Leg Drive with Low Bench

Bigger Stronger Leaner Powerlifting & Strength Sports
1

Hey guys. I just joined a gym for the summer and found out that the benches they have there are several inches lower than competition benches, meaning my knees are above my hips if I try to set up normally. I can normally get some leg drive on competition benches, but on this thing I can’t seem to get any. My feet are normally flat on the ground, but I couldn’t get that to work. I also tried bringing the feet back (toward my head) and tried to drive in with the balls of my feet, but that didn’t seem to work either.

Any suggestions? Is there a decent way of getting leg drive on really low benches, or do I just need to deal with it until I can go back to my beloved Forza in a few months?

2

Put some plates or a plank under the bench??

3

[quote]Sutebun wrote:
Put some plates or a plank under the bench??[/quote]

Or do like those gym weirdos that bench with their legs bent upward like this → '-|__|.
Obvious trolling attempt…

4

I’m guessing that you just need to set your feet wider or just lay there gym rat style. It’ll make it more like a floor press and when you get back to a real bench you may find that you’ve improved a bit. IDk man, sucks that box gyms have shitty stuff but FORZA is tough to beat by any standard. Stuff like this makes us appreciate having good stuff to train on huh?

Good luck dude.

5

Or you could just do floor presses for the summer?

6

I trained at a gym with one of those once - apparently it’s to “save your back” from the “dangers” of any proper leg drive… what a load of BS. Either use it as a way to work more on your upper body and abdominal strength by being less stable, or try floor presses for awhile as suggested.

7

Thank you, all, for the replies!

Today I tried moving my legs out wider as SD suggested and it was definitely better than last time, although I got some nasty hip cramps. Still don’t have a super tight arch, but it’s not terrible now at least.

Normally I might take the floor press suggestion, but I only recently started full benching again after a shoulder problem, so I’d like to keep higher specificity in my bench training. And 3 months without full benching seems like just too long a time with the level I’m at…

8

the gyms that I go to usually have really low benches. I found i have to take a really wide feet flat set up, or really tucked toes up set up to get leg drive. I would have to stretch the shit out of my hips to get them comfortable for the wide set up