Originally posted by Eyenovation
When did the Benchpress become the standard measure of fitness?
Not that I am discounting it as a worth feat, but... why not one's mile time, or their heart rate at rest? What about their VO2 max threshold.. ?
The bench press is mostly the standard measure for weight lifters, for long distance runners it is the X minute mile, for swimmers time / lap, speed runners 100m dash speed, etc.

As for heart rate at rest, I don't think that is a good measure, because is varied so much for different people. IE some marathon runners have a heart rate at rest of 20 BPM while others (who compete just as often and as well) have 60BPM