The Bench Press: Use Your Legs!

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The legs assist the bench press, so if you’re not using your legs when you’re benching, you’re missing out on a key component of the lift.

For starters, the legs provide lateral stability in the bench press. Remember, the bench itself is relatively narrow, so your stance contributes heavily to your lateral (i.e., side-to-side) stability, and more stability is always a good thing in any lift. Using a roughly squat-width stance will work when learning to bench, and some may gravitate toward a slightly wider stance over time.

Next, be sure to drive “up the bench” with your legs when you bench. To see what is meant by “up the bench,” lay down on the bench without the bar in your hands and drive your feet into the floor so that you slide on the bench in the direction of your head (i.e., away from your feet). In reality, of course, we don’t want to slide on the bench when performing the lift, but this won’t be a problem because your shoulders will be pinned to the bench by a heavy barbell. Note that driving “up the bench” is not the same as driving “up OFF the bench” - the hips need to stay in contact with the bench throughout the rep, so keep your butt on the bench.

Be sure to drive with your legs throughout the entire lift - drive during the descent as well as the ascent. Don’t wait until you’re pushing the bar up to start driving with your legs. Driving with your legs helps support your arch when benching, and it also makes you a tighter, more rigid lifter - more “compressed.” In a squat, deadlift, or press, your lifting shoes provide a rigid, non-compressible interface between what’s moving the bar (you) and the support surface (the ground), but in the bench press, your body is the interface between what’s moving the bar (your arms) and the support surface (the bench), so getting as tight and rigid as possible makes for a more efficient bench press, and driving with your legs facilitates this.

With all this in mind, don’t forget about your legs the next time you bench. They might just be the missing ingredient for your next PR.

Week 2020.11.16

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Reminder: Below are the hours for Thanksgiving week (you can also find these on our Location & Hours page). Any days not listed retain their normal hours.

Wednesday, 11/25/20: Regular hours
Thursday, 11/26/20: Closed
Friday, 11/27/20: 7:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.
Saturday, 11/28/20: Regular hours

This Week’s Conditioning

Option 1
Sled Pyramid – 4, 5, or 6 tiers
Go up and down a 4, 5, or 6 tier “sled pyramid” – rest as needed. The distance for each round is 80 m indoors (a down-back on the 40m course) or 200 ft outdoors (2 down-backs on the 50 ft course). Rest as needed.

For example, Bob does the following (4 tiers):
Round 1: Empty sled
Round 2: 25#
Round 3: 50#
Round 4: 75#
Round 5: 50#
Round 6: 25#
Round 7: Empty sled

Compare to 2020.10.05.

Option 2
Bike/row:
5 min on
4 min off
4 min on
3 min off
3 min on
2 min off
2 min on
1 min off
1 min on

Record distance for each interval and add for total distance.

Compare to 2020.09.21.

Option 3
5-10 rounds of:
30 sec ME tire flips
30 sec rest

Compare to 2020.08.24.

Option 4
10 x 50 ft farmer carry
Each carry is 25 ft down and 25 ft back and is for time. Rest 1 minute between carries.

Women: 97# per handle (80# of plates)
Men: 137# per handle (120# of plates)
(Note: Each handle weighs 17#.)

Compare to 2020.08.17.

Bent Wrists are Ruining Your Life (or at least your deadlifts)

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Do your wrists ever look like this when you’re deadlifting? Stop that. Stop that right now.

Don’t be like this fool. Also, jeans really aren’t the best choice for deadlifting.

Don’t be like this fool. Also, jeans really aren’t the best choice for deadlifting.

In the deadlift, we want straight wrists, not bent wrists (i.e., not wrists that are in full extension as in the previous photo), and we have a few reasons for this. First, the deadlift involves a lot of tension, i.e., pulling, so when that weight comes off the floor, your wrists will be straight anyway, so let’s start with straight wrists. The position of the wrists should not be an additional variable that we have to deal with, so let’s leave them straight.

This . . . is much better . . . except for the jeans and the shoes.

This . . . is much better . . . except for the jeans and the shoes.

Second, when the wrists are bent, the lifter is often resting on the bar with slack in the arms, and this can contribute to yanking or jerking the bar off the floor instead of smoothly pulling or “squeezing” the bar off the floor. Jerking a heavy deadlift off the floor doesn’t work well - remember, it’s heavy, so you can’t lift it quickly even if you try. Instead, when we try to yank the bar off the floor, the back gets soft and flexes, which results in less efficient force transfer, and this results in a less efficient and more difficult pull. Keep the wrists straight.

Third, when the wrists are bent and the lifter is resting on the bar, this makes it difficult for the lifter to be balanced on the middle of the foot. You feel your balance in your feet, and if a good chunk of your weight is resting on the bar, it’s difficult to tell whether you are balanced on your midfoot or not. Very often, the lifter’s balance will be forward when resting on the bar, and this is a situation that then has to be corrected before pulling the bar off the floor. Don’t make your balance an additional variable in your lifting.

