 16th best row for my age group in 2019

Edited by climber511
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@Mike Rinderle 

This is a fun idea! I think if this is to be a minimum standard I would make the lifting bodyweight based and scrap the 100m run. A 405 deadlift is approaching a 2.5×bw lift for many men which is more of excellent standard than a minimum. Certainly requires far more training than 3 pullups or an 8min mile. I agree the 100 would be harder than most would think and probably the most likely item to injure someone on this list. A fireman carry of another similar sized person should be doable for everyone. We had people of all athletic backgrounds do this in our warm ups at jujitsu.

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1 hour ago, Andrew Dube said:

@Mike Rinderle 

This is a fun idea! I think if this is to be a minimum standard I would make the lifting bodyweight based and scrap the 100m run. A 405 deadlift is approaching a 2.5×bw lift for many men which is more of excellent standard than a minimum. Certainly requires far more training than 3 pullups or an 8min mile. I agree the 100 would be harder than most would think and probably the most likely item to injure someone on this list. A fireman carry of another similar sized person should be doable for everyone. We had people of all athletic backgrounds do this in our warm ups at jujitsu.

Nope, gotta be 405.  That's no harder than a 300 lb guy doing 3 pullups or running a mile.  Small guys will have to train harder for strength numbers and big guys for the bodyweight and running.

These are just numbers.  The real number is how much you can do.  And I said these could be done if you are not injured or handicapped.  Personally, weighing 150 sounds like a major handicap.  Lol.  I kid I kid.  

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First 7 done.  Had to redo the rock carry due to technical glitch.  Walked it 40 yards and then my camera woman tells me it only weighed 149.  😵  Part of it was touching the ground.  So, did it again for 20 yards with the correct weight of 172 captured on film.

Didn't hear the phone alarm go off so ended up planking for about 3 minutes.   Ugh.  I'm dead, but heading to the track shortly.

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Leaving for the track now.  If you don't hear from me in 2 hours call the mounties.

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1 minute ago, Mike Rinderle said:

Leaving for the track now.  If you don't hear from me in 2 hours call the mounties.

I’ll miss you Mike!

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Man I'm glad Chris talked me into making 100m 17 seconds.  17 on the nose!  Went into the wind so nobody could claim shennanigans.  Lol

Now it's time for the mile.

Edited by Mike Rinderle
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OK.  That keeeled me.  10:33 for 1 mile

Work to do.

Edited by Mike Rinderle
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Thoughts:  cardio needs work.  Doing it all in less than 4 hours taxed me pretty good.  Doing the rock carry twice hurt too.  All that, with low carb diet has wiped me out.  Strategy was to do as few warmups as possible.  Didn't warm up for push press and did one warmup set each for bench squats n deads.

There was a lacrosse game at high school field so we couldn't use the track.  Used GPS to measure out 100m in a parking lot.  Worked.

Used map my run to catalog the mile.  Will post video after I compile everything. 

 

Screenshot_20180826-125713_MapMyRun.jpg

Edited by Mike Rinderle
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For the "being able to protect yourself or others in the fight" I'd say that could be quantified, at least for a normal man:
3 rounds of boxing sparring OR 2 rounds of wrestling OR 3-5 minutes of MMA sparring

All the other standards seem reasonable.

Edit: my worst 1600m/1 mile run was 7:30 and I was ashamed of it. It was after about 4-5 years of not doing a single cardio exercise and bw of 95 kg.
But, I'm 24 years old, way younger than most posters. Mike, you should really work on your aerobic endurance, just for health reasons. You will advance very fast.

Edited by Aleksandar Milosevic
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Here's my plan allowing for my limitations

Push press 135 - did this this morning as part of my 70 challenges - harder than I remember but still OK (actual 137#)

Bench 225 - I'm not going to even try this - my left shoulder hurts enough as it is
Squat 315 - 307 is a part of my 70 challenge anyway - I don't figure 8 pounds will matter
Deadlift 405 - I'll have to do sumo but we'll see (397# is 2x BW if done today and my 70s goal number)
Carry 168.5 lbs 20 yards - I'll just throw Teresa over my shoulder and go - realistic to your test idea
3 Pull ups / chin ups:  - this is a gimme
2 minute plank - also a gimme
100m 15 seconds - I plan to substitute a 100m row on the Concept 2 - roughly the same time needed as your run number.  I can sprint on the track in an emergency but pay a heck of a price.

Mile in 8 minutes - I'll do a 2000 meter row on the Concept 2 - also roughly the same time needed as your mile number

I will work these in as they come up on my 70 list - won't be the same day

Edited by climber511
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13 minutes ago, climber511 said:

Here's my plan allowing for my limitations

Push press 135 - did this this morning as part of my 70 challenges - harder than I remember but still OK (actual 137#)

Bench 225 - I'm not going to even try this - my left shoulder hurts enough as it is
Squat 315 - 307 is a part of my 70 challenge anyway - I don't figure 8 pounds will matter
Deadlift 405 - I'll have to do sumo but we'll see (397# is 2x BW if done today and my 70s goal number)
Carry 168.5 lbs 20 yards - I'll just throw Teresa over my shoulder and go - realistic to your test idea
3 Pull ups / chin ups:  - this is a gimme
2 minute plank - also a gimme
100m 15 seconds - I plan to substitute a 100m row on the Concept 2 - roughly the same time needed as your run number.  I can sprint on the track in an emergency but pay a heck of a price.

Mile in 8 minutes - I'll do a 2000 meter row on the Concept 2 - also roughly the same time needed as your mile number

I will work these in as they come up on my 70 list - won't be the same day

Awesome Chris!  Can't wait to hear about your progress.  No need for anyone to try them all on one day like I did.

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1 hour ago, Aleksandar Milosevic said:

For the "being able to protect yourself or others in the fight" I'd say that could be quantified, at least for a normal man:
3 rounds of boxing sparring OR 2 rounds of wrestling OR 3-5 minutes of MMA sparring

All the other standards seem reasonable.

Edit: my worst 1600m/1 mile run was 7:30 and I was ashamed of it. It was after about 4-5 years of not doing a single cardio exercise and bw of 95 kg.
But, I'm 24 years old, way younger than most posters. Mike, you should really work on your aerobic endurance, just for health reasons. You will advance very fast.

I'm Fat: 242 this morning

I'm 50

I smoke

I didn't die.

:D

Point well taken though.  I'll try this fresh and with some carbs in me to see where I really am.  I was out of breath, but it was more the fact that my legs turned to sand after the 100 meter sprint.  I was gassed before I even started.  Once I know where I really am, I plan on knocking this down to 8 minutes ASAP.  Thanks!

 

On the fighting thing: I've been in several dozen (street and on the ice).  None in the past 10 years, but I'm pretty confidant I could still hold my own. Although looking at the results of my mile run, I better end it in the first 30 seconds or I'm getting my a$$ kicked!.  HAHAHAHAHA

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