In honor of the Super Bowl this coming weekend, we are republishing this archived story showcasing a bodybuilder vs football players facing off on the bench press.

The ultimate challenge.

The Test Football Academy is back with another edition of their Bodybuilder vs Football Player bench press challenge. IFBB pro Joel Thomas will be facing off against Test Football Academy graduate Terron Beckham and Utah State Offensive lineman Kevin Whimpey. The challenge is simple: 315lbs for reps.

In previous years, Joel was very dominant and he seemed to be the favorite among most of the staff heading into this competition. All the athletes completed their warm ups, then, since Joel is reigning champ, Kevin and Terron did rock-paper-scissors to decide who would go first. Terron loses and is first up on the bench.

Terron starts repping and immediately it’s clear that 1. He’s very strong 2. This competition is being juded by a ‘soft lockout’ system – no IPF judges here. But strict repetition criteria are no fun anyways, and Terron reps out an impressive 17, the last of which was a real grinder towards lockout.

Next up on the bench is Kevin. He knows he needs to beat 17 reps. When he begins repping, he presses so explosively that the weight is literally bouncing off his chest. This serves as a creative advantage for as long as he can maintain it. Kevin knocks out an impressive 25 before failure. Last up on the bench comes the reigning champ Joel. He mows through a shocking 36 reps, resting at lockout before each of the last two.

Everyone was in good spirits after, the football players teased Joel on his shorter reps, and without a doubt, long football arms do drastically increase the range of motion.

Of course, at the end of the day this is a supplement ad, not a serious competition but it is fascinating to witness different elite athletes measured under one criteria. The difference in quality of repetitions was clear- with the football players being far faster and more explosive- but with the bodybuilder clearly more used to moving barbells under consistent tension for an extended duration.

For the full video of the competition, take a look below.

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