Bench Press Leg Position and Cues

Coach Rip,

Did a search of the forums -including new technique faqs-, then re-read SSBBT3 pages 166-170 and could not find specific information for my following question (or perhaps i suck at reading english, but iam sure you'll set me straight me in either case). I wonder if i should have gone straight to the technique section of the forum, hope not to be pestering you too much with this.

Regarding foot position, it is clear what the shin angle should be from the side in relation to knee and heel, however, how does one know if he has his feet too far away from the bench in the other direction? You mention there this could be an issue -knees too far out-, show how too close or too far forward looks like but not how too wide does. Should it be wide enough that the knees cannot be pushed farther than the heels when looking at them from the front?

While searching for this question i read some people discussing the notion of "leg drive", and you mention at other points in the book that the quads should be "active" through the lift. What is a good cue for this?

Thank you,

There is a lot of variability in the foot position used on the bench. The feet are too far away when they cannot be used to effectively reinforce the back arch, which is cued quite effectively by "shoving the floor with your feet".

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mark Rippetoe

There is a lot of variability in the foot position used on the bench. The feet are too far away when they cannot be used to effectively reinforce the back arch, which is cued quite effectively by "shoving the floor with your feet".

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Thank you very much Coach, will give the cue a go and play with foot position then.