[deadliftsmith]

I've seen some widely known names advocating this, and I just can't see the point. I have to disagree with them, and explained my thinking below.

What's everyone else's take on this?

[Ozz]

My opinion: nope.

[deadliftsmith]

Originally Posted by Ozz

My opinion: nope.

Can you elaborate?

[Ozz]

I base my opinions on my personal feelings from/reaction to things, so I can't say much else. It's not optimal for me, but if anyone else feels it's better for them then they can have at it.

On the other hand I'd say it's better for anyone who is prone to humping the air to get the bar moving, thus forcing strictness throughout the movement.

[JoeD]

what "widely known name," advocated this? Certainly no one who has ever benched any kind of weight seeing as you would end up applying for plastic surgery if you benched with your feet up and lifted any appreciable weight.

[Darkhorse]

Worst way to train. Progression drives gains. Not muscle confusion, doing stupid shit like that, ect. Simply put, I'd rather bench 275 for 4 sets of 10 vs 185 LMAO! One will give you girth and the other can be used as an excuse.

Strictness of form means slowing down the cadence, adding a pause if necessary, or he'll lowering the weight..

[deadliftsmith]

In response to the claim that benching with your feet on the bench increases pec muscle recruitment:

"Chest recruitment, in the long run, is irrelevant in this situation. You never see guys benching with large amount of weight with their feet up, and with good reason. You can't arch your back properly which creates several problems with ideal pressing form. It also makes you look like a giant asshole. In the end, chest development will follow load increases. You aren't making any giant load increases looking like you just spilled a protein shake on the floor and you don't want to get your new suede Pumas wet."

Anonymous.

[deadliftsmith]

Originally Posted by JoeD

what "widely known name," advocated this? Certainly no one who has ever benched any kind of weight seeing as you would end up applying for plastic surgery if you benched with your feet up and lifted any appreciable weight.

Mainly some widely known YouTube fitness channels that come across my feed. Many subscribers, but poor advice.

[JoeD]

Oh, well that explains it. I never seen a top strength and conditioning coach actually activate that.


As far as "chest" goes, if you're "normal" slow eccentrics and heavy volume activate it the most as it is slow twitch dominant. I have gotten my bench well into the 3s and it doesn't do anything for growth. I have never seen any info on putting your feet up activating it more..

Off topic but it's never thought as the tricep exercise but MRI testing and real world evidence (powerlifters) show the narrow grip iss the best exercise for triceps, but bench, to the casual lifttr, is always considered a "chest" exercise."

[KGM]

Dan, I laughed at muscle confusion.

Originally Posted by deadliftsmith

In response to the claim that benching with your feet on the bench increases pec muscle recruitment:

"Chest recruitment, in the long run, is irrelevant in this situation. You never see guys benching with large amount of weight with their feet up, and with good reason. You can't arch your back properly which creates several problems with ideal pressing form. It also makes you look like a giant asshole. In the end, chest development will follow load increases. You aren't making any giant load increases looking like you just spilled a protein shake on the floor and you don't want to get your new suede Pumas wet."

Anonymous.

This is awesome.

[Kryptic]

I've done flyes before with my feet tucked and off the ground; can't really give you a good reason why other than trying to work on balance / stability. But the thought of doing any sort of pressing movement with my feet up just sounds silly.

[eccy]

Was curious if anyone has any opinions on the grip. Not really the spacing/width but more of actually where the bar sits in the hand. Hopefully that made sense.... if not I'll try to rephrase later.

I know when I get up to heavier weights especially while doing pin press I occasionally get some pain in the wrists. Any suggestions regarding that besides the obvious of using wrist wraps?

Any opinions on the suicide or thumbless grip?

I've heard some people say it makes the lift easier on the elbows or shoulders but after seeing videos of people having the bar slip outta there hands I'm pretty well opposed to it. Thoughts?

[Darkhorse]

I've always felt like a thumbless grip got me better triceps activation. My first 8 years of training was always with a thumbless and put up 405 without a problem. Now I prefer to grip the bar because I feel much more power pressing while gripping hard & trying to pull the bar apart..

[sbjones]

I saw a guy today benching with ONE foot on the bench! That was a new one for me. The worst part about it? Dude was jacked. Huge upper body. I hate it when people with much worse form than me look better than I ever will.

[floods]

Depends on your purpose. If you're trying to build strength and size, I agree with Ryan's bench form for most people... My form is probably the closest to that that I've seen, and I rarely see people get any hip drive without lifting off the bench, they're almost always flat-footed.

That said, I did alternating DB press with my feet up last night.

[Darkhorse]

I think benching with your feet up will control your life LOL. I remember seeing one guy that ALWAYS benched with his feet up/crossed along with a foam block on his chest (basically a pillow). This same dude I caught months later doing squats in the smith BACKWARDS.. In other words, he put a bench in the smith machine, laid down on it, put his feet on the smith bar and did some leg presses. I swear on my life this was true! When he was done with the set, he would bring the bar all the way down (squat), then rotate his toes up and pushed out from under it.

Needless to say, he was a big douche wrapped up in a very thin body. Buyer Beware!

I think some people will do anything in their power to circumvent the need to lift heavy weights and get the most out of their 200 lb benches LOL!

