The case for the feet out bench
I’m aware it looks dumb and is popularized by a very cringey group but hear me out.
Put your feet out ahead of you on bench.
Generally speaking the more stable a movement is, the more we can load it. Am I going to squat more on ice skates or barefoot? PROBABLY barefoot. Additionally a feet under the hips position also requires access to a harder position to reach than a feet out placement would. Regardless let’s take a look at the pros-cons of each and then go from there.
Feet under hips, heels up set up: low stability, higher mobility demands, unconscious leg drive, decreased ROM
Upsides
Decreased ROM. Typically not a ton maybe 1-3 inches.
Increased tightness. Much easier to have leg drive for a number of reasons
Your legs are folded underneath you. They naturally want to come out just given the average powerlifter hip and lumbar flexibility is low compared to other athletes. We spend most all movements in a neutral lumbar, neutral hip position and almost having to usually fight to go into a posterior pelvic tilt for many. Having a feet under hips position requires a fairly high amount of hip extension and lumbar extension.
Downsides
Larger lifters typically have longer, larger legs. Using muscle to move weight might be preferable to reducing about 2 inches ROM.
Force vector no longer heading towards upper body. Leg drive is straight down instead of back.
Bigger folks tend to be less mobile as their less muscular counterparts. Moving more weight also lends itself to the body becoming more stiff overall. Most male lifters over 220lbs tend to have their feet under their knees for these reasons, or maybe other reasons, who’s to say but that’s my educated guess.
Some people find balance to be an issue. Think about it, you’re putting a lot of pressure through your legs and all that pressure is having to pass through the ankle, the heel continuing to stay elevated only limited by the dorsiflexion, and connecting now through a smaller than what we are accustomed to surface area. Again, the more stable a lift and supported a lift is, the more we can load that lift.
Feet under knees, heels down set up: higher stability, low mobility demands, conscious leg drive, increased ROM
Upsides
Easier to get into position. People are big, people are immobile, its more comfortable and very natural. Traditionally this has been the go to for 90% of everyone that benches for powerlifting or otherwise.
Balance. Heels up can feel unstable and almost like you’re standing on stilts. Heels down solves this issue by obviously giving you more surface area to press through as it relates to leg drive.
Downsides
Easier to see hips rise off pad as the legs are now in line with the bench. I’ve literally made eye contact with another side judge from the space created between the pad and butt.
Easier to get lazy with tension in back and legs as you can essentially just lay there and complete a bench.
Feet out, Toes out: high stability, low mobility demands, unconscious leg drive, decreased ROM
Upside
The amount of isometric force is greatest when the knee is > 90 degrees (105-135 degrees.) Anecdotally I am much more aware of my leg drive due to how much force I now know I can produce in comparison to my feet under my knees/hips. If I can produce more force in a more comfortable position I’m gonna take that.
Requires even less mobility than a feet under knees bench.
Solves the problem of hips rising off bench.
The area that is making contact with the pad is more sensitive so it is easier to have the awareness of the hips rising off the bench but isn’t being confused with the discomfort of the front of the hips stretching to get the feet under distracting our already overloaded senses.
Hips don’t want to rise, they just want to slide back towards the shoulders, creating more tension and a better ROM as we want to reach the chest to the bar anyway.
Downside
Feet sliding. The further out your feet are placed the more lateral vs (mostly entirely) downward pressure is happening. There’s most certainly a balancing act that has to happen here. As with the amount of heel under hips you’d do, you’re limiting that displacement for the sake of not cramping through your lumbar midway through half of your competition bench attempts.
I set my grip, dig traps into the bench, pull down on the bar to turn my lats on
Set my feet out ahead, toes out, and push my hips up
Scrape the bar out of the rack, begin setting my hips down. (On a self handoff in the USPA and WRPF you will get a start command when the bar is done moving despite the hips still being in the air.)
Internally rotating and pressing through my heel, reaching my sternum to meet the bar on the eccentric phase.
I recommend this for:
Our longer shin, taller, larger, less mobile folk.
Those with butt rising off bench issues.
Those lacking leg drive.
Those with a doodoo bench that want to be less doodoo at bench.
