Leg Drive on Bench

**Imnotdutch** · 08-27-2002, 05:31 PM

Ok heres how it is........my current bench is 385. In order to get that I use very little leg drive. I'm hoping that by incorporating leg drive I'll finally get past 400. Unfortunately, I dont really know what you are aiming to do by incorporating leg drive......or how to do it.

Do I understand it correctly that the point is to drive like you are pushing yourself down the bench.......and the effect is to roll you further up onto you shoulders?

When exactly do you drive with your legs? The only way I can visualise it is if you drive just as you start the ascent. This should push your chest/abs up and help you start the bar moving.

As you can see I dont know what I'm doing here!! Any help would be appreciated.

IND

**musc2002pa** · 08-27-2002, 05:38 PM

Leg drive is kind of hard to explain. When setting up, you want to feel like most of your weight is resting on your upperback. To maintain this position, I am already pressing somewhat with my legs (to keep my upperback shoved into the bench). I 'explode' with my legs when I come off the chest. This drives my upperback into the bench even more. I think of driving the bar towards my feet (this keeps the bar in a straight line and stops it from floating back towards your head). I am not sure if this helps out or not. I definitely bench more when I am using my leg drive well.

Chad T.
www.CarolinaPower.net

**deciever** · 08-27-2002, 05:48 PM

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It is easier to practice pausing the bar and trying leg drive than it is touch n go (at least thats what i think.

**Ermantroudt** · 08-27-2002, 05:57 PM

Not that I am an expert on the Bench, but here goes:
1. Set up as tight as possible, when I am getting into position for
the lift. At this point: my back is arched, my upper back/neck are pressed firmly into the bench, my feet are a comfortable distance in front of me, flat on the floor, and my whole body is under tension before the hand-off. Whole body under tension is important, press your abs onto the belt and have tension from your calves to your forearms.

2. As the weight comes down I arch up (no more than a 1/2 inch) to meet the bar, I think of myself as a spring being depressed, and keep tension on my legs, glutes and abs. In this positon I feel like I am performing a decline BP much more than I do a flat BP.

3. When given the "Press" command, I channel all of the tension in my lower body to drive the bar up. It is almost a thrusting of the hips.

I am sure there are other, more knowledgeable people, on this list, who do this, or atleast describe it, better than me; but I hope this was of some help.

Ermantroudt

**deciever** · 08-27-2002, 05:58 PM

im waiting for PLjay to respond as i know he uses it alot. i think i recall a story of him hurting his knee using leg drive too much. I'd like to get some more info on it as well. I think it could help me get to half of what Imnotdutch is shooting for.

**solidj55** · 08-27-2002, 06:01 PM

My leg drive is pretty constant through the whole lift, I am pushing back toward the rack of the bench the whole time from un-rack to re-rack. I am not sure if this is exactly what leg drive is but its how i do it. But hey you bench more than me lol so my advice may not count.

**Ray** · 08-27-2002, 06:24 PM

Should you pinch your shoulder blades together throughout the whole lift?

**xxxl83** · 08-27-2002, 06:37 PM

Ok this is the best way to explain it.

1. Set up on the bench with your shoulder blades pulled together.

2. Grab the bar with your normal hand positioning, and keep your elbows in.

3. Put your feet up on the bench and lift your hips as high to the ceiling as you can. When you do this you will feel all your weight on your traps and upper back.
This is what you should be feeling when using your leg drive correctly.

4. Put your feet on the floor and push back with your legs until you feel the same presure on you traps and upper back.

There is your leg drive.

Now don't use the leg drive until you're about to start the press.
With no or little weight on the bar you should be pushing yourself back towards the head of the bench when you use your leg drive.

If you start to raise your butt of the bench you need to place your feet farther out so no matter how hard you push your legs won't be long enough to get you butt off the bench.

I hope this helps you out it worked for me and many others but the most important part is learning the "feel" so you know how to set up and duplicate it for your press.

xxxl83

**k1401** · 08-27-2002, 07:05 PM

thanks for the great topic Imnotdutch! and thanks to everyone for the great replies, I too have no leg drive and need to work on it, this gives me many ways to experiment

***powerlifterjay*** · 08-27-2002, 07:13 PM

Well everyone has described it perfectly. Here is my take.

First i am tight as shit layinig under the bar. To really get the full effect of leg drive you gotta ,kinda abandon the tight arch. But my shoulders are tight and i am on the traps almost. At least it feels like it. I grab the bar so tight i feel it through my whole body. As i lower the bar i literaly feel liek i am hovering over the bench with just my ass and shoulders touching (not much arch) But all my weight is on my heels. and shoulders. But there not ready to strike yet! I am basically tight. When the bar is ready to be pressed my body switches to the up mode and i drive with upper part , but my legs now have gone from tight to literally pushing so hard thorugh my heels like i am doing a box squat!! My toes are pointed out a little and there far enough out to keep my ass from rising. My body goes from kinda flat to a little arch on the up part of th elift. My body does this cause of th eforce thorugh my heels. If i didnt have weight i would go off the back of the bench. Check out the clip of George Halbert on powermagonoline and his set up is the same as mine. Look were his feet are, out and on heels. Same as me here if there was a aerial view
http://www.geocities.com/xdecieverx/pljay.html
I am on my heels and driving. This is the best i can do with out actually showing you in person. In person i could show you perfectly.

