[quote]dre wrote:
And whatever you do, DON’T put your feet on the bench. Keep them firmly planted on the floor. Good luck![/quote]
Why not?
I use a slightly closer grip , keep my elbows tucked in a bit, and focus on pushing with my tris and delts. But I’ve seen guys do it with a wider grip and flared elbows who don’t have much of a problem.
I’m pretty sure EliteFS has some good bench articles up, and I know for a fact that there are good articles on bench here, in the archives. Check those out.
-Gendou
[quote]Jinx Me wrote:
dre wrote:
And whatever you do, DON’T put your feet on the bench. Keep them firmly planted on the floor. Good luck!
Why not?[/quote]
From what i’ve read and from my own personal experience, keeping your feet firmly on the floor creates a more stable lift.
After reading some articles by Eric Cressey I realized that keeping your feet on the floor is the only way to bench. This is from his Shoulder Savers article.
Shoulder Saver #3: Learn to Bench Press Correctly.
This might very well be the most important one of all. I must admit that when I see a lifter benching with his elbows flared and his back flat, it makes me cringe ? not only because he’s ruining his shoulders, but also because he’s really limiting his strength potential.
There’s an old saying that a lot of great bench pressers have repeated when discussing the importance of the upper back in benching: “You can’t shoot a cannon out of a canoe.” If you don’t have the underlying stability to press big weights, the soft tissues of the shoulder joint are going to suffer the consequences.
Stability is affected by both neuromuscular factors and positional factors; simply repositioning yourself on the bench can markedly increase your strength without any chronic changes to your neuromuscular system’s ability to move the weight. Here’s what you need to do:
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Line up on the bench so that your eyes are about 3-4 inches toward your feet from the bar (in other words, the bar is almost directly above the top of your head). From there, retract your shoulder blades hard. Next, push yourself back up until your eyes are directly under the bar; at this position, your scapulae should still be retracted, but also depressed down toward your feet as well. If you do it right, your rib cage should pop right up.
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Set your feet, and lock them into place. The position of the feet is going to be dependent on a number of factors, but what doesn’t change is the fact that they need to be fixed in place.
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Decide on what degree of arch you want to use. For general health purposes, it doesn’t need to be much. Obviously, powerlifters are going to need to push the envelope on this front. The more arch, the more it’ll feel like a decline bench press. Declines will always be easier on the shoulder girdle than flat bench pressing.
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Grasp the bar and USE A HANDOFF from your training partner. Lifting off to yourself is a sure-fire way to lose the tightness you’ve just established in your upper back. Keep the shoulder blades back and down!
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As you lower the bar, keep the upper arms at a 45-degree angle to the torso; tuck the elbows instead of letting them flare out. It’s well documented that the elbows-flared (“bodybuilder-style”) bench markedly increases stress on the glenohumeral joint. Also, keep your wrists under your elbows instead of letting them roll back.
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Get a belly full of air and make the abdomen and chest rise up to meet the bar as it descends. Think of it as creating a springboard for moving big weights and, just as importantly, keeping those shoulder blades back to save your taters from undue stress.
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Do not excessively protract the shoulder blades at the top of the rep; you shouldn’t lose your tightness prior to descending into the subsequent rep.
[quote]Jinx Me wrote:
Why not?[/quote]
Quite honestly, a better question is “Why?” What does benching with your feet up accomplish that benching with your feet firmly planted does not?
Eric’s description is right on.
-Dan
[quote]buffalokilla wrote:
Jinx Me wrote:
Why not?
Quite honestly, a better question is “Why?” What does benching with your feet up accomplish that benching with your feet firmly planted does not?
Eric’s description is right on.
-Dan
[/quote]
Benching with your feet up is not for powerlifters. It’s for bodybuilders.
It takes time and mind muscle connection to master this. I use 100 lbs dumbells to perform this movement and each rep I do feels like my chest is going to rip apart. I don’t get the same feeling when my feet are on the ground. I use to train that way but switched about a year ago.
With the feet firmly dug into the ground and the knees and the hips stable, as in the traditional bench press, the major stress during the bench press is on the anterior deltoid, the rotator cuffs, the rhomboids and the pectoralis minor, with triceps being activated at the top of the movement. No real efficient overload anywhere.
By placing the feet up on the bench, there is no stabiliity through the knees and hips as there was previously. At this point the stress of stabilizing the working muscles shifts to the shoulder joint totally, and at that point, the pectoralis major becomes the prime mover and will receive the greatest amount of overload which is exaclty what you want.
By knowing how a muscle funtions in a specific plane of motion, you can capitalize on that to make the targeted muscle do the most work.
Elbows in if you want to push big weights.
Elbows out if you want to work your chest.
But…Feet always on floor. More pounds for same excersise will lead to greater benifits wheather it be strength or hypertrophy.
[quote]spiritspider wrote:
buffalokilla wrote:
Jinx Me wrote:
Why not?
Quite honestly, a better question is “Why?” What does benching with your feet up accomplish that benching with your feet firmly planted does not?
Eric’s description is right on.
-Dan
Benching with your feet up is not for powerlifters. It’s for bodybuilders.
It takes time and mind muscle connection to master this. I use 100 lbs dumbells to perform this movement and each rep I do feels like my chest is going to rip apart. I don’t get the same feeling when my feet are on the ground. I use to train that way but switched about a year ago.
With the feet firmly dug into the ground and the knees and the hips stable, as in the traditional bench press, the major stress during the bench press is on the anterior deltoid, the rotator cuffs, the rhomboids and the pectoralis minor, with triceps being activated at the top of the movement. No real efficient overload anywhere.
By placing the feet up on the bench, there is no stabiliity through the knees and hips as there was previously. At this point the stress of stabilizing the working muscles shifts to the shoulder joint totally, and at that point, the pectoralis major becomes the prime mover and will receive the greatest amount of overload which is exaclty what you want.
By knowing how a muscle funtions in a specific plane of motion, you can capitalize on that to make the targeted muscle do the most work.[/quote]
I would have to see kinesiology or 3d image or something to prove this. I have always read and heard that putting the feet up flattens the back and doesn’t allow for the greatest force to be generated through the pecs.
Also, you certainly would be much less stable. I understand you are talking bb’ing so poundages would not be maximal, but I am styill interested in seeing something scientific to back this up.
No flame, I just want to seewhat benefit putting yourself in such a less advantagous position has.