Leg drive question on bench.

[Sebastianc2012]

Everywhere I have read and seen, everyone always dictates a heels flat position during bench.


then I remember back to the "so you think you can bench" videos and realize dave tate and the guy he is teaching both have there heels up.


Tried it recently and found I could actually get some leg drive and tigtness without my glutes coming up.


I can get a bit of tightness with my heels flat but only if my feet are really tucked under, and its very uncomfortable and hard to achiece.

Is this just a lack of ankle mobility of my part or what?




Anyone here who benches with heels up? If so why?

[Killafornia805]

Is this just a lack of ankle mobility of my part or what?


Anyone here who benches with heels up?


If so why?

No, its not like ur turing the motherphuckers 180 degrees backwards

Yes i do,

i found leg stability helped me with my bench

[Sebastianc2012]

No, its not like ur turing the motherphuckers 180 degrees backwards

Yes i do,

i found leg stability helped me with my bench

Now that I think about it, maybe hip mobility renders it, which I have none of.

[MachetePower]

It depends on the rules of your federation.
IPF ect is head flat feet flat on floor. WPC and other feds alow toes to be in contact. Do what ever you are strongest with. Personally i feel more tightness on my toes so this is how i bench.

[Sebastianc2012]

Haventt competed yet but will definitely look in to it when I do.

[MachetePower]

Haventt competed yet but will definitely look in to it when I do.

Best advice is pick a fed you wish to compete and all your training should match what you are allowed to do in comp

[nsurdis]

It's really personal preference. Most find it easier to arch with a heels up setup. As some said- some Feds require heels down.

No matter what your position you are always trying to push your heels down even if u can't.

Typically larger men and less flexible men will go with the heels down but it's not a hard and fast rule. Whichever gives u the best leverage.

[doza808]

I bench with both heels up. It's just comfortable for me. I've tried with heels down but they naturally raise, even though I'm going light.

[arn710]

Heels up for me

[5_02ls1]

I can bench either way bu im alot more stable heels up...

[Drew23]

It's fine if you are heels up. Once you are setup and take the bar, you still want to drive your heels down toward the floor, even if they don't touch the floor.

[Torrtrefireto]

Heels down legal anywhere, yes work on ankle flexibility and buy a pair of heeled shoes

[nsurdis]

I bench with both heels up. It's just comfortable for me. I've tried with heels down but they naturally raise, even though I'm going light.

Not that you asked for my advice, but if your heels are coming up when you are benching, you're leg drive is wrong. i mean that constructively not trying to be an *******. but when you drive with your toes it actually lessens your leg drive.

[invain]

It's really personal preference. Most find it easier to arch with a heels up setup. As some said- some Feds require heels down.

No matter what your position you are always trying to push your heels down even if u can't.

Typically larger men and less flexible men will go with the heels down but it's not a hard and fast rule. Whichever gives u the best leverage.

This is a pretty good response. I'm fairly flexible so I pull my feet way back on my toes to help get a big arch. Even without an arch and my feet flat on the ground, I've never been able to get much out of leg drive. I know other big benchers that get a lot out of leg drive, so it varies person to person.

I believe it's mainly the USAPL that makes you bench with heels on the ground.

[invain]

Not that you asked for my advice, but if your heels are coming up when you are benching, you're leg drive is wrong. i mean that constructively not trying to be an *******. but when you drive with your toes it actually lessens your leg drive.

In your opinion.....

In my opinion, leg drive in general is a little overrated.

[Fuarrrrrk]

I'm similar to opie, I tried heels down last night and it is jut too uncomfortable and I feel I get the same drive off balls of feet/toes.

[Sebastianc2012]

Thanks for all the responses.

Didn't realize it was so popular to bench with heels up.

[ink81]

<-- Heels Up

[Link815]

Heels down here. I started in the USAPL, so you could only bench with heels down, and it works for me and I've never felt the need to change it. I do bench in my olympic shoes, which I think helps mimic the heel up, but keeps the stability of heels down.

[scorpionsf]

I believe it's mainly the USAPL that makes you bench with heels on the ground.

by USAPL you mean IPF affiliated...

In your opinion.....

In my opinion, leg drive in general is a little overrated.

brb bro benching

[nsurdis]

In your opinion.....

In my opinion, leg drive in general is a little overrated.

Lol. I guess it is a matter of opinion. But since you are benching 440 raw at 200 - who am i to question? You are kicking my ass...That puts you ranked #7 in the US.

I think if you tried embracing the leg drive you could be #1 in the world! Only need 485 to do it..

[Mizzoutiger26]

I remember reading a while ago that if you are comfortable while you are benching, you are doing it wrong.

[invain]

brb bro benching

Yeah man bro benching. I bench 100+ more pounds raw than you do single ply, but wtf do I know?

[invain]

Lol. I guess it is a matter of opinion. But since you are benching 440 raw at 200 - who am i to question? You are kicking my ass...That puts you ranked #7 in the US.

I think if you tried embracing the leg drive you could be #1 in the world! Only need 485 to do it..

My long term goal is the National bench record for 198 or 220. I believe Ryan Celli has benched something like 530 @ 198, where did you get 485 from?

Edit: The WPC world record bench for 198 is 550. Got damn. Only 100 pounds to go lol.

[nsurdis]

My long term goal is the National bench record for 198 or 220. I believe Ryan Celli has benched something like 530 @ 198, where did you get 485 from?

Edit: The WPC world record bench for 198 is 550. Got damn. Only 100 pounds to go lol.

I looked up on powerliftingwatch.com lifter rankings .. I only looked at 2012, but 485 was the highest I saw. Regardless man thats damn strong and u should be proud. anything over 2x bodyweight is beastly.

keep it up

[invain]

I looked up on powerliftingwatch.com lifter rankings .. I only looked at 2012, but 485 was the highest I saw. Regardless man thats damn strong and u should be proud. anything over 2x bodyweight is beastly.

keep it up

Gotcha, kinda figured that's where you were getting the numbers from. I still need to stop being a cheap ass and sign up for the lifter rankings. Thank you for the kind words.

[SumPersonGuy]

Yeah man bro benching. I bench 100+ more pounds raw than you do single ply, but wtf do I know?

Do you have a video of said 440 bench? I checked your youtube channel but all I found was a 375 bench.

And just to clarify, I'm not calling you a liar, I genuinely want to see the video.

Also, just a tip, especially on this board, if you haven't done the weight on a platform, then you bench 0 pounds.

[ShortDave]

In your opinion.....

In my opinion, leg drive in general is a little overrated.

Yeah man bro benching. I bench 100+ more pounds raw than you do single ply, but wtf do I know?

Alrighty, since I bench more raw than you do, and my shirted bench is also higher than yours, does my opinion mean more than yours? If you want to see how much leg drive helps, next time you bench don't put your feet on the floor.

[scorpionsf]

platform is what counts. why do i not have real stats for my bench? because i bombed in my last meet. not going to go around here touting some bigger bench that i can likely hit or have hit in the gym, because that doesn't matter for ****. what matters is what you hit on a platform

im with sumpersonguy though. but i want to see a video of it without your legs, hell ill even let you do 405

[Sebastianc2012]

Brb max bro bench is 105 pounds rofl




Not that my bench with leg drive is much better.