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Why you should bench press with legs on the ground
Posted in Weight Training |
Tags: bench press, ground, legs, technique
Yes you might have heard that performing a bench press with the legs up will put the accent more on the pecs. And you believe those rumors because a 40 year old 250 pound bencher has told you that. Am I 40 years old? Nope. Do I bench 250 pounds? Not yet. But I do have things what that 40 year old bencher doesn’t have… good arguments not to put your legs in the air.
First let’s talk about the argument “putting the accent more on your pecs”. Is this possible? No it’s not. It’s a compound exercise. By moving your legs up in the air, you won’t use less shoulders or triceps. It only becomes harder to bench. If you want to isolate your pecs, then do some flyes.
Secondly, if you were to move your legs in the air, just because you’re used to it or prefer it, then think about this for a second: The more weight you can use on an exercise, the more you will overload your muscles. Benching with your legs on the ground will be much easier, and thus you will be able to bench with more wieght, which will result in hypertrophy.
Thirdly, it’s dangerous if you lose your balance with feet in the air. Think about it, would you like to fall down with 200 lbs above you? That’s just dangerous behaviour. You don’t usually squat with only one leg on the ground either, do you (unless of course you’re doing bulgarian squats :)).
So please don’t be a fool and put the legs down while you’re benching. Oh and do me a favour and ask that 40 year old experienced bencher what his arguments are. I can’t wait to hear them..
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