Military Bench???

[ExtraMile]

i am going to give a different opinion. I know i am not nearly as knowledgeable as guys like SL, but please tell me if this makes sense.

When you do a conventional bench press, you're activating more muscles. You are going out of your way to arch your back, and pushing through your knees, which will activate your back a lot more.

However, when you put your feet on the bench and you don't arch your back as much, you don't get the same amount of force you get when you push through your heels, which would transfer the load more to your chest. Yes, you wouldn't be able to use as much weight as you would with a conventional bench press, but you would stimulate your chest more.


Again, please tell me if this is an inaccurate analysis of putting your feet up during bench. When i thought about this the other day it kind of made sense to me.

This is my idea:

Lets say with no leg drive and no arched back you can bench say 200 pounds for 5 reps. Then you learn the technique used by powerlifters and arch your back, put your feet back and focus on recruiting the lats as a springboard, and from doing this your bench jumps up to 225 for 5 reps.

Now you see this thread and think hey why not try military benches, I bet you cant do 200 pounds for 5 reps, maybe you manage 185 for 5 reps purely because stabilisation and balance becomes an issue with feet in the air. But both ways - with feet on the floor but using no leg drive and with feet in the air with no leg drive didnt recruit the lats or use hip drive or use an arch to shorten the ROM. So if with feet on the floor you could bench 25 pounds more purely because you could balance better than why would you want to restrict your poundage and be wobbly on the bench, just because your using less poundage doesnt mean your chest will be doing more work.

It would be like squatting on a BOSU ball - yuor poundage would decrease cause balance would be an issue but that doesnt mean it would work your quads any harder...

 

[Tblock1]

This is my idea:

Lets say with no leg drive and no arched back you can bench say 200 pounds for 5 reps. Then you learn the technique used by powerlifters and arch your back, put your feet back and focus on recruiting the lats as a springboard, and from doing this your bench jumps up to 225 for 5 reps.

Now you see this thread and think hey why not try military benches, I bet you cant do 200 pounds for 5 reps, maybe you manage 185 for 5 reps purely because stabilisation and balance becomes an issue with feet in the air. But both ways - with feet on the floor but using no leg drive and with feet in the air with no leg drive didnt recruit the lats or use hip drive or use an arch to shorten the ROM. So if with feet on the floor you could bench 25 pounds more purely because you could balance better than why would you want to restrict your poundage and be wobbly on the bench, just because your using less poundage doesnt mean your chest will be doing more work.

It would be like squatting on a BOSU ball - yuor poundage would decrease cause balance would be an issue but that doesnt mean it would work your quads any harder...

Good points except I didn't feel off balance much. If I really did lose strength from that then I am pumped, my regular max must be way higher right now

The whole point of this thread was too see what leg drive contributed to benching. The reason people do military benches is the same reason powerlifters do floor press, it is a true measure of upper body strength without leg involvment. That is the point of having you feet in the air, there's np way you can get leg drive. Anyway thanks for the replies, I was hoping someone would say:

Bench max: xxx
Military bench max: xxx

 

[bblazer]

Good points except I didn't feel off balance much. If I really did lose strength from that then I am pumped, my regular max must be way higher right now

The whole point of this thread was too see what leg drive contributed to benching. The reason people do military benches is the same reason powerlifters do floor press, it is a true measure of upper body strength without leg involvment. That is the point of having you feet in the air, there's np way you can get leg drive. Anyway thanks for the replies, I was hoping someone would say:

Bench max: xxx
Military bench max: xxx

Sort of, but not really. It is mostly done to work on the top end of the bench/lockout. Think of board pressing, but without the board.

B-

 

[skinsfan]

If you are deadset on doing something like this then do it with the Dumbbells and not the bar.

 

[Tblock1]

Sort of, but not really. It is mostly done to work on the top end of the bench/lockout. Think of board pressing, but without the board.

B-

Yeah I know floor press is done to strengthen the top of the lockout, but it is also supposed to be a good true measure of bench press strength cause you can't use leg drive right? I think the idea behind military bench is solely using the upper body strength though.

 

[b fold the truth]

I have said this before, and I am not name dropping or bragging. I seriously train with what some may call some of the strongest men in the world (I am below pussy level in their presence). You see them on ESPN all the time, and on various PLing comps. NONE of them do this. Is is a torn pec or blown rotator cuff waiting for a place to happen. You are not isolating anything. Instead, you are destabilizing everything. This is a recipe for disaster.

B-

I concur Captain. You and I would be changing the weights for them if I were there. With an 800 lb deadlift I'd still be at the bottom of the food chain!

Only reason I can think of why this guy would do these is that he wanted to go to the gym 3 days post-meet and do "something" and that he can probably do in the 250-270kg range in a shirt...easily. His form wasn't near as bad as the first video posted. His freaking elbows were about 3 inches from the floor, bar was uneven on the press, elbows out, etc...ouch!

 

[bblazer]

I concur Captain. You and I would be changing the weights for them if I were there. With an 800 lb deadlift I'd still be at the bottom of the food chain!

Not quite. 800 gets them to stop laughing at you and calling you names.

I am still just there to hold the chalk, tacky and belts. Occasionally, I get to wipe the sweat off their foreheads if I am lucky.

B-

 

[ExtraMile]

bblazer whats your best raw deadlift?

 

[bblazer]

bblazer whats your best raw deadlift?

All of it.

B-

 

[Tblock1]

All of it.

B-

How many pounds was you best raw deadlift in gym or comp?