The Secret to a Bigger Bench? Leg Drive

Coaches often note that the bench press is one of the easiest lifts to teach, probably because most people have done a bench press if they’ve ever set foot in a gym. After teaching the proper arch position, and identifying the correct grip, the execution of the bench press mostly takes care of itself. Yet there is one key to big benches that eludes many lifters — the all-important leg drive. On today’s show Coach Matt and Scott discuss the importance of leg drive and how to maximize it during the movement.

Check out the Barbell Logic YouTube channel to see staff coaches Niki Sims and Andrew Jackson demonstrate proper leg drive in the bench press.

Key Takeaways

What leg drive does. The bench press pivots at the shoulder, so it’s easy to think your legs don’t matter. With your back arched, though, the arch runs from your shoulders on the bench to your knees. Driving your feet into the floor pushes your knees toward your shoulders. That steepens the arch, raises your sternum, shortens the range of motion, and helps push the bar off your chest.

Matt’s foot setup. Flat feet are fine, and some federations require them. Matt prefers to be on the balls of his feet and drive his heels toward the floor without touching it. That squeezes the ends of the arch together. Don’t get up on your toes.

The arch has two halves. Most people only think about the arch from the bottom of the sternum to the shoulders. The other half runs from the belly through the hip flexors and rotates the pelvis so the knees drop.

Learn it with a pause. Matt teaches leg drive and paused reps together. A touch-and-go rep goes too fast to feel the moment. In the pause he stays tight, squeezes the bar, keeps it over his forearms, then drives his heels down on “go,” which pins his traps into the bench. He estimates leg drive adds 10–15% to his paused bench.

Related: how to bench press: setup, safety, and bar path, build your bench press arch, why you should be pausing your bench press, bench press grip tips.

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