The Bench Press is a lift that is loved and loathed in the performance circles.  Those with a background in powerlifting and a “get athletes strong” philosophy on one end frequently use the exercise, while those on the far left of the “functional” continuum argue that nobody lays on their back and pushes in sport, so it shouldn’t be done.  Also you have the fraternity faction who only knows four lifts–the bench press, the bicep curl, the dip, and the sit up–who loves the bench press because it makes their chest bigger.

I tend to fall in the middle of the functional continuum after swaying largely to the left several years ago and going with only push up and more upright pushing varieties.  While many consider it an upper body lift, after spending some time reading from Charlie Francis’s work again, I was reminded that upper body or lower body does not always have to be the most important variable so long as the nervous system becomes involved.  While this works for distance runners well, Charlie, obviously, mentions this idea in training sprinters.  In several instances the bench press may be a better primary lift than a more traditional squat or deadlift type pattern.

For example, in a sport such as running that is largely lower body dominant, an athlete may not be able to recover his nervous system’s reserves if a lower body lift is done more near to competition, as it brings in upwards of 60% of the body’s total motor units and is highly fatiguing to the muscles most frequently used and to the nervous system itself.  The common answer is to just not lift in a “peaking” phase, however, too drastic of a swing from loading to deloading can be just as deleterious to performance as overtraining.  Naturally, then, you’ll want some neural stimulus to ensure that the tone of both muscle and the nervous system are at an ideal level prior to competetion.

In this case, the bench press may be the best place to go.  It’s a lift that brings in a great deal of motor units (about 35%), is not fatiguing to the local musculature in the lower extremities, b   ut still allows a “fine tuning” of the CNS tonus that may lead to ideal performance potential.

Instead of casting out the bench press or relying upon it too heavily, it may be a nice tool to have in your toolbox.

Regards,
Carson Boddicker

Boddicker Performance