And yes i have pulled muscles many times in my legs from benching. One time my knee pretty good! If you have a good arch and really truly make a significant distance shortage by extreme arch do it. But most that do it have there legs tucked back and on toes. No leg drive at all. Guys who use leg drive are
Ryan kennelly, Kenny P, George H, Glen Chabot,
Guys who arch are Scot Mendolson, Jm Blakely, Dave Waterman, ETC

Two different styles. Hope this helped some too.

**xxxl83** · 08-27-2002, 07:32 PM

Good post PLj.

**deciever** · 08-27-2002, 07:50 PM

very good post. i just find it hard sometimes to stay tight and use leg drive.. i usualy forget one or the other... i need someone always tellin my to stay tight and drive through my legs.. or else i just screw it up.

***powerlifterjay*** · 08-27-2002, 08:29 PM

We are constantly yelling "TIGHT" to each other. We do remind each other but after a while it will come more naturally.

When you press on the way up try to push yoru self off the back of the bench...kinda!

**deciever** · 08-27-2002, 10:38 PM

thanks for the advice

**Imnotdutch** · 08-28-2002, 11:39 AM

Now those were some serious answers.....just what I needed. My heavy bench day comes around on Friday so it looks like I'll be doing some experimenting. I feel like this 400 is there for the taking.....I just need to do it now.

Thanks again for the help.

**p03t1c** · 08-28-2002, 11:43 AM

i do have a problem with leg drive. sometimes i just can't seem to do it. when i do nail my leg drive, the weight shoots up and blasts all the way to lockout. when i dont nail it, the weight putters up. so i work on this as much as i can on DE and ME days.

***powerlifterjay*** · 08-28-2002, 01:13 PM

Just think of a tight ball. When you drop it, it pops right back up. A flat ball just flops, or comes up alot slower. Just think speed and tight the whole lift. Say it to yourself. I do.

**Imnotdutch** · 08-28-2002, 04:03 PM

Originally posted by powerlifterjay
Just think of a tight ball. When you drop it, it pops right back up. A flat ball just flops, or comes up alot slower. Just think speed and tight the whole lift. Say it to yourself. I do.

PLJ,

I have watched that video of George Halbert that you recommended.......actually I watched it about 20 times just so I wouldn't miss anything. I get the point about foot positioning. There was also something in his form that I hadn't seen done before and was wondering whether this is normal for yourself and other people who use big leg drive. When he unracked the bar there was some arch in his body........then as he lowered in he also lowered the arch some. Finally, as he pressed he reformed that arch, presumably through leg drive.

I had imagined setting up with the lowered arch.....mebbe that is something I misread in the above threads. However, now that I think about it, it does make sense to set up in the position you hope to achieve with the drive......then lower later.

**solidj55** · 08-28-2002, 04:08 PM

I know one thing about leg drive, it takes practice. Just try it one day starting with the bar and concentrate on what everyone said and keep doing it each set. YOU WILL KNOW when you get it to where its supposed to be. I cant seem to mimic it every time but I know when I am putting it to good use because on the bottom part of my lift it blows up the from there on its all about the triceps.

***powerlifterjay*** · 08-28-2002, 04:55 PM

Well with the arch its not that he is trying to arch he is actualy just diggiing his shoulders into the bench. But when the bar comes down he is tight and where his legs are the weight is on the heels and out enough so as he drives like hell, the ass doesnt pop up. One reason for the arch coming and going is in order to get the bar down properly you must raise your head. That will flatten you out some. BUt as you observed when the bar travels back up , as soon as it leaves the chest , he is driving back hard. Like i said earlier, its so hard if there wasnt a bar to hold he would go off the back of the bench.

An exaggerated way to practice is get a bar and practice pushing up, and with a little pause, then press and when you press kinda heave your upper body in way were its throwing the bar off too. Dont let it sink in, just switch gears and push up with everything. But drive through your heels. Pretned your arms are not doin gmuch and you must getthe bar up. Man i wish i could show you in person. Do you kinda understand what i am trying to say? You 'll get it.

**Imnotdutch** · 08-29-2002, 12:00 PM

Ok I think I understand it about as well as I will without trying......as soon as I've tried a few things out I'll ask if there are more questions.

Later.