[Ozz]

Originally Posted by Darkhorse

I think benching with your feet up will control your life LOL. I remember seeing one guy that ALWAYS benched with his feet up/crossed along with a foam block on his chest (basically a pillow). This same dude I caught months later doing squats in the smith BACKWARDS.. In other words, he put a bench in the smith machine, laid down on it, put his feet on the smith bar and did some leg presses. I swear on my life this was true! When he was done with the set, he would bring the bar all the way down (squat), then rotate his toes up and pushed out from under it.

That's the funniest part

Just set the pins, dumbass. But then I guess that robs you of the last couple inches of ROM in that great, great exercise...

[JoeD]

Originally Posted by floods

Depends on your purpose. If you're trying to build strength and size, I agree with Ryan's bench form for most people... My form is probably the closest to that that I've seen, and I rarely see people get any hip drive without lifting off the bench, they're almost always flat-footed.

That said, I did alternating DB press with my feet up last night.

I don't think it matters whether your goals are strength and size. Both safety and efficacy should two major concerns in a lift. If you bench with the feet in the air/on bench, it makes a relatively safe lift, really dangerous, and if you can lift with your feet on the bench then you're not using a weight that's doing anything. It's like doing squats on a bosu ball

[floods]

Originally Posted by JoeD

I don't think it matters whether your goals are strength and size. Both safety and efficacy should two major concerns in a lift. If you bench with the feet in the air/on bench, it makes a relatively safe lift, really dangerous, and if you can lift with your feet on the bench then you're not using a weight that's doing anything. It's like doing squats on a bosu ball

What about for an athlete?

[KGM]

But back in the day that is how lifters did the leg press, but with a bar instead of a smith machine. Although I lol'd at Dan's story. I have hardly ever lifted at a gym but when I did there is almost always something worth a chuckle.

[JoeD]

Originally Posted by floods

What about for an athlete?

It's even more important that an athlete performs the most efficent exercises safely..

Bench for example, DBs are more natural movement than BB , inclines are more natural sport speficic(for most sports) than flat, and would you ever have an athlete put his feet in the air, risking major injury, if he had a competition or season he was training for? Strongmen and PLers can get away with some stuff because they can just miss a meet and sign up for another in a few months later but an olympic athlete or seasonal athlete the strength coach has to prescribe the most efficient exercise with the least amount of danger attached to it as you could ruin a competition or career wit stupid training.

The problem with "unstable" surfaces is that you ahve to reduce the load to the point where there's no optimal loading, therefore no increase in "functional" or core strength. nd im not sure if that's what you meant with your question...Either way feet down

[deadliftsmith]

Originally Posted by JoeD

It's even more important that an athlete performs the most efficent exercises safely..

Bench for example, DBs are more natural movement than BB , inclines are more natural sport speficic(for most sports) than flat, and would you ever have an athlete put his feet in the air, risking major injury, if he had a competition or season he was training for? Strongmen and PLers can get away with some stuff because they can just miss a meet and sign up for another in a few months later but an olympic athlete or seasonal athlete the strength coach has to prescribe the most efficient exercise with the least amount of danger attached to it as you could ruin a competition or career wit stupid training.

The problem with "unstable" surfaces is that you ahve to reduce the load to the point where there's no optimal loading, therefore no increase in "functional" or core strength. nd im not sure if that's what you meant with your question...Either way feet down

You said what I didn't get around to saying!

[floods]

Originally Posted by JoeD

It's even more important that an athlete performs the most efficent exercises safely..

Bench for example, DBs are more natural movement than BB , inclines are more natural sport speficic(for most sports) than flat, and would you ever have an athlete put his feet in the air, risking major injury, if he had a competition or season he was training for? Strongmen and PLers can get away with some stuff because they can just miss a meet and sign up for another in a few months later but an olympic athlete or seasonal athlete the strength coach has to prescribe the most efficient exercise with the least amount of danger attached to it as you could ruin a competition or career wit stupid training.

The problem with "unstable" surfaces is that you ahve to reduce the load to the point where there's no optimal loading, therefore no increase in "functional" or core strength. nd im not sure if that's what you meant with your question...Either way feet down

So with safety a primary concern, what do you recommend for an athlete who wants to work on his balance?

[JoeD]

sorry most of your balance and coordination has been built already by the time you are 12-13 years old. But to answer your question building optimal relative strength for your sport is likely going to give you the best transfer to the field results. Optimal strength means it's not maximal, but optimal. An optimal bench press for a soccer player and football player are going to be much different. But the bosu ball /wobbly surfaces are pretty much useless

There are two strength and conditioning coaches that post a lot of their real world results and they are Joe DeFranco and Charles Poliquin. DeFranco deals with a lot of American sports and Poliquin does a lot of hockey and olympic athletes, though he does have his fair share of NFL clients as well. So if I really wanted to get some good info I would look to see how these guys train their world class athletes and improve them. For example Poliquin knows if he gets a luge athlete's pull up at optimal strength levels his or her start time will be vastly improved..

[deadliftsmith]

Originally Posted by floods

So with safety a primary concern, what do you recommend for an athlete who wants to work on his balance?

To add to JoeD's response. Keep balance training and strength training separate from one another.

For balance, focus on balance without the addition of heavy resistance.

For strength, focus on heavy resistance without the addition of balance.

It sounds like a simple explanation, and it is. Keeping those two rules in place and then building a regimen around them will provide the best, and safest return on investment.