The Bench Press Isn't Functional For Sport?

[@handeggchan1057]

As a former college football player and current Judoka, being able to bench 405lbs for 5+ reps absolutely helps in Judo and would have helped me immensely had I been that strong in college. I think there is a weird backlash against bench on some circles of the fitness community for two reasons - 1) it is considered a "bro" exercise because it is commonly done by bodybuilders, gym rats, frat guys, etc. So is looked down upon in the same way someone that enjoys a higher class sport like horse racing may look down on MMA and 2) people hear about, experience or see catastrophic and/or chronic injuries from the movement and are turned off by it, even though if done right it is very safe.

[@thebarbelllifestyle1478]

W for being a Judoka.

[@velinivanov607]

You actually bench 405 for 5+ reps dude that's really impressive

[@d_page]

Some russian coaches believe that you should train your bench press around the same weight of your working sets for the Snatch. The bench press helped solidify the receiving position of both SN/C&J and, surprisingly, helps a ton during squats with the torasic extension. Great video M'Lord Fridge!

[@e.smiles450]

Bench also builds mass in much of the upper body which protects the skeleton, good for any collision in sport.

[@mac5917]

This! Getting kicked in the shoulder/upper arm defending a high kick in muay thai hurts a hell of a lot less now i bench 165kg then when I benched 100😂

[@e.smiles450]

@@mac5917 less likely to break your bones though. I was thinking more rugby , judo, American football ect..

[@samuele.marcora]

I was playing linebacker and manhandle heavy guards and centres. Bench press very functional

[@saure22]

I always think “functional” is such a strange term, getting stronger in any lift can’t really be a bad thing.

[@LatimusChadimus]

@@saure22 yeah the word should be translatable, because some people want to get better at whatever it is they do for work, especially labor, but often times they would benefit more from filling in the gaps, gaps from what they aren't getting while on the job. Easy example, Olympic weightlifters will have more quads and upper back than they do hamstrings so they could benefit from some extra hamstring work, just like they would benefit from doing more strict pressing, more than just what a lot of weight lifters already do. Being able to get stronger strict pressing can certainly help with the jerk (therefore the OHP would be translatable where a Nordic hamstring curl would be more like filling in the gaps). Edit, Klokov Pressing is a helluva variation everyone can benefit from

[@saure22]

@ I 100% agree, especially on the hamstring for Olympic weightlifting, they could benefit so much from having more hamstrings to calf contact at the bottom of lifts.

[@SebastianGallardo-z8b]

Functional doesn't mean anything. It's an excuse to not lift heavy

[@hastyvictories]

So I think a more steelman representation of 'functional' is that you get diminishing returns from hyperspecializing. There's a guy at my gym who benches 400+ but does nothing else. Never seen him squat or deadlift, and definitely never seen him do any kind of cardio because his height and width are about equal. Is he strong? Yeah. Is he healthy? .....ehhhhhh I think 'functional' as a term only took off because so many people got caught up in the idea that strength is all there is to fitness, when a broad base includes endurance, mobility, and even things like body composition, and tendon/joint health.

[@saure22]

@ That’s a crazy bench and yeah that guy is definitely injured all the time if that’s all he does. I just think functional is the wrong word and you’ll never see the “only functional bros” lifting super heavy. Squats and deadlifts have the most carryover of anything you can do in the gym, I’ve seen people online claiming deadlifts aren’t functional because the bar is easier to grip than what you’ll need to lift or that it’s too stable, it’s cultish and ridiculous at that extreme.

[@legrandfromage9682]

It’s functional for getting horsecock strong at pressing

[@ryanreid9603]

It’s useful, but you need more than just bench. If you’ve ever competed in any sort of physical competition with someone who has a huge bench, you instantly realize how strong they are.

[@descendency]

The few college strength&conditioning coaches I "know" believe in a (approximately) 90/10 split for training. 90% of training time is dedicated to movements that train general strength and 10% train sport specific movements. The bulk of "sport specific training" comes during practice for the sport. Testing a bench in a sport that doesn't really bench much can simply be a way to tell if a player (going from college to the pros, for example) actually puts time in the gym or not. 1 rep of 225... probably doesn't. 20+ reps... probably takes general strength training more serious. 40+ is a large person who also takes strength training very serious. You can ask the player and you can ask their coaches, but nothing tells you whether they love the gym or not quite like a bench test.

