Benching With The Feet Up Increases Chest, Tricep and Core Activation (New Research)
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Date: 2019-11-06
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Comments and reviews: 9
Emre Keasyn
well in my opinion, the arch and leg drive is a euphemism for cheating. not as obvious as kipping on pull ups. i mean i get that competitors do it, but still. it reduces the range of motion. that maybe just my opinion, but when i see someone doing bench press the way the competitors do (leg drive and arching) in the gym it looks like cheating to me. especially when adding that chest bounce. just because it is done like that in competitions, it doesnt mean it is the cleanest way, since pro athletes always try to use every inch or expolit grey zones. after all the crossfitters do kip and cheat because they want to compete with other crossfitters. AND better to try to keep your balance with your feet up on the bench press than trying to do it on top of 3 medicine balls and 4 dumbbells while squatting or doing something else: Dand you can still progressively overload, because overloading is not exclusively depending on the weight itself. if you do 100 kg with arching (with the help of your legs and reduced ROM) regularly, you overload with for example 110 kg. if you can only press 80 kg wiht your feet up, you can overload with 90 kg. the muscle doesnt know weight measures
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well in my opinion, the arch and leg drive is a euphemism for cheating. not as obvious as kipping on pull ups. i mean i get that competitors do it, but still. it reduces the range of motion. that maybe just my opinion, but when i see someone doing bench press the way the competitors do (leg drive and arching) in the gym it looks like cheating to me. especially when adding that chest bounce. just because it is done like that in competitions, it doesnt mean it is the cleanest way, since pro athletes always try to use every inch or expolit grey zones. after all the crossfitters do kip and cheat because they want to compete with other crossfitters. AND better to try to keep your balance with your feet up on the bench press than trying to do it on top of 3 medicine balls and 4 dumbbells while squatting or doing something else: Dand you can still progressively overload, because overloading is not exclusively depending on the weight itself. if you do 100 kg with arching (with the help of your legs and reduced ROM) regularly, you overload with for example 110 kg. if you can only press 80 kg wiht your feet up, you can overload with 90 kg. the muscle doesnt know weight measures
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Alex Physique Athlete
This isn't rocket science. When you get that ribcage down position, with the abdominals engaged, your shoulders become more internally rotated which = more pec activation. Also, the core influences scapular positioning, which can further change things. When you bench with the feet on the floor, there is a ribcage flair usually, lumbar extension, turning abdominals off, and reducing the need for shoulder IR. There is also less range of motion for the bar coming down. Try this: do a pec doorway stretch, first, flare your rib cage and arch your back. Next, get your ribcage down, posteior pelvic tilt, and exhale all air out. Do the stretch. Which one do you feel the pecs more on? There needs to be more knowledge and awareness on ribcage positioning and its effect on bodybuilding movements. The postural restoration institute changed my entire way of thinking regarding this - will do some videos soon on it.
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This isn't rocket science. When you get that ribcage down position, with the abdominals engaged, your shoulders become more internally rotated which = more pec activation. Also, the core influences scapular positioning, which can further change things. When you bench with the feet on the floor, there is a ribcage flair usually, lumbar extension, turning abdominals off, and reducing the need for shoulder IR. There is also less range of motion for the bar coming down. Try this: do a pec doorway stretch, first, flare your rib cage and arch your back. Next, get your ribcage down, posteior pelvic tilt, and exhale all air out. Do the stretch. Which one do you feel the pecs more on? There needs to be more knowledge and awareness on ribcage positioning and its effect on bodybuilding movements. The postural restoration institute changed my entire way of thinking regarding this - will do some videos soon on it.
