How Much Ya Bench?

There was an article that appeared on www.afl.com.au today about the bench press and it's role in footy.

http://www.afl.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/208/newsid/88443/default.aspx

The bench press is the most popular training exercise in the world. Find me a program without the bench press in it and I'll show you a St Kilda recruit from Essendon who will play this year (i.e. no chance).

It wasn't long ago (is the 60's long ago?) that the standing shoulder press was the upper body movement of choice and the amount of iron you could put over your head, the more revered you were.

Moving into the 70's and the increasing popularity of powerlifting, the bench press slowly took over the mantle and now every Monday is bench press night (or so it would seem if you went into any gym on a Monday night).

I use and prescribe the bench press frequently. It is a great measure of upper body maximal strength simply as it doesn't rely on any other muscles to do the job except the pecs, the anterior deltoids and the triceps. The only weak links are those muscles and/or the upper back and shoulder stabilisers, so the problem is always in the same area.

As far as being a measure of actual performance, I would probably have to go with the standing shoulder press over the bench press as it is a true measure of full body strength. I don't see a bench press performed too often on the football Field.

The main focus needs to be on how to transfer your bench press strength over into a game situation. The "carpet snake" Fraser Gherig , who was known for his bench pressing abilities, was a prime example of this in a one on one battle. Barry Hall, the new Bulldog, was reported to have put up a 155kgs in the bench press just prior to christmas then went on to to say that he's "not even as big as used to be, yet", is another prime example of putting a big bench to use.

The transfer of this strength is all about core strength and force transfer. When you go to jump for a mark you plant your bodyweight down into the ground through your legs and feet. You then push your usable strength and force into the ground which then transmits back into your legs and up through the body, hopefully ending in a high vertical jump and strong arms in a marking contest.

The key link here is the core musculature. If your core strength is weak, as most people's are, then it simply cannot, and will not, transfer your leg strength/power into the upper body, so all the bench pressing strength won't matter a lick if it can't get past your hips.

Increasing your core strength won't increase your bench press much but it will increase your on field performance.

In my next post I'll discuss bringing up your bench press numbers.

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