Benching....legs up or down...

[swordfish151]

I was pondering this subject this morning.....how many of you guys put your legs up on the bench while you bench?? how many put it them down on the floor while you bench? does it make a difference in your lift? or is it preference...?

 

[gstacker]

i usually keep my feet planted on the ground speacially when going heavy but every once in awhile with lighter weight i will put em up jus cuz i want to see how much balance and controll i have

 

[musketeer]

I was pondering this subject this morning.....how many of you guys put your legs up on the bench while you bench?? how many put it them down on the floor while you bench? does it make a difference in your lift? or is it preference...?

Makes not difference at all; if you're an idiot who puts his feet in the air, you are still and idiot when you put your feet on the floor because you will probably be doing something equally fugged up like benching with your elbows flared, or lowering the bar to your neck or stopping 4inches from your chest, etc.

In other words, don't have your feet off the floor, it's a bad thing!

 

[vin01]

For optimal drive, your feet should be on the floor. I prefer to bench with my feet as far back under my butt as I can get them, with the balls of my feet on the ground, and my shoulderblades and butt still on the bench. This gives me the best position and "spring" when lifting a heavy weight.

 

[swordfish151]

yeah i thought so..i always bench with my feet firm on the ground, but notice alot of guys in the gym that put there feet up in the air on on the bench...

 

[Madcow2]

It's about having a stable base. Would you squat on an elevated platform with springs to allow movement? Would you deadlift while balancing on a skateboard? For the purpose of building strength and size, there is no benefit. Granted I'm sure you'll here things like "I feel this isolates my pecs more" or some rubbish. Isolation is largely crap unless it is specifically needed. The bench press is not a great pec exercise despite the solid results most see in that area from getting better at it. The benefit of the bench press is simply heavily loading a large portion of the body's musculature (and the pecs are in here) through a fundemental range of motion. So, in putting those feet up, you defeat the real purpose and fundemental value of the exercise (i.e. ability to lift heavy weight and leverage more of the body's musculature). Granted I'm sure the bodybuilding world can come up with a whole bunch of creative extrapolated reasons they might want to employ this but I'd venture that in truth, the number of times it might actually be beneficial is generally very very small and the frequency with which it is used is far far higher than it should be.

 

[bignate73]

cause you can "focus more on your chest!"


hehehehehe.....

 

[INNOCENT]

i found it better to keep my feet planted on the ground for extra balance.

 

[cubuff27]

You don't take the wheels off a race car and you don't bench with your feet in the air!

 

[Lee]

I asked a guy I saw at my old gym in Alaska a few years back why he benched with his legs in the air. He told me it help him with balance and he was really into Tae Kwan Do. Not sure if it really did help him, but he was in good shape for his sport so I didn't question it. Personally, feet planted on the ground is the only way to go.