Came a question from a fan (anon as I don’t know if they’re happy to be named):
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Going down a Rippetoe rabbit hole, I watched his bench press teachings- he talks about pushing the chest up, with an arch in the lower back so that it’s off the bench. Pretty much every other tutorial I’ve ever seen/had has given the opposite advice. What’s your thoughts on it?
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Behold my response:
Rippetoe is in the business of teaching the most effective way to build strength which requires a person to execute lifts in the most biomechanically efficient manner possible.
Insofar as this specific element of bench press form is concerned, arching the lower back shortens the distance the bar needs to travel and also aids in efficient force transfer from the feet through the hips to the torso and into the bar.
I generally recommend benching in this manner until a solid foundation of strength is built (typically around 1.5x bodyweight for a paused single and 1.25x bodyweight for comfortable paused reps).
After that, we can look at “flat back” techniques which are better for building muscle size and shape if that is what the person wants.
In certain rare cases when the lifter possesses supreme neuromuscular control (typically only attained after many years of diligent, consistent training), advanced methods like taking the feet off the floor and drawing the knees up towards the stomach to maximise use of the pecs and increase the range of motion can potentially be used.
Most won’t ever need to bother taking it that far, though. Not only because the risk : reward ratio skews too far in favour of the former, but also because either Rippetoe or vanilla bodybuilding-style bench form will be sufficient for their needs, rendering the effort involved in learning advanced styles redundant.
And on a somewhat related note:
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