Originally posted by powerlifterjay
Well with the arch its not that he is trying to arch he is actualy just diggiing his shoulders into the bench. But when the bar comes down he is tight and where his legs are the weight is on the heels and out enough so as he drives like hell, the ass doesnt pop up. One reason for the arch coming and going is in order to get the bar down properly you must raise your head. That will flatten you out some. BUt as you observed when the bar travels back up , as soon as it leaves the chest , he is driving back hard. Like i said earlier, its so hard if there wasnt a bar to hold he would go off the back of the bench.

An exaggerated way to practice is get a bar and practice pushing up, and with a little pause, then press and when you press kinda heave your upper body in way were its throwing the bar off too. Dont let it sink in, just switch gears and push up with everything. But drive through your heels. Pretned your arms are not doin gmuch and you must getthe bar up. Man i wish i could show you in person. Do you kinda understand what i am trying to say? You 'll get it.

**RCK** · 08-29-2002, 12:49 PM

imnotdutch,you will get 400 man....just play with your foot postion to see where you get the most drive..thats a problem i'm working on right now...sometimes i get my feet just right and other times no leg drive.at this last contest Bob young's told me i have zero leg drive..i am working on it now and i pulled my feet more under me on speed day and ME day and it felt real good......i want to keep working at it so i don't push and my ass come up.......we'll see.........

**Imnotdutch** · 08-29-2002, 03:30 PM

Originally posted by RCK
imnotdutch,you will get 400 man....just play with your foot postion to see where you get the most drive..thats a problem i'm working on right now...sometimes i get my feet just right and other times no leg drive.at this last contest Bob young's told me i have zero leg drive..i am working on it now and i pulled my feet more under me on speed day and ME day and it felt real good......i want to keep working at it so i don't push and my ass come up.......we'll see.........

Thanks bro.....

You know, I know I have this lift in me right now so long as I get things together. I'm just gonna have to play around with it as you said.

My mindset reminds me of something PLJ said over on Elite a while ago.......at the time I didnt understand how he could say what he did. He basically said that when he hit 400 he knew he could get 500, 600, you name it. Right now I can see the 400 happening.......and I dont doubt for a minute that the 500 will happen. This is a huge contrast to how I felt before 300 fell.......then 400 was a million miles away.

Now I just have to back words up with actions

**benchmonster** · 08-29-2002, 03:39 PM

I kind of think of leg drive like this.

Have you ever heard of the Vasalva Maneuver? It is where you tighten up every muscle, even ones not directly involved in that particular lift, and hold them tight while increasing the intra abdominal pressure. You can lift more like that.

Well, when I get to the bottom of the bench, and begin to press up, I am flexing everything in my whole body. On the way down, my head comes up, both to look at the bar hitting the abs, and to help it touch, and when it touches, I throw my head back and pop the shirt to get the bar moving. I am then thinking about nothing but trying to get my hands apart, and the only thing that keeps that from happening is the bar I am gripping.

The leg drive, to me is somewhat incidental to these things I mention above. I am driving with my legs, but I am flexing everything else too. This is to me, just part of the equation. I do a full body flex from the bottom of the press, and the legs are going crazy along with everything else. I try and push my body through the bench. Think about getting away from the bar, rather than pushing the bar away from you.

I don't know if that helps, but that is my take on the whole thing.

B.

**Imnotdutch** · 08-29-2002, 03:48 PM

Thanks for the detailed response Benchmonster.......it all helps. I've been visualising this all day and each new post just helps me rethink my interpretation of what people are saying to make sure I'm on the right lines. Thanks again.

Originally posted by benchmonster
I kind of think of leg drive like this.

Have you ever heard of the Vasalva Maneuver? It is where you tighten up every muscle, even ones not directly involved in that particular lift, and hold them tight while increasing the intra abdominal pressure. You can lift more like that.

Well, when I get to the bottom of the bench, and begin to press up, I am flexing everything in my whole body. On the way down, my head comes up, both to look at the bar hitting the abs, and to help it touch, and when it touches, I throw my head back and pop the shirt to get the bar moving. I am then thinking about nothing but trying to get my hands apart, and the only thing that keeps that from happening is the bar I am gripping.

The leg drive, to me is somewhat incidental to these things I mention above. I am driving with my legs, but I am flexing everything else too. This is to me, just part of the equation. I do a full body flex from the bottom of the press, and the legs are going crazy along with everything else. I try and push my body through the bench. Think about getting away from the bar, rather than pushing the bar away from you.

I don't know if that helps, but that is my take on the whole thing.

B.

**Imnotdutch** · 08-31-2002, 03:44 PM

Well I had a play with this today........I can see that its going to take alot of practice but the bar definitely went up easier a few times. I think the biggest problem is going to be getting everything co-ordinated.....just requires alot of practice I guess until it becomes second nature.

Thanks again for the responses.