Keeping your ass on the bench?

[thewickedtruth]

I was shown how to set myself up for proper leg drive yesterday from a good friend of mine. I always thought I had it down until I did it HIS way. It made benching SO much easier but on my heavier lifts, my ass started to raise up off the bench. Is that allowed? He told me if I drive with my legs hard enough, I should elevate my lower body a little. My ass came off the bench about 3 inches and made the push SO much easier. If you compete, is that allowed or do you have to keep your hips on the bench like your shoulders? Thanks guys. I don't want to end up a youtube tool. I want to learn to do it right.

[The Squadfather]

if you're going to compete in a PL meet than it matters but i don't think it's a big deal for just bb'ing or casual lifting, it can help give you a few more pounds on the bar and it's not a big deal the overload is still going on the upper body pushing muscles, i just saw a clip of Markus Ruhl's new video and he's doing barbell benches like that, lowering the bar slow and then exploding the bar up and his hips come off the bench a little bit, no big deal.

[thewickedtruth]

if you're going to compete in a PL meet than it matters but i don't think it's a big deal for just bb'ing or casual lifting, it can help give you a few more pounds on the bar and it's not a big deal the overload is still going on the upper body pushing muscles, i just saw a clip of Markus Ruhl's new video and he's doing barbell benches like that, lowering the bar slow and then exploding the bar up and his hips come off the bench a little bit, no big deal.

Yeah it looked just like that in his video. LOL a few lbs? Try 40!  The only thing that changed was my leg position. I guess it's all relative though. I've been hitting 365 for sets for awhile not so a handful of reps with 405 just falls in line with it. I've seen a few powerlifters though with nothing touching by their shoulders in a few competition vids I've found so I had to ask just to make sure. I've heard conflicting answers and I know you and some others have competed in strong man and such.

[The Squadfather]

Yeah it looked just like that in his video. LOL a few lbs? Try 40!  The only thing that changed was my leg position. I guess it's all relative though. I've been hitting 365 for sets for awhile not so a handful of reps with 405 just falls in line with it. I've seen a few powerlifters though with nothing touching by their shoulders in a few competition vids I've found so I had to ask just to make sure. I've heard conflicting answers and I know you and some others have competed in strong man and such.

yeah personally i don't think it's that big of a deal as a matter of fact i think it can be a good thing to overload the muscles with more weight, i like to imagine it's like a spring being compressed and then let loose.

[trab]

If you get your leg drive down properly, you'll have sore legs the day after a bench session.
It's not necessary to raise ass off bench to get good hard leg drive.
Flex your ASS and leg muscles too right as you drive your toes into the front of the shoes!
Practice bouncing bottom end partials w/ a lighter weight till you get some real snap out of it, Then get a tight metal Viking pro bench shirt and train the grove and assistance muscles. Almost NO BBer have a clue how to bench.  If you go to a shirt, carefull at first, the grove is different and you'll have some vulnerable
muscles that never got hit hard before.

Board press w/ chain is the bomb.

[Lord Humungous]

Wicked, I would suggest if your going to pick your ass up you can either work with it or correct it. If you arent doing bench meets than keep it but arch your back before you lay under the bar. You can actually do real damage to your lumbar by arching your back (pickin your ass up) with the weight out of the rack.  IF you want to correct it you can slide a 45lb plate or two under your feet. Sometimes that with raise your ass so high it feels unnatural and you will start leaving it on the bench. Of course you could just bench with your feet up if you want to try that.