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Rob Zilla
To shock my chest, I load up the bar with weight for a 27. 5 rep max. Lay on my back and grab the bar with a super stiff donkey grip. Shift the sack the the left. Violently swing my feet up to the bar and put them shoulder width apart. No shoes on for this. Then kick both legs out as explosively as possible while clenching your butt cheeks and letting out an Ohhhhhh Yeaaaaaaa doing a bench press with my legs, and try and kick the bar as high as possible, preferably directly overhead or over the neck. Repeat until exhaustion. Then i walk around and talk to every other dude in the gym about training to failure and how shitty their form is. But mainly I'm just staring at all the glutes, boots, boobies and bootius maximuses of the mongo babes in yoga pants. But seriously. sometimes. i like to bench with my feet up on the bench to flatten my back and get some extra isolation.
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To shock my chest, I load up the bar with weight for a 27. 5 rep max. Lay on my back and grab the bar with a super stiff donkey grip. Shift the sack the the left. Violently swing my feet up to the bar and put them shoulder width apart. No shoes on for this. Then kick both legs out as explosively as possible while clenching your butt cheeks and letting out an Ohhhhhh Yeaaaaaaa doing a bench press with my legs, and try and kick the bar as high as possible, preferably directly overhead or over the neck. Repeat until exhaustion. Then i walk around and talk to every other dude in the gym about training to failure and how shitty their form is. But mainly I'm just staring at all the glutes, boots, boobies and bootius maximuses of the mongo babes in yoga pants. But seriously. sometimes. i like to bench with my feet up on the bench to flatten my back and get some extra isolation.
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SnubieZ
I believe the feet up bench press also gets you out of extension biased postures that a lot of lifters suffer from. These postures are why people suffer from things like winging scapula, anterior pelvic tilt, hip pain, shoulder pain, butt wink, low back pain etc. Most if not all of those ailments stem from an extension bias. Guys like Pat Davidson, Bill Hartman, and several others are starting to see the down side to always living in extension. Thus, if you can bench with you feet on the ground, super arched and extended with no pain? Go for it. If you are suffering from some shoulder pain, or many other issues, start taking a look at the way you're lifting and look into guys like those mentioned above. As Pat Davidson put it, there's a big ship sailing through the fitness world right now with a lot of info that can help a lot of people. Its worth a look.
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I believe the feet up bench press also gets you out of extension biased postures that a lot of lifters suffer from. These postures are why people suffer from things like winging scapula, anterior pelvic tilt, hip pain, shoulder pain, butt wink, low back pain etc. Most if not all of those ailments stem from an extension bias. Guys like Pat Davidson, Bill Hartman, and several others are starting to see the down side to always living in extension. Thus, if you can bench with you feet on the ground, super arched and extended with no pain? Go for it. If you are suffering from some shoulder pain, or many other issues, start taking a look at the way you're lifting and look into guys like those mentioned above. As Pat Davidson put it, there's a big ship sailing through the fitness world right now with a lot of info that can help a lot of people. Its worth a look.
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Jeff Nippard
Quick clarification based on the comments so far: The point of the video is not to say you MUST start bench pressing with your feet up because of this new study. I made a video on this study because it's the first study to investigate something MANY trainees do (bench with their feet up. Sometimes a paper like this will open your mind up to an idea you had previously written off and sometimes there is no concrete takeaway at all -- it's just novel information. I get that it's very standard for YouTubers to tell you X is WRONG and you NEED to be doing Y instead but that isn't the way I look at this stuff. This video in no way implies that the feet up bench is better than the arched bench, or that you need to do the feet up bench at all. It's simply a summary of a new study with some novel findings and some potential applications. That's all: )
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Quick clarification based on the comments so far: The point of the video is not to say you MUST start bench pressing with your feet up because of this new study. I made a video on this study because it's the first study to investigate something MANY trainees do (bench with their feet up. Sometimes a paper like this will open your mind up to an idea you had previously written off and sometimes there is no concrete takeaway at all -- it's just novel information. I get that it's very standard for YouTubers to tell you X is WRONG and you NEED to be doing Y instead but that isn't the way I look at this stuff. This video in no way implies that the feet up bench is better than the arched bench, or that you need to do the feet up bench at all. It's simply a summary of a new study with some novel findings and some potential applications. That's all: )
