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

[vin01]

Currently I only do compound lifts (bench, squat, OHP, clean, dips, BB row, pullups, and maybe a few sets for bis and tris)

I was wondering about iso motions for the chest is because with all these compounds, my upper chest is lacking. I might switch to incline bench inside of flat.

 

[thelion2005]

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...?

I cross my legs over my hips.

Keeps my lifts very honest.
Don't use a spotter and have never rolled or failed.

 

[Guinness5.0]

vin01:

maybe you could cycle in some inc. db presses for a while, or sub out OHP for inclines for a bit. If it helps a lot, you could set up your programs to include such movements on a more regular basis.

 

[silver_shadow]

first off, you should have your feet on the floor:
1) balance
2) DOES help with drive if you know how to

having said that:
the equivalent for feet off the floor is NOT feet on the bench/in the air, it is floor presses.

hope that helps.

EDIT: floor presses are not for isolation (i should have mentioned this the first time)... they help strengthen the benching muscles since the lifter cannot use foot drive to help him with the lift.

 

[bignate73]

first off, you should have your feet on the floor:
having said that:
the equivalent for feet off the floor is NOT feet on the bench/in the air, it is floor presses.

hope that helps.

close comparison, except, a floor press has a pause that breaks the eccentric and the concentric. and actually, I arch a little on floor presses as well. not as extreme as a flat bench, but enough to get my shoulder blades back a bit.

 

[BiggT]

I would love to know where all this nonsense starts.....crap like benching with the feet on the bench helps isolate the chest; not doing a full range of motion keeps constant tension and is 'safer'; full squats hurt the knees; rolling the shoulders when you shrug 'hits the traps from behind'; deadlifts are dangerous; isolation movements 'cut' you up......I have never seen an activity quite like weightlifting that is littered with so much bullshit and ridiculous misinformation, all it takes to dispell these myths and lies is a quarter ounce of common sense, people who subscribe to this bullshit should think about it for a second, none of it makes an ounce of sense. The only 2 reasons on Earth this crap would work is if you're previously sedintary and the 'something is better than nothing' principle is working, or if you dump enough drugs in your body that masturbation provided enough stimulus for forearm growth.

I am being serious, you don't need a certification or a degree or anything but an ounce of common sense....think about what the bench press does and what it involves and how there is no way possible to make the movement a 'chest only exercise', then think about benching with the feet on the floor with correct form and think about putting the feet on the bench.......can everyone see how assinine of a concept raising the feet is?? It makes no sense to do so.

Next, look at the regular recreational lifter. When drug free or even using reasonable amounts of gear, guys doing iso crap are always smaller and have less muscle than the guys squatting, pulling, and pressing. Guys who do every type of flye ever conceived have smaller chests than guys who can flat out outbench them over any rep range......guys supersetting leg presses with leg extensions and then doing machine hack squats over a partial range of motion to 'keep tension' on the muscle will always have smaller legs than the guy who out squats them over any rep range.....guys whose trap workout consists of dumbell shrugs rolling the shoulders back and behind the back smith machine shrugs supersetted with seated cambered bar shrugs will always have smaller traps than the guy who can use more weight on jump shrugs over any rep range. Muscles respond to workload, they do not have a brain and do not understand any of the bullshit concepts Joe Weider et all espouse.....muscles recognize work, thats is.

 

[silver_shadow]

I would love to know where all this nonsense starts.....crap like benching with the feet on the bench helps isolate the chest; not doing a full range of motion keeps constant tension and is 'safer'; full squats hurt the knees; rolling the shoulders when you shrug 'hits the traps from behind'; deadlifts are dangerous; isolation movements 'cut' you up......I have never seen an activity quite like weightlifting that is littered with so much bullshit and ridiculous misinformation, all it takes to dispell these myths and lies is a quarter ounce of common sense, people who subscribe to this bullshit should think about it for a second, none of it makes an ounce of sense. The only 2 reasons on Earth this crap would work is if you're previously sedintary and the 'something is better than nothing' principle is working, or if you dump enough drugs in your body that masturbation provided enough stimulus for forearm growth.

I am being serious, you don't need a certification or a degree or anything but an ounce of common sense....think about what the bench press does and what it involves and how there is no way possible to make the movement a 'chest only exercise', then think about benching with the feet on the floor with correct form and think about putting the feet on the bench.......can everyone see how assinine of a concept raising the feet is?? It makes no sense to do so.

Next, look at the regular recreational lifter. When drug free or even using reasonable amounts of gear, guys doing iso crap are always smaller and have less muscle than the guys squatting, pulling, and pressing. Guys who do every type of flye ever conceived have smaller chests than guys who can flat out outbench them over any rep range......guys supersetting leg presses with leg extensions and then doing machine hack squats over a partial range of motion to 'keep tension' on the muscle will always have smaller legs than the guy who out squats them over any rep range.....guys whose trap workout consists of dumbell shrugs rolling the shoulders back and behind the back smith machine shrugs supersetted with seated cambered bar shrugs will always have smaller traps than the guy who can use more weight on jump shrugs over any rep range. Muscles respond to workload, they do not have a brain and do not understand any of the bullshit concepts Joe Weider et all espouse.....muscles recognize work, thats is.

amen

 

[gymtime]

isolation is impossible in a compound lift. It's oxymoronic to 'isolate' a compound movement.

OK fair enough. How about this then, is it possible then to adjust your form and body position to emphasize one muscle group over another in a compound lift?

Also, by this logic, there really is no such thing as an isolation movement. There's no movement we can make that truly uses one muslce.

I think when most lifters use the term "isolate," they really mean "emphasize."

 

[BiggT]

OK fair enough. How about this then, is it possible then to adjust your form and body position to emphasize one muscle group over another in a compound lift?

Before I get into it, the reason a movement is called a compound/multi-joint movement is because it involves many muscles doing the work.....it is a big bang for your buck so to speak.

While you'll NEVER isolate with compound lifts, your question is a good one....for example, close-grip benching uses more triceps.....front squats use more quads.....ultra-wide benching uses more shoulders.....however you'll never isolate with a compound lift. You'll never perform a bench press in any way, shape, or form that does not recruit the shoulders, triceps, and lats.

 

[gjohnson5]

isolation is impossible in a compound lift. It's oxymoronic to 'isolate' a compound movement.

I guess isolate is a bad word , but I think the word target is a better word.
I think you can infact target certain muscles in a bench by adjusting the grip, dropping the bar lower or higher on chest , etc