One of the most commonly asked questions in the gym when trying to establish who the strongest lifter is, would have to be “how much do you bench press” In fact, this phrase is so prevalent in the strength community that powerlifter and owner of Super Training Gym Mark Bell, named his website howmuchyabench.net. The bench press is an exercise that (just like the squat and deadlift) has been around for quite some time now and is still regarded as the ultimate measure of how strong and tough someone is. When it comes to general fitness, bodybuilding, powerlifting, and maybe even strongman, the barbell bench press is sure to find its way into a training program. No matter what sport the movement is being used to train for, one vital component of the lift that should not be overlooked but often times is, is leg drive.
Leg drive and efficiently bench pressing heavy weight goes hand in hand. Elite bench pressers understand this technique and it is one of the many reasons they are able to lie down on a bench and successfully handle loaded barbells upwards of 500 pounds, all while making them look weightless. Now, you’re probably wondering, “what on earth is leg drive and how do my legs even come into the equation of executing an upper body lift” Leg drive is the force generated by your lower body when driving the heels of your feet into the ground once beginning the concentric portion of the bench press. There are typically two different routes to take when setting your feet for the bench press. Lifters will either choose to bench with their toes down and heels up with their legs close to the bench, or they may choose to bench with their feet completely flat and legs a little wider. This is completely based on personal preference and according to Martijin Koevoets from powerliftinguniversity.com, whichever position is chosen, the lifter will want to make sure that the feet are placed just under the hips so that the shins are near vertical and not too far back as to where the femurs are almost vertical. When the femur is in this position, any leg drive generated will send your glutes up off of the bench instead of the optimal direction of backwards, towards the bar. As you can see, foot position is crucial to developing sufficient leg drive, as well as aiding you in keeping your glutes on the bench.
Sometimes in order to successfully complete a lift, we often rely on certain cues. Since generating leg drive can be a complicated thing to accomplish for an inexperienced lifter, Tony Bonvechio of T-Nation suggests the two cues that will help with this (depending on foot position) are either stomp or spread the floor. Stomping the ground would be the cue for a lifter with heels up foot positioning whereas spreading the floor would be the cue for a flat footed lifter. Once the cues become innate after practicing them day in and day out, a lifter will realize that leg drive is important because it will accelerate the bar off of the chest through the general sticking point of most lifters which is a couple of inches off of the chest. From that point, the other muscles involved in the bench press (triceps and shoulders) are able to successfully take over, allowing the lifter to complete the full range of motion of the bench press. As with anything new that we are exposed to and are inclined to try in our own training, practice makes perfect. Leg drive is one of those things that will take days or even weeks to master but no matter how long it takes, the end result will be a stronger, more impressive press.
Great read, Isaac! Keep up the good work.