I was wondering why I was not getting much power into my Bench press when I first started powerlifting, so I started reading everything on power Benching. One of the most important components of a good bench is a powerful leg drive as you thrust the bar off your chest. Your legs thighs hams and glutes must be super tight prior to driving the bar off your chest, and everyone knows this come from proper set up before you bench. I find it hard to get great leg drive if my feet are wide and if they are out in front of my knees. I prefer to be on the balls of my feet with my feet back behind my knees to the point my thighs are tight when i place my ass on the bench. I do this by sitting on the bench with my feet in the position I want them then laying down grabbing the barbell and pushing my body down and under the bar which tightens my thighs and my butt. Then tightening my back by pulling the scapula's in toward the spine and pushing my upper traps down toward my butt, squeezing the bar I un rack and pull the bar down to my low pec, upper ab region staying real tight. I pause the weight on the low pec region. Due to the pause I have no rebound effect to get the bar off the chest, so to explode off the chest I need to push hard on the floor with my feet by tightening my thighs and driving my upper back down into the bench. As I do this I thrust the bar off the chest and drive my back into the bench as well trying to push my self away from the bar. I find you have to use heavy enuff weight to really have to drive with the legs to get the bar to lock out ,,, I use 2-3 reps for each set, working up to 5 -6 sets to get some volume. These really helped get my bench press poundage go up and taught me how to get a leg drive into the Bench Press.
Last edited: