November 10, 2004

2 responses to WPC and WPO Bench Bash videos

1. Scott Says:
   November 11th, 2004 at 11:53 pm

   It’s interesting watching these clips following the recent thinking on leg drive. Several lifters here seem to favor the ‘driving through toes’ approach, rather than heels; which certainly doesn’t make it any more/less effective.

   No doubt you saw many more lifters than the ones immortalized on video here, was there much variety in styles - particular wrt foot positioning?

2. Kris Says:
   November 12th, 2004 at 5:22 pm

   There was quite a lot of variations. If you haven’t, take a look at the close-up clips on the gometal.com site ranging from Kravtsov’s traditional feet flat style http://www.gometal.com/wpo_hki_2004/videos/Kravtsov332ei.avi to Ponomarenko’s textbook retracted style http://www.gometal.com/wpo_hki_2004/videos/Ponomarenkko320.avi via Jälkö’s extreme tip toe form http://www.gometal.com/wpo_hki_2004/videos/Jalko240.avi . Hämäläinen’s style is interesting in that he has a traditional feet flat position, but prefers to drive off the toes instead of the heels http://www.gometal.com/wpo_hki_2004/videos/MikkoH340.avi . Then again, this guy is pretty big…

   In general, I’d say that foot placement hinges a lot on how you prefer to arch and what size of a lifter you are. Up on the toes makes it a lot easier to arch big, but many bigger lifters can’t bend into a serious arch in the first place. As long as the weight is back on the traps, elbows are tucked at the bottom, and leg drive occurs you can hardly be said to bench incorrectly. Choose a style, stick to it and perfect it. That being said, I believe heels up is currently the most favored style in federations that allow it.

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