I have been talking to a few highschool football and track coaches about the benchpress and was wondering how much it effects athletic performance. I’ve been hearing that it is not such a good exercise to enhance athletic performance. The main reason for coaches telling me this is because pressing a weight perpendicular to the body does not carry over into any athletic situations. It would seem that an incline press would be better suited for most sports (footballs, grappling) because pushing movements are usually performed on an incline angle. As for sprinting power, a stronger chest would probably benefit speed, right? I am a polevaulter and am interested in increasing speed to benefit performance. Everyone holds the bench press in high esteem as the one exercise that determines the strength of the individual. Any feedback or general thoughts about this topic would be appreciated
In general, your traditional flat bench press with varying grips has a place.
People saying that it’s ‘useless’ are rebelling against the average trainee’s tendencies towards doing the bench press first in the week, first in the session and disregarding other important lifts.
I would also take exception to the idea that because the horizontal plane isn’t duplictaed in the sporting environment, it’s useless to train it. If anything, you need to train all angles of a given plane in order to make an athlete truly strong. This is one of the things Poliquin and King would probably agree on if they had to choose one thing.
I don’t have any experience training pole vaulters, but it seems to me there is a lot of shoulder and elbow extension involved in the portion of the movement after you plant the pole. Chin ups and Pull ups along with a variety of pressing movements would serve you well.
As far as sprinting goes, Bench press won’t benefit you nearly as much as training the posterior chain (deadlifts and squats) along with the calves and hip flexors.
Bench press useless? = no
Functional? = questionable depending on your goals
Specific to sport? = only if bench pressing is your sport (powerlifting)
Now let me explain. The Bench Press CANNOT be useless because it does do something ? it builds strength in the pectorals, triceps and shoulders all to varying degrees. Something is only truly useless if it serves no purpose.
Is the bench press functional? Well there are so many different definitions of functional you could debate this endlessly. I tend the go with the theory that ?functional? means that by doing the exercise you will develop something more than just the ability to do that exercise. This is most often applied to how it carries over to normal functions in real life.
Specific to sport. I tend to think there are many exercises that are more specific to sport than this. Obviously if your sport is powerlifting you will be bench-pressing. Otherwise I think there are better choices but that doesn?t mean the BP should be ruled out altogether.
Personally I think one reason it is used so much and regarded as such a measure of upper body strength is that #1, its easy to learn and practically anyone can do it with some amount of weight and #2, its easy to make gains if you are a beginner or younger like a high school athlete.
Look at it this way. Suppose weighted pushups were considered the standard of upper body strength. How many average benchers could do pushups with even half of their bench max weight loaded on their backs? Or what about weighted pullups? How many could do pullups with additional 50lbs. strapped to them?
If some of these truly difficult exercises were held up as the gold standard of upper body strength instead of the bench press, it would be too humbling for many athletes and regular gym-goers alike.
Ignore them. Just do it. Don’t forget to work on your upper back as well to keep them in balance. Check out Westside training methods.
I remember about about a year ago I read something that said Ben Johnson, Maurice Green, and other elite sprinters could bench 2x their body weight or more. Not sure of the source. The article stated that the bench was important to sprinting speed, especially starts. I would assume uni-lateral dumbbell bench press would be even more sport specific than the standard bench press with a bar. However, as Rob Coates said, the posterior chain should always be the main focus for any speed athlete.
Fred “Dr. Squat” Hatfield asked a similar question about the squat. He came to the conclusion that the squat was a “useless” exercise. If you think about it, he’s right - unless you are a powerlifter, there is really no movement in sport that involves squatting with a weight on your back. Here’s some more heresy - deadlifting is kind of useless too!
The point is, the weight room is for building a foundation of general, overall strength that you can then take out onto the playing field and, with the right sports-specific drills and practice, translate into improved athletic performance.
Yeah the bench press is useless, so is the squat. I hear the best thing is the Suzanne Sommers thigh trimmer!
