Optimizing Your Leg Drive for a Bigger Bench
While your average gym-goers consider the bench press solely an upper-body exercise, Powerlifters know that every muscle group supports you in the Big 3, even the bench press. Leg drive is a commonly discussed aspect of Bench press technique- because of its importance in assisting your strength. Utilizing your lower half will improve your efficiency, helping you put up greater numbers. Yet, many lifters struggle to conceptualize leg drive, whether they can’t seem to connect to it- or end up having their ass fly off the seat: two situations we want to avoid. A proper understanding of leg drive will help you better apply it- to increase that bench press potential.
Consider your Foot Position
The first modifiable factor for improving leg drive is deciding where to place your feet. We all know that your setup can drastically influence the rest of your lift. Let’s go over the main options here:
A) Feet far out-
Taller and longer-limbed lifters- specifically- may prefer to extend their feet further in front: as it can feel more stable and natural. In this position, you may get more contact with the floor, which can help you better push through, engaging your legs. However, extending your feet forward increases the moment arm- (your legs are farther from the rest of your body)- making it potentially harder to “access” your leg drive. Benching with your feet away from you also minimizes your arch, so it may not be the best option.
B) Feet close to you-
For most athletes, I recommend bringing your feet as close to you as possible, pulled further back. For one, this increases your arch position, decreasing the range of motion- which alone can make your bench more efficient. Additionally, it can make it easier to drive through the floor- since your feet are directly underneath you, which, in turn- can help your body utilize this force more readily.
C) Toes vs. Heels-
Another common debate surrounding foot position is whether to bench with your heels up or down. Some federations ban the heels-up posture entirely, where the decision is obvious, but others give you a choice. The solution depends on the lifter, but I generally suggest starting with your heels down. While heels-up can allow for more mobility, maximizing your arch, it can also be more unstable- harder to use leg drive. With your heels down, as long as your feet are close, you can still achieve a pretty gnarly arch- while increasing your leg drive. Maximizing both aspects, this may be the most efficient position. You can play with each to see which one feels stronger. Another option is to wear squat shoes, allowing for both mobility and stability gains.
D) Turned out vs. Facing forward-
An aspect of foot position that many athletes overlook is the actual angle of their feet on the floor. Simply turning your toes out can be beneficial to your overall setup. This external rotation increases torque at the hip, helping you create more glute tension. It can also allow you to get your feet slightly further back- and help prevent your butt from coming up. Since your glutes are already extended, with the abduction from the hip, there’s nowhere for your butt to go- if you tried to lift it. Creating pressure outward limits the distance your butt can travel *up*. That way, you don't have to worry about it as much! Try a little more turnout, as your body allows, and feel the difference!
The bottom line is to ensure that your foot placement is intentional- and to stay focused on creating tension. Beyond your positioning, let’s discuss how to apply this technique to your bench sets.
2. When To Use Leg Drive during your reps
Do you push through the floor the whole time- or just at a certain portion?
The goal is to enforce pressure off the chest, where you’ll work hardest against gravity to get the bar moving. Because of that, leg drive requires some coordination. Think about pushing with your arms and legs together: right as/immediately before the bar changes direction. When you initiate that ascent, think “legs” right away, rather than before or after, to maximize its assistance to you. Having someone yell “push through the floor” at this portion of the rep can also be helpful- and is a coaching strategy I commonly use.
That said, you still want to maintain tension during the descent, as this will help you enforce your arch- and put you in a more optimal spot to utilize it effectively. First, ensure your feet are in a stable position before you unrack. You should already feel some pressure here. During the descent, focus on staying tight: remaining in contact with the bench, reaching your chest to the bar, and then exaggerating the push on the ascent. It should just be a subtle difference. While you may gain more power by sinking the bar into your chest, using a more dynamic leg drive will also cost you your positioning. Staying tight will help decrease the range of motion and improve efficiency on the way up. Losing tension can deviate your bar path, and make it harder to break past a sticking point.
Focus on creating tension before the set begins, then think *more* about your legs on the way up rather than exaggerated differences throughout.
3. Prevent Your Butt From Coming Up
Obviously, when using your legs, you don’t want your ass to fly off the bench- no one wants to be red-lighted for that! As touched on before, turning your toes out and creating external rotation from your hips can help you avoid this fault. Think about creating pressure *outward* and “spreading the floor apart” when activating your leg drive.
Other tips:
Your setup also plays a role in whether your butt will stay on the bench: if you set your feet way too far back (heels up), your butt might already be off the bench, so make sure when achieving your arch, you maintain that point of contact. A way to help ensure this is to squeeze the bench with your inner thighs- if your legs are close enough. This position will feel far more secure- so you can remain tight through your hips.
