So your chest isn't growing and you want to try something new,
but you know that the bench press is the best exercise to overload and create
more growth. So what do you do?
Double plate press like a moron or tune in here to get some advice that could
help you bust through your muscle building plateau well you're here.
So you made the right choice. Guys,
I'm Scott from muscularstrength.com and today we're going to discuss the pros
and cons of benching with your feet in the air to determine finally whether or
not this is the best way to pack on more muscle because some new research has
recently surfaced that may change your chest day forever.
But before we get started, guys,
please take a moment and tap that like button and as a special thank you,
I'm giving away a hundred dollar gift card to Jed North to enter is super
easy.
All you have to do is comment below your favorite chest exercise superset or
drop set. But if you want to grab some gear now, you can always use my code,
Scott20 and get 20% off your entire order at jednorth.com and I'll be picking my
winner by the end of the week and I'll post it on the community tab.
So I think before we jump into the new research that's recently surfaced,
we should first quickly recap the basic mechanics and anatomy of the chest.
Guys, the chest or pecs are a pretty straight forward muscle group.
They include the pectoralis major and the smaller yet still important
pectoralis minor.
Now the pectoralis minor is not visible because it lies beneath the pec major
and manly functions to move the scapula both forward and downward.
So believe it or not,
what most of you are focusing on when you're training is the pec major and it's
not uncommon for people to misidentify the clavicular head for the pec minor and
the sternal costal head for the pec major. But now you know,
this entire area is in fact the pec major and is mainly responsible for arm
abduction or bringing your hands closer together as well as arm flection,
which is what happens when you press or throw something away from you.
This is why most chest exercises involve at least one of these two functions.
Chest presses, dips, pushups, they're all based on humorous flection,
whereas cable flies or dumbbell flies work the chest through arm adduction.
So then what do your feet in the relative position in space have to do with
chest activation? Well, first of all,
benching with your feet up is not the same as benching with your feet down.
When your feet are down,
you're able to plant your feet on the ground and arch your lower back to create
more driving force into the barbell during each rep. But when your feet are up,
your back will be flatter on the bench,
which actually creates more tension in your abs for stability.
This is because your abs main function is to flex or straighten your spine.
So the key difference between the two variations so far seems to only be the
activation of the abdominal muscles during the lift. Right.
So how does this create more chest activation? Well,
let's take a look at the reasons study to find out.
So it looks like this study took 20 men with some prior benching experience and
monitored them while they perform sets of eight reps with 60% of their one rep
max bench with your feet on the ground and then with their feet in the air.
Then to make a determination on what was going on inside the pecs,
they measured the EMG amplitudes of the primary movers or the pecs,
triceps and delts to determine the degree of activation of each muscle group.
And what they found out was that benching with the feet up led to higher EMG
readings and not only the primary movers but also the forearms,
rectus femorus and the core muscles.
But does this mean more growth and that we should all be benching with their
legs in the air? Well, I don't think so guys.
You have to understand that when you set out to prove something like this,
it's very easy to design a study around the outcome you wish to prove.
That's just the nature of research and it's highly subjective.
Some other key takeaways here are that I noticed immediately that the same
weight was used for both variations. To me,
this is not a fair comparison as you'll be able to lift considerably heavier
weights with your feet on the ground due to better overall stability of the
torso, and if you're able to lift heavier loads,
you'll be able to engage more muscle fibers. Right? Also,
even if the readings were 100% accurate and fair,
these are only short term results. When we view the longterm results.
We'll probably be surprised to see that benching with your feet on the ground
leads to more hypertrophy in the long run. Why? Well,
because the heavier load that you can handle for the same amount of repetitions.
So what if any conclusions can we actually draw from this study? Well,
the main thing I took away was that given the same weight,
the activation of the primary movers in the chest press was higher according to
the EMG reading.
So maybe this means that benching with your feet up can become a terrific
accessory live for you.
This is because when benching with leg drive from your feet being planted on the
ground,
your chest is getting an assist from your lower body to help get the bar
moving. But with your feet up,
your chest is required to generate all the force necessary to get the bar moving
off your chest and away from your body. Also,
even though you'll still be packing your shoulders with your feet in the air,
the arch in your back will be drastically smaller,
which for some of you could result in a larger range of motion and more range of
motion means more time under tension for your chest.
Another thing to think about is daily chest activation.
In my nuclei overload video,
we discussed the benefits of daily training to spark more growth and give him
muscle focusing more on volume versus heavy weights.
So maybe if you want to try the nuclei overload training on chest and before and
100 reps a day for 30 days,
having your feet up for more chest activation could be beneficial.
Definitely something to think about guys
experimenting is what makes fitness fun.
Try everything and be in control of your fitness journey.
Always start out with the fundamentals, master them,
and then start to explore other options.
And if any of you have tried this technique for a long period of time,
please be sure to comment below and let us know about your results.
But speaking of fundamentals,
if you're new to training and are in need of a program to keep you on track,
check out my program. Guaranteed gains.
It's a 100% free program that you can download by clicking the link in my pin.
Comment below. It's four
routines, each workout should only take about 60 to 90 minutes max to
complete. No complicated exercise of the try to impress you.
Just a straightforward upper and lower split designed to get you in and out of
the gym. And most importantly deliver results.
And as always more good stuff coming soon.
If you miss my video on nuclei overload training,
be sure to check it out over here.
It took me and Rikki about 20 hours to edit it.
So definitely leave some love in the comments section to very compelling and
powerful stuff there.
And I'm currently doing another experiment with nuclei overload training for
calves and traps. So if you want to jump in on that,
the details are over here. See ya.