Dude, the people that tell you bench is worthless can’t bench. Some positions in some sports may be able to focus on other exercises, but the bench press is, in my opinion, crucial for balance. Just like others have said, all angles should be trained and strengthened. As far as an incline press being superior, I disagree. I have seen linemen standing straight up and down and pushing horizontally just as much as I see them pushing in an “incline” position. How about when a hockey player is backed up against the boards pushing someone off him? Is that not horizontal? It has just become so “in-vogue” to bash the bench press lately a lot of coaches have been jumping on that band wagon. Make your own decisions about your own training. If you need it, do it. If not pitch it, or put it away til you need it. People over-complicate this stuff way too much.
Response to the bench press also depends upon each person’s unique stucture. i remember reading about how, back in the 70’s, Franco Columbu built his chest using presses almost exclusively, whereas Ken Waller had to rely on fly movement because his shoulders completely took over when doing benches.
It is only part of an equasion. Take two guys that shot put the same distance. One, in the off season, only works drills and footwork. The other, also includes bench work and ups his bench by 30 to 50lbs. Now, can you guess who will see the most improvements come T&F season.
The bench (or any other lift for that matter) will never alone be enough to make you better at your sport, but adding it in will almost never be a bad thing.
“Fred “Dr. Squat” Hatfield asked a similar question about the squat. He came to the conclusion that the squat was a “useless” exercise. If you think about it, he’s right - unless you are a powerlifter, there is really no movement in sport that involves squatting with a weight on your back. Here’s some more heresy - deadlifting is kind of useless too!”
That doesn’t sound like Dr. Squat… unless one or both of you is being sarcastic. I’ve read a lot of the articles and to say he’s pro-squat would be an understatement. He considers squatting essential for Everyone. All athletes, your overweight mom, anyone trying to get into shape. Everyone.
Nick
I think CT said he only trains the bench press 3 months out of a year and he still puts up 385. This kind of goes to show you how much training certain lifts(in CT’s case O-lifts, squats, deads, overhead presses)will still transfer over to other planes of movement. So, no I don’t think the bench press is useless.
Nick,
Yes, he was being sarcastic and so was I. Should have been more clear. I stated my position (and what I believe is Hatfield’s position) in the second paragraph. Squats, deads, and bench are not for developing sport-specific skills. They are for developing a general base of strength and conditioning. It’s like GPP. GPP isn’t specific to anything, but that doesn’t make it useless. Its purpose is to raise fitness and work capacity, which is vital for all athletes.
Its not useless. Everything is about the nervous system, and it is connected as a whole. The bench press stimulates more motor units than any other upper body exercise. So its a way to stimulate the nervous system without bringing on fatigue in the specific muscle areas. ie. when Ben Johnson had his only serious hamstring injury he worked really hard on his upper body getting stronger, and not long after he came back was running faster then ever. Nothing is essential, but the bench press is in fact very useful in terms of a neural stimulus.
FCF,
Interesting that you mentioned CT’s experience. In his 12-week Olympic training program that is in CT’s Black Book, he includes benching. He honestly admits that benching is not very specific to the O lifts, but he includes it as a way to build general strength levels in the shoulders and tris. That’s an excellent example of using a movement to build general strength levels even if the movement is not very specific to the sport.
I also believe Hatfield has said how almost every leg exercise can be considered a version of the squat. Lunge, hack squat, etc.
Reminds me of an old saying a coach once told me.
“Box squats help everything. Trouble with your girlfriend? Box squat. Back hurt? Box squat. Bad grade on your physics test? Box squat with bands.”
Useless? No way dude.
Just to add my two cents, use a variety of widths, use dumbells ocasionally, use inclines and declines, and even bench with dumbells on a swiss ball. You are an athlete. This way you are covering all the bases.
Thanks guys for all the info. I found the reply about recruiting the most motor units and the nervous system especially enlightening.
Its not useless main thing is you want to have a FOCUS on excercises that will have a benefit to waht you need to do. You could have a recipe and SALT(Bench Press) is something that alot of people put on food and it helps bring out a lil more flavor.
the bench press might be useless, but guess what? for football players who are invited to the combine- they have a bench press test. until the test is changed, it is in it no matter how ineffective the bench press might be to football. but as far as T&F I dunno.
Bench Press useless? No, not at all! I can’t think of a better way for a shallow chested, long armed person to damage their shoulders over time.