Finally, this dastardly duo of bent wrists and resting on the bar encourages lifters to stall between reps. You know who you are. Get the set over and done with. Don’t make a set of 5 reps take 2 minutes when it should have taken 30 seconds. Set the bar down over the middle of your foot, take a breath, squeeze your chest up, and then pull . . . all with straight wrists. Remember, the best resting position for the deadlift is simply being done with your deadlifts. Punch the clock. Finish the set.

Keep your wrists straight in the deadlift. It’ll make you a better human.

Week 2020.11.09

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Reminder: Below are the hours for Thanksgiving week (you can also find these on our Location & Hours page). Any days not listed retain their normal hours.

Wednesday, 11/25/20: Regular hours
Thursday, 11/26/20: Closed
Friday, 11/27/20: 7:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.
Saturday, 11/28/20: Regular hours

This Week’s Conditioning

Option 1
”Prowler Base+1”
1. Load up a manageable weight.
2. Sprint 40m at 85% intensity.
3. Rest 30 sec.
4. Repeat 5-15 times.

Courtesy of “Death by Prowler” (on Starting Strength).

Compare to 2020.09.28.

Option 2
5 rounds:
10 cal bike
1 min rest
4 sandbag-over-bars
1 min rest

Set the yoke crossmember at 35/33, and the weight is 150#/75#.

Compare to 2020.09.14.

Option 3
Outdoors:
5-10 rounds:
50 yd sled push (25 yd down-back)
50 yd farmer carry (25 yd down-back)
Rest 1 min

Indoors:
5-10 rounds:
100 yd sled push (50 ft down-back)
100 yd farmer carry (50 ft down-back)
Rest 1 min

Compare to 2020.08.17.

Option 4
10 x 50 ft yoke carry
Each carry is 25 feet down and 25 feet back and is for time. Rest 1 minute between carries.

Compare to 2020.08.10.

Bar Rolling Up or Down Your Back in the Squat?

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The correct bar position

The correct bar position

A bar that moves up or down on your back during the squat is - to put it mildly - not a good thing. Squatting is a challenging endeavor. It’s supposed to be challenging, and the fact that it is challenging - the fact that it stresses your body - is what makes you stronger for having done it. But don’t make it more challenging than it needs to be by tolerating a barbell that rolls up your back or slides down your back. That is plain silliness.

An issue that often causes unnecessary bar movement is the bar’s position on your back. The bar should rest “on a ‘shelf’ under the traps and on top of the posterior deltoids” (Rippetoe 24). In short, the bar will be below the traps and above the delts.

For a video demonstration with explanation, see the short video at the end of this article.

Here, the bar is too high on the back.

Here, the bar is too high on the back.

If the bar sits too high on your back - on the traps or even above them - the bar will tend to roll up the back toward your neck. This wreaks havoc on your balance, on your ability to create the proper back angle, and thus it also wreaks havoc on your ability to drive your hips up out of the bottom.

Here, the bar is too low on the back.

Here, the bar is too low on the back.

On the other hand, if the bar sits too low on your back - below the top of your delts - the bar will tend to roll or slide down your back. The delts provide the shelf for the bar, so if the bar is not above your delts, you have no shelf left to support the bar. Now, your hands and wrists are left with the task of supporting a heavy bar, and as these relatively flimsy appendages are not well suited to this task, the bar starts moving further down your back as the set progresses. In addition, this “too-low” position tends to aggravate either your wrists, elbows, or shoulders over time.

To sum up, if the bar moves up your back, it might be too high on your back to begin with, and if the bar moves down your back, it might be too low on your back to begin with. Get a coach, a friend, or even an enemy to take a closer look at your bar position if you struggle with this issue, and let’s put this obstacle in your rearview.

Rippetoe, Mark. Starting Strength: Basic Barbell Training, 3rd edition. The Aasgaard Company, 2017.

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Week 2020.11.02

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The 2020 Testify Fall Classic is in the books, and it was a great day (and even better since it was our first strengthlifting meet at our new location)! Lots of PRs were set, and many congratulations go out to everyone who stepped onto the platform to compete this past Saturday. Thank you to those of you who helped out at the meet – setup, teardown, judging, spotting, loading, scoring, announcing – without you, this meet wouldn’t be possible. Also, thank you to those who came out to support and cheer on the lifters – you all made it a fun day for the lifters on the platform.

This Week’s Conditioning

Option 1
“Prowler Base”
1. Load up a manageable weight.
2. Sprint 40m at 85% intensity.
3. Rest until breathing and heart rate slow down. (45 sec – 2 min)
4. Repeat 5-15 times.

Courtesy of “Death by Prowler” (on Starting Strength).

Compare to 2020.09.21.

Option 2
Bike/Row for 9 rounds:
1 min on
1 min off

Record distance for each round.

Compare to 2020.09.07.

Option 3
1st: 5 x 50 ft seated sled pull. Add weight each round. Rest as needed.
2nd: 5 x 100 ft duck walk. Add weight each round. Rest as needed.

Compare to 2020.08.10.

Option 4
For time:
500m row
5 x 80m sled push (200 ft if indoors)
500m row

Rest 1 minute after the first row and after each sled push.

Compare to 2020.08.03.