![]() ![]() This variation differed from the belly toss and press from back methods in that the bridging motion (hip thrusting) was performed under control and held into position while the pecs and tri's contracted concentrically to finish the lift. ![]() The other option was to set up normally and use the hips for a boost through a "bridge press" method. Soon it became the norm to set up in a bridge position and perform a "press from back" variation, essentially turning the lift into a modified decline press. This technique remained popular through much of the 1920s and 1930s. In a lighter weight class, Arthur Saxon pressed 386 pounds using the same belly toss method, a record that was later bested by Joe Nordquest, who broke it by 2 pounds in 1917. Critics argued that the "belly toss" method was more of a hip-power exercise rather than an upper-body strength exercise, as the triceps were simply being used to support the weight in a locked position. The heaviest weight lifted by way of this method belonged to heavyweight wrestler-strongman Georg Lurich, who "belly-tossed" 443 pounds in 1902. They'd lie on the floor and position the bar over their abdomens, then perform an explosive glute bridging movement, thus catapulting the bar overhead and catching it at lockout. Lifters started figuring out that strong glutes could help them get the bar from the ground to overhead. This stood as a record for 18 years until Joe Nordquest broke it by 2 pounds in 1916.Īround this time, new methods started gaining ground. In 1899, using a barbell with 19-inch discs (plates), George Hackenshmidt, inventor of the barbell hack squat, rolled a barbell over his face (which was turned to the side) and performed a strict floor press with 361 pounds. Interestingly, the bench press has evolved over the years, from floor, bridge, and belly toss variations to the methods used by bodybuilders and powerlifters today.Īt first the strict floor press was the most popular method. ![]() Interestingly enough, despite all this, the bench press wasn't readily accepted by the weightlifting community.Īt the time when pressing from a lying-down position started cropping up around the lifting communities, standing exercises were the only lifts deemed "manly." Weightlifters scoffed at the pretty-boys who would lie on a bench to "expand their pecs." However, once women started swooning over the broad-chested bodybuilders, the weightlifters soon jumped on the bench-pressing bandwagon. ![]() The bench press is used to measure upper body strength endurance in the NFL Combine Test, and it's correlated with many different sports performance markers.Bench pressing is so revered by everyday gym rats that the first day of the week has been renamed "International Bench Press Monday.".Bodybuilders bench to build the pecs and triceps.Powerlifters perform the bench press as one of the "Big 3" lifts in their sport and have developed numerous variations to boost their strength.What other upper body lift requires a good amount of leg drive, sufficiently activates the lats, delts, pecs, and tri's, is stable enough to allow for the hoisting of huge loads, and is specific to many sports due to the horizontal pressing nature of the lift? There's no better upper body lift than the bench press. Critics frequently try to knock it down, calling it "over rated," "injurious," or the dreaded "not functional," but the bench press isn't going anywhere.Īnd for good reason. Like it or not, the bench press is the gold standard of upper body strength lifts. ![]()
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