Also, just be aware of what your glutes are doing during the rep. If you’ve ever had your butt fully come up, you probably know what that feels like- that daylight is pretty obvious. You'll feel a breeze under there! If you're unsure what this sensation is, practice some "bad" reps, and don't do that when you bench- duh!
Remember that *some* of your butt can lift- as long as your cheeks don’t fully leave the building. If the edge of your buttocks remains in contact with the bench, even if the rest of your seat is off, that is OK. Any contact counts, so utilize this to the best of your ability. The goal is not to have ZERO movement with your glutes during the rep- but rather; to ensure that some part of them remains on the bench.
Altering your setup, foot position, and cueing can help ensure that you use leg drive properly- and not in a way that risks you of bombing out.
4. Cues to Apply: Don’t Push “Upward”
A common misunderstanding of leg drive is that the goal is to push “up.” This motion will extend your glutes in the air and doesn’t transfer to your upper body. Instead, the goal is to exert force through the floor- connecting up your kinetic chain & transferring it to your arms for that extra “pop.” When done properly, leg drive also helps you maintain lat tension, reinforcing your entire position. You’re using your legs to push your back into the bench- helping maintain contact- and driving momentum to your arms.
To achieve this, instead of lifting “up,” you want to push “back”/”away,” so you can keep your butt down & utilize that force production. If you didn’t have the bar as a counterbalance- and performed leg drive on an empty bench, your head would scoot backward ("pushing yourself back"). Here are some helpful cues to think about:
”Push the floor away from you”-imagine you’re trying to push yourself backward.
”Drive your feet through the floor”-press your heels into the ground, reinforcing that tension.
”Spread the floor apart”-If you create that externally rotated position, this cue will help you use it, exerting force in multiple directions. Imagine there’s a crack in the middle of the floor, and you want to spread it apart, through your feet/hips.
Leg press/Squat/Deadlift- You know that feeling when you’re performing a leg press, standing up out of the bottom of a squat, or breaking the floor in a deadlift? You’re pushing through the ground to help you initiate the rep, right? Think about that sensation during your leg drive in the bench press. It should be the same motion, so you can engage your quads and glutes to help you.
Building the leg drive as a habit can be difficult- and requires practice. Choose a couple of cues that make the most sense to you, and continually work on it every bench session: from your first reps with the bar to your working sets. Film yourself from the side to help connect when you’re using it vs. not. Over time, it will require less thought, becoming a proficient aspect of your bench press technique.
5. Drills to Practice
If connecting to your lower half is a perpetual struggle, you may want to include additional exercises in your warm-ups/between sets to help practice. Here are two examples:
A) Leg drive with an empty bar:
Without added weight on your bench, focusing on your legs becomes easier. Before working up to your bench sets, practice getting into position & using your leg drive. Push through that floor- and, as mentioned above- you should feel yourself sliding back. Once you’ve gotten this down, hold onto a PVC pipe/empty barbell, and initiate the motion when pushing off the chest. This drill will specifically help your brain understand the technique for benching.
B) Leg drive against the wall:
Another unique way to practice your leg drive, specifically that consecutive part, is to do so against a wall. You can better feel that “sliding” motion, where the force transfers up your body. Grab a PVC pipe, and set your shoulders, upper back, and butt against the wall- in an arch position. Begin with your knees bent and the PVC lowered to your chest. Then, simultaneously, push with your legs and arms, extending through both, and your entire body should slide up the wall. Repeat, either before or in between bench sets. This practice can help you understand the coordination component required in leg drive.
Beyond these little drills, when performing lower body accessory work, think of its relationship to your bench press. Squats and leg presses can help you conceptualize the technique because the muscle engagement is the same. Treat every warm-up set on the bench as practice for your working ones- use the light weight as a chance to exaggerate your leg drive, so it’s more of an afterthought when the load increases. Pauses & pin bench variations can also help further hammer this motion- since they break up the concentric & eccentric portions- allowing you more time to think before you engage your legs.
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Bench press. Commonly considered a “chest, tris, shoulders” exercise, yet Powerlifters know better. This lift also recruits your lower half, and utilizing this fact to your advantage allows you to optimize your strength. Our lower bodies are far stronger than our upper halves alone, so you don’t want to deprive yourself of those strength gains. Leg drive can be subtle and requires coordination, so mastering it can be difficult. Yet, improving your setup, foot position, cueing, and implementing drills can help you better conceptualize it. Continue practicing, or else- your bench numbers will pay the price. Leg drive could be the difference between locking out or failing your next PR.
