Approaching The Bench: An in depth look at a “heavy” issue

By: Eric Stone

Printed in The Leader on May 13, 2003, Issue 15, Volume: 38

The Elmhurst College award winning student newspaper

In many weight rooms, “How much ya bench?” is as common a question as “Where’s the water fountain?” Most gym rats are fascinated with the bench press, but it is unclear why, and if it worth all the fuss.

National bench press champion Cheryl Anderson shows the correct form.

To find out why, The Leader went out and asked the experts, including EC’s own head strength coach, and Bluejay football defensive coordinator, Todd Nichols (MS), former NIU strength coach, Fred Hatfield II (MS, CSCS), and Powerlifting Hall of Fame inductee, Rickey Dale Crain (CFT).

They agree for starters that the bench press is just plain easy to do, and easy to teach.

“It requires a lot less initial form, style, and technique than other lifts,” Crain said.

Hatfield and Nichols said they both also felt that social factors also contribute to its popularity.

Since the bench press works the muscles in the chest and shoulders, they both felt larger a larger chest and shoulders aesthetically look good on a person, adding to the lift’s popularity.

“A male in this country walks around shirtless with a tight tee shirt, if he has a big chest, shoulders and arms, he will be noticed,” Hatfield said.

“Our line of vision goes from the head down to the shoulders and chest,” Nichols said. “It’s a sort of defense mechanism for males to show off a big chest.”

The bench press is certainly popular for the aesthetic and social reasons. It is used, however, very often in off-season lifting programs for sports training.

All the coaches agreed that the bench press “has its place,” but it certainly not the end all, be all for sports. All three agreed that lifts that work the muscles of and around the hips are much more important.

Crain said that the bench press is the best basic upper body lift, and that is works more muscle groups than any other upper body lifts. But, Crain said, “The power [in sports] is in the hips. You can have a weak upper body, but still have stronger explosive power from the hips.”

Rickey Dale Crain shows how it’s done, bench pressing 440 pounds.

“We use the bench press mainly to promote shoulder stability,” Nichols said of the EC strength programs. “For sports, any movement that can simulate the form of the sport is very good.”

Hatfield agreed that the majority of athletes would benefit more from other lifts like squats, deadlifts the Olympic lifts and mid-section work.

Athletes often compete with themselves in the off-season for the biggest bench on the team, that is pressing the most weight. There is no clear evidence, however that a higher one repetition maximum bench press correlates to better sports performance.

“Most guys don’t have a big bench. You’re either a natural at it, or have to work hard to get anywhere,” Crain said.

Hatfield said it does contribute to performance, to have a stronger chest and shoulders, and sheer mass alone will help in sports like football. Hatfield reiterated, however, “it is not nearly the priority it is made out to be.”

Nichols seemed more emphatic. “Simply put, no, a bigger bench does not mean better performance,” Nichols said.

Nichols and Hatfield also emphasized that fact that training the “core” of the lower back and abdominal muscles.

“Core strength is a better determiner of performance,” Nichols said. “When training an untrained person, it’s best to go from the middle out.”

Hatfield related a story about his father, Dr. Fred Hatfield, and another strength coach Dr. Wright, who were consulting as a strength coach to the Dallas Cowboys.

Fred Hatfield II

“[The Dallas Cowboys’] strength coach brought in a specialized sled which the players hit (or tackled). [Hatfield and Wright] both registered higher totals than the football players.

“They (Dr. Wright and Dr. Hatfield] understood the ‘weak link’ principle. In short, it was discovered that the Cowboys had weak abs. Leg drive and no strong link between the upper and lower body drastically reduced the amount of force that was registered.

“Dr. Wright and Dr. Hatfield practiced mid section training and the Cowboy’s didn’t. After they (the Cowboys) worked on that, the force production improved.”

This example of the Dallas Cowboys football team shows that the “core” is vital to sports performance, but is not trained in the bench press.

In the NFL’s Combine, they test the possible draftees on the bench press, testing how many times they can press 225 pounds.

In regards to the 225 test, Crain said, “One word—stupid. It has nothing to do with strength or explosive power, and everything to do with endurance.”

Nichols and Hatfield agreed that the test really did not accurately predict any sort of sports performance, but was simply used do to it is an easy test.

“How many times he [the football player] can bench 225 pounds comes somewhere between what time he wakes up in the morning and what model car he drive,” Hatfield joked.

“You do need upper body strength to get off a block in football, “ Nichols said, but does not think the 225 pound test is the best determiner of that upper body strength.

Do we all try to get that Arnold-look from benching?

Despite these experts’ opinion of the bench press, many strength coaches, and especially football coaches still put the main emphasis of their off-season lifting program on the bench press.

“The vast majority [of today’s strength coaches] don’t know any better,” Crain said. “They don’t have the background in competitive powerlifitng or weightlifting, so don’t have the practical knowledge.”

“Some coaches still think players need to bench press every day,” Nichols said. “It simply is not necessary.”

Because of our society’s need for a big, visible, sexy upper body, the bench press is arguably the most popular lift in the weight room. Practically, however, the bench press is useful in sports training, but is not the most important lift for an athlete.