[@thebarbelllifestyle1478]

Bench Press is great. Overhead is better. Solution? Do both.

[@slee2695]

Add inclines and you got everything covered

[@pectenmaximus231]

Bench press cannot be excluded from any discussion of functional training. Squat, DL, Pullup, OHP, Bench. Anyone doing these, along with anything for mobility/agility, is ready for anything. Bench helps you throw, helps you push, helps you strike, helps you grapple, and stabilises your upper body, nevermind good benching engages every single muscle in the body. The one thing it costs you is some flexibility if youre an olympic lifter in particular, it's hard to maneuvee your shoulders if you have a ton of pec that has to move with.

[@srthyrdyjhy]

Tell me why bench wouldn't be easily replaced by weighted dips...

[@JohnDoe-yg5hf]

I don’t bench because I love overhead pressing too much so all of my pressing volume goes towards OHP or its variations like BTNP or KB presses, or machine shoulder presses. I am pretty sure that if I bench then I would become more powerful but would it immediately drive my OHP up? If the answer is no then I will stick to OHP

[@jeffery.nelson]

I would say yes you are still working your triceps and anterior delts so I would think Bench could increase your OHP

[@JohnDoe-yg5hf]

@@jeffery.nelson it probably could, due to overloading factor.

[@LatimusChadimus]

Normally it's training the overhead press will increase your bench, because your shoulders will be stronger and your back will be bigger...yet I would say doing pin presses throughout sticking points of the overhead press will do you better than benching would (for the overhead press)

[@JohnDoe-yg5hf]

@@LatimusChadimus I do pin presses but my weakness is the first half of the lift, I can lock out once bar crosses that area. Any tip for strengthening that area? I always pause my reps at chest and at top, enough to make an Olympic lifting coach happy.

[@LatimusChadimus]

@JohnDoe-yg5hf well there's two ideas, when you are doing strike presses quit doing the bounce that I know a lot of people do, because since you are smart enough to already be doing pin presses, try removing that little bounce and truly do a strict press, like a pause press, the other one would be, if you have the wrist mobility, hold it in a front rack like you would with a clean and jerk, and try strict pressing from there, you'll get a little more forearm action to straighten out your wrists but that little bit of inertia is healthier on the shoulders than that little bounce people use to start a strict press, and another one for sure if you had the mobility would be behind the neck pressing while trying to keep your shoulders a little more forward as if you were holding it in the front rack. That's a really good way to get the shoulders to fire off like in Anderson squad or a pin press, but from the bottom position. Once I started removing that little bounce to start a strict press, my 2&3 rep maximums increased, and I'm capable of resisting anything I push press or jerk overhead, down to my shoulders, not always needing to absorb it into my knees. You obviously have the side down and triceps control to never fail a lockout if you can pass that sticking point, so any one of those three I listed will help you with the bottom part because the front delt likely gets more 'assistance' than it gets 'initiation' 4th idea: Klokov presses

[@jordywilliams]

6:11 gabriel disconnected

[@jon.a]

Like you said, ppl mean practical. Functional should refer to the anatomical, physiological function of the muscles, tissues you are training/ chemical products that are created from the stimuli.

[@ssberg7]

45 incline bb bench and Olympic press

[@LatimusChadimus]

Facts. The floor press is functional. Bench gives you the chance to train the movement through a larger range of motion but like I always joked with people the only time it would apply is if your wrestling somebody at the top of the stairs and you can put your feet down two stairs so the floor press would then be more translatable but you still should train both, especially the overhead press because stronger shoulders and a stronger back will always lead to a stronger bench

[@Lechedeesnuts]

i think the word functional got used too much by calisthenics bros to explain the superiority of their sport (and i say that as someone that loves calisthenics be it reps, weighted, skills, anth) and for kinda silly "athletic" kinda looking exercises

[@ShaswatNayak-fm7fd]

Thank you, Sika Strength for your invaluable insights! What's your opinion on bulldog grip vis-a-vis Japanese grip on the bench press?

[@LB-nh7jy]

Wtf braah. Of course its "fUnCtIOnal". Look at the shotputters.... At the end, its all a question of the Goals.

[@slee2695]

I feel like incline bench is the most important lift