They’ve had a fierce primary. They’ve exchanged sharp barbs online. Now, the candidates for New York City mayor have taken their face-off to the gym − specifically, the bench press rack.
Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic mayoral nominee, went viral over the weekend after he was filmed at an event performing a bench press − or at least attempting to do so. In the video, which has over 5 million views on X, the democratic socialist performs two reps of the exercise with what appears to be 135 pounds. The only problem? He doesn’t get a single one of those reps without serious help from a spotter.
The video has drawn widespread mockery online, including from Mamdani’s political rivals. “This guy can’t bench his own body weight, let alone carry the weight of leading the most important city in the world,” Andrew Cuomo wrote on X. Eric Adams took it a step further, sharing a side-by-side video on X of himself benching 135 pounds next to Mamdani, to the tune of over 7 million views.
“The weight of the job is too heavy for ‘Mamscrawny,’ ” Adams wrote. “The only thing he can lift is your taxes.”
Men’s health experts say there’s a lot to unpack when it comes to the unofficial bench press contest unfolding within the New York City mayoral race. Ultimately, it raises important questions about what American politics has come to, as well as society’s shifting view of masculinity.
“It’s down to the the teenage level that grown, professional men are fighting each over of how much weight they can press,” says Ronald Levant, professor emeritus of psychology at The University of Akron and the author of “The Problem with Men: Insights on Overcoming a Traumatic Childhood from a World-Renowned Psychologist.” “It’s totally immature.”
Why Zohran Mamdani’s bench press went viral
Mamdani’s bench press has been shared widely online, particularly by some conservatives who argue the candidate’s bench press signals deeper faults in his character.
Therapist Erik Anderson says this type of criticism speaks to long-held stereotypes in our culture when it comes to masculinity and politics.
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“Unfortunately, this is a stereotype that people like to throw around, saying that progressive men are weak,” Anderson says. “So it’s this combination of the question of, are you really virtuous in other areas if you’re not virtuous in this area?”
Zohran Mamdani has gone viral for struggling to bench press what appears to be 135 pounds.
Some on social media have suggested the buzz around Mamdani’s bench press points to a deeper shift in the American zeitgeist. As one X user wrote: “A perfect example of the cultural shift in America over the last two years is how many people are openly ridiculing Zohran Mamdani for being unable to bench press 135 pounds.”
Has the country’s view on masculinity shifted that much? Levant says it’s possible. After all, what society deems masculine changes over time, depending in large part on greater cultural and social forces. Under President Donald Trump’s second term, Levant says, more and more Americans − particularly Gen Z men − seem to have embraced a more rigid view of masculinity than in years past.
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“The masculinity we’re living with now is kind of this 1950s version that men dominate through power and toughness, and that’s essentially what Trump models,” Levant says. “So Cuomo and the current mayor are taking this opportunity to essentially use a juvenile, masculine put down: ‘You can’t even bench press your own weight.’ “
What the NYC mayor bench press contest says about us
Another reason why so many people seem to care about Mamdani’s bench press, Anderson says, is because of an assumption wherein people think that if someone is competent in one area of life, that means they’re competent in other areas too.
More: The rise of Trump bros and why some Gen Z men are shifting right
Anderson adds that the Mamdani bench press discourse also speaks to broader, clashing views of masculinity held between the political left and the political right.
“People on the right are far too rigid about their expectations of men and masculinity,” he says. “Then there’s the opposite side of that, which is on the left, where people are maybe a little too lax about the virtues that we expect men to exhibit.”
There’s probably a happy medium to be found.
“We do get to choose what we truly value as a society,” Anderson emphasizes. “Sometimes those are traditional virtues, and sometimes those are seeing people as a complicated picture where they can be good at one thing … and them not being good at another thing.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Zohran Mamdani’s viral bench press fail and why we care so much