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m4xfl4xst4r
Easy fix for the safety factor. bench from the floor. I rarely have a spotter so i put a long pad down on the floor and set up the barbell on a squat rack at a comfortable height consistent with unracking a bench press, and off i go. ironically, for as long as i've been dong this it's very close to the feet up position as my feet are never down. I've always out progressed by peers. Now I may know why. Made the adjustment from your video and I have to say, it feels GOOD to lift heavy with feet up. I can also see where doing this on a standard bench would be idiotic as the risk of teetering off and suffering an injury FAR outweighs the reward of any potential gains. SO, try it from the floor and go heavy Tell us what you think
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Easy fix for the safety factor. bench from the floor. I rarely have a spotter so i put a long pad down on the floor and set up the barbell on a squat rack at a comfortable height consistent with unracking a bench press, and off i go. ironically, for as long as i've been dong this it's very close to the feet up position as my feet are never down. I've always out progressed by peers. Now I may know why. Made the adjustment from your video and I have to say, it feels GOOD to lift heavy with feet up. I can also see where doing this on a standard bench would be idiotic as the risk of teetering off and suffering an injury FAR outweighs the reward of any potential gains. SO, try it from the floor and go heavy Tell us what you think
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Mouad EL
Jeff Nippard benching with the feet up help me to feel comfortable and only focusing on the chest especially with the interior pelvic tilt, the only important thing that you forgot to mention i watch your videos a lot, everytime i left my legs when training chest i remember you bending your legs behind you to make the chest the highest point, however i think you are very wrong at this That flowing power when putting your legs on the ground help you be more stable especially if you are not training with smith machine, and by lifting your legs up, bottom body is not a problem no more.
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Jeff Nippard benching with the feet up help me to feel comfortable and only focusing on the chest especially with the interior pelvic tilt, the only important thing that you forgot to mention i watch your videos a lot, everytime i left my legs when training chest i remember you bending your legs behind you to make the chest the highest point, however i think you are very wrong at this That flowing power when putting your legs on the ground help you be more stable especially if you are not training with smith machine, and by lifting your legs up, bottom body is not a problem no more.
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Kelley Sauer
Having legs on the floor simply allows the leg to assist which lessens the load on the chest. As Jeff C. says, You want to make the movement inefficient to make the targeted muscle do the actual work. So yes, it is good to bench press with legs up. Nippard's objection that the study used the same weight for both styles is dumb. What matters is that legs up actives the chest more. Weight can be increased with feet up just as it is increased for feet on floor. The real drawback is safety. Obviously, the danger exists that the lifter will fall off the bench.
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Having legs on the floor simply allows the leg to assist which lessens the load on the chest. As Jeff C. says, You want to make the movement inefficient to make the targeted muscle do the actual work. So yes, it is good to bench press with legs up. Nippard's objection that the study used the same weight for both styles is dumb. What matters is that legs up actives the chest more. Weight can be increased with feet up just as it is increased for feet on floor. The real drawback is safety. Obviously, the danger exists that the lifter will fall off the bench.
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HELPMEIDUNNOHOWTOUSE
Before this video starts I'd like to say this whole argument is ridiculous. It may help but you're better performing an ab isolated exercise or tricep exercise after a normal bench because if you have a peck strength imbalance, that will now get passed to these substituted areas and increase their imbalances in lew. Also the shoulder is under enough stress as it is, why further potentiate the possible damage just because you wanted to save 5 minutes in the gym?
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Before this video starts I'd like to say this whole argument is ridiculous. It may help but you're better performing an ab isolated exercise or tricep exercise after a normal bench because if you have a peck strength imbalance, that will now get passed to these substituted areas and increase their imbalances in lew. Also the shoulder is under enough stress as it is, why further potentiate the possible damage just because you wanted to save 5 minutes in the gym?
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