As my shoulder is improving I'm keen to do a bit more BB benching just for shits and giggles, I'd like to get my bench up to at least 100kg by the end of the year (at bodyweight of 70kg or thereabouts).

One thing I know I'm not doing well at the moment is driving through my legs' in setting a decent arch I always seem to end up on my toes and then find it hard to produce any force. Should I set my arch, then get my feet flat (or close to flat) on the floor? I know that some people advocate a bigger arch and weight on the toes so I'm happy to play around, but what works for you guys?

I think my upper-body setup is fairly tight now but I'm contributing nothing from my legs- I tend to struggle off the chest and I'm sure a bit of leg drive would help this side of things, so any help would be much appreciated.

How do you set up mate?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uquk-DQ9QwU

Thats how I go and I find it really works well for good tight arch and leg drive. (even tho I fail that lift, ignore that loool )

How i set up is a follows

Get on the bench and take my head about 8 inches past the bar so its over my upper chest
Plant feet firmly flat on the floor, not too wide but wide enough to form a solid base
Grab the bar with both hands in the middle and arch up keeping the feet firmly on the floor
With practise i know that the 8 inches ive gone past the bar is not gone and its at eye level
Pull shoulders together and back to form a solid base to bench off
Drive your upper back into the bench with your legs, keeping your glutes in contact with the bench
Take your grip and bench that moofoo, taking it low on the torso the the wrists and elbows stay inline with the bar and keeping the elbows tucked.

I think it takes a while to get any benefit from benching this way and in fact some may go backwards moving from a 'standard gym rat bench' but once you get it, it just feels so much stronger and you really start to drive with your legs.


Strangely it has moved my weakness on the bench, it used to be the drive off the chest, now im confident i could drive 160, 170 off my chest raw (in fact i might try it with a good spot), but my lowering phase seems to have got harder.

Marks1972 wrote:How i set up is a follows

Get on the bench and take my head about 8 inches past the bar so its over my upper chest
Plant feet firmly flat on the floor, not too wide but wide enough to form a solid base
Grab the bar with both hands in the middle and arch up keeping the feet firmly on the floor
With practise i know that the 8 inches ive gone past the bar is not gone and its at eye level
Pull shoulders together and back to form a solid base to bench off
Drive your upper back into the bench with your legs, keeping your glutes in contact with the bench
Take your grip and bench that moofoo, taking it low on the torso the the wrists and elbows stay inline with the bar and keeping the elbows tucked.

I think it takes a while to get any benefit from benching this way and in fact some may go backwards moving from a 'standard gym rat bench' but once you get it, it just feels so much stronger and you really start to drive with your legs.


Strangely it has moved my weakness on the bench, it used to be the drive off the chest, now im confident i could drive 160, 170 off my chest raw (in fact i might try it with a good spot), but my lowering phase seems to have got harder.

The eccentric will be harder because it shifts tention from the chest to the lats.

You should try following through like I do its really awesome (no jokes! I can't word it any other way ), Its a well known PL set up gves the tightest arch possible imo... There again I'm not going to argue with someone that bench 170 raw!

hehe i cant bench 170 raw, i think im at 150-155 at the mo with a decent spotter, maybe 160 if i cycle towards it.

But my 145 on friday was very fast off the chest, the hard part was holding it from crashing on my lowest ribs.

Cheers boys, I'll have a play in the gym shortly (Max I can't watch Youtube at work, but will check it when I get home).

Mark, the setup you describe sounds similar to what I use already, but I set my arch with an underhand grip on the bar and then swap to overhand once I'm in place. I will keep my feet on the floor throughout tonight though as you suggest and see how that goes. To victory!

viewtopic.php?f=20&t=3882

I agree with Mark with the set up although i do come up on my tip toes to gain a greater arch.

Need to:
Keep shoulder blades as tight together as possable
Tuck your elbows in on the way down
Start to drive the elbows out on the way up

Good thing that i have picked up (Thanks Dave tate) Start to push your heels down to the floor. Now even though you are on your tip toes by pushing your heels back down you drive into the bench alot more and get your lock out.

Max wrote:

Marks1972 wrote:How i set up is a follows

Get on the bench and take my head about 8 inches past the bar so its over my upper chest
Plant feet firmly flat on the floor, not too wide but wide enough to form a solid base
Grab the bar with both hands in the middle and arch up keeping the feet firmly on the floor
With practise i know that the 8 inches ive gone past the bar is not gone and its at eye level
Pull shoulders together and back to form a solid base to bench off
Drive your upper back into the bench with your legs, keeping your glutes in contact with the bench
Take your grip and bench that moofoo, taking it low on the torso the the wrists and elbows stay inline with the bar and keeping the elbows tucked.

I think it takes a while to get any benefit from benching this way and in fact some may go backwards moving from a 'standard gym rat bench' but once you get it, it just feels so much stronger and you really start to drive with your legs.



Strangely it has moved my weakness on the bench, it used to be the drive off the chest, now im confident i could drive 160, 170 off my chest raw (in fact i might try it with a good spot), but my lowering phase seems to have got harder.

The eccentric will be harder because it shifts tention from the chest to the lats.

You should try following through like I do its really awesome (no jokes! I can't word it any other way ), Its a well known PL set up gves the tightest arch possible imo... There again I'm not going to argue with someone that bench 170 raw!

But you move your feet after the set up so lose alot of your arch. Not to mention the lack of control bring the bar down.

Alex Wheatman wrote:Good thing that i have picked up (Thanks Dave tate) Start to push your heels down to the floor. Now even though you are on your tip toes by pushing your heels back down you drive into the bench alot more and get your lock out.

Thanks Alex, that makes a lot of sense. I played around with setup on Monday and did find I was having to compromise between a good tight arch and feet on the floor, so I'll try implementing this tip.

On the plus side I did end up with quite sore quads after Monday's session, so the leg drive was definitely in effect!

Hope it helps mate. Make sure you stretch your back out before as mine starts to cramp up after a while (good arch)

My training partners think i have about 5 inches of movement. Will have to measure it Friday

Let me know how you get on with the heels pushing down, wait till you are just starting to slow down then push the heels in and whoosh, up it goes

Good to know that Eric Cressey reads ESN

http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_art ... e_benchers

But even in that vid in the "good" form the guy is still pushing the bar back rather then up.