Welcome to my blog! I’m glad you are here to try and learn all you can and have fun doing it. Here you will find all kinds of interesting tid bits, facts, and information that you can use (hopefully). So we have all heard of the bench press right? But what is the bent press? The first time I heard this and read about it I thought it was a miss print. I didn’t know what it was or where it came from or how to do it.
A favorite lift of the historic era, the Bent Press was used by old time strongmen to impress their audience because it is performed very slowly, with one hand, while holding an enormous amount of weight. Technically, by strict definitions, this really is not a press per se. It is often confused with the side press, but it is actually referred to as the “screw press.”
Arthur Saxon holds the world record for the bent press with over 370 lbs. Other past- time famous record holders and bent press champions include Eugen Sandow, Dave Whitley, Bob Hoffman, and Siegmund Klein just to name a few.
Some of the benefits to performing this type of “press” are providing the lifter the ability to lift more weight with one hand, rather than two hands. It strengthens and stabilizes the shoulder muscles. It also provides shoulder mobility and flexibility. It works the latissimus dorsi muscles or your “wings” and it improves core strength. Another great benefit to this type of exercise is it gives the thoracic spine mobility, which helps keep the shoulders and the lumbar spine working properly, and pain-free, which in turn is going to improve your posture, prevent injury, and improves your breathing.
It is very interesting to read about these old champions and how they trained. It is amazing what exercises they performed back in the day and what has changed through the years and what has not. Some great books to read about these old champions and the bent press check out How to Bent Press By Siegmund Klein. Or How to Bent Press Correctly by Harold Ansorge. These are just a couple of old school books to learn some new exercises and build strength from some of the past champions.
I hope this was informative and you got something out of it. I try to give you a wide variety of information, new tools and resources and maybe a little humor along the way. Thank you for reading my blog and as always, be happy and healthy and stay safe while lifting.
Take care,
Darren
Harmony Shift 