We’re… doing serious stuff today. Later on, we’re going to go break in to a house and save some kitty cats and some orphans. Sure, it’s not on fire, but that’s beside the point. You’ve got to practice. Our next sequence in real traditional powerlifting, the bench press, real bench pressing. Not like these boneheads you see at the gym with their feet flying all over the place. They’re grunting, and they’re squinting. They’re chalking up, and they’re going, “One more.” We hate those guys. So do you.

Today, we’re going to learn a real traditional bench press. You’re going to learn how to pull your feet back, create the arch. We’re going to get rid of my hammer first of all. Second of all, we’re going to get into the traditional position here. Here’s what you see at the gym. You see stuff like this. Feet are all over. These guys are doing this stuff. I’m not even going to do it because it’s too dangerous.

A real traditional powerlifting rack, which is the setup of your body, is feet back. Feet back, you’ve got to arch. Chest is up. You’re coiled like a spring. What you do is you tighten up your whole body, take it off the rack. Pause, breathe in. Pause and punch it, and then back. No flailing arms. No foolish stuff going on just good, clean technique.

Once again, I’m going to call upon my lovely assistant, Ryan. What ev, Ryan?

Ryan: Am I still in the frame?

Ron: We’re going to have Ryan get in his form. He’s going to bring his feet back. He’s got his arch that he’s learned. He’s going to aim the bar right for his chest, right for his nipples. He’s going to pause and punch. On three, we’re going to take it off together. One, two, three, go. Bring it up to your chest, pause. Breathe in. Tighten up your whole body. As he comes in, he’s breathing in and aiming for his nipples. Go. Pauses, and then punches straight up. Boom! Nice, then drops it back.

Thank you, bud. You can sit up for a second. This really does facilitate arm strength, chest strength, upper back strength, core strength. The power he needs to carry the belts, the axes, the hoses. All jokes aside, this stuff’s hard, man. This is a hard job. Especially, when you get out of bed at three o’clock in the morning because you’ve gotten a special call off your little weird buzzer that they give you when you’re on Engine two or whatever it is.

In my next blog, we’re going to be talking about how I’m trying to develop a center to work with first responders and create a place where they can come and work with me. I was trained by a lot of professionals over the years. I have a lot to bring to this. We want to really start helping and educating these first responders who are giving their time freely.

The bench press, again, feet back, chest up. Nice good form. [claps] Form. [claps] Form. [claps] Form. Then you can do pull overs and dips like that, but really the deads and the bench. If you’re going to go old school weightlifting, this is the way to do it. We’ll being bringing kettlebells back into this pretty quick, and how to combine those two to really make an effective and powerful dynamic.

Look forward to that. I know I will. I know Ryan is, and you know who’s here? You know who we got, Gary? That’s right. There’s one guy. He’s followed us around since day one. He is he’s a retired firefighter now. He’s pretty much retired from everything. I find him in my yard just weeping. But can we pan around? It’s our one man audience, Brother Bruce. Brother Bruce is here. Bruce, just stay there.

Do you remember him from…? There he is again, and then back to me because he gets too much camera time. Hey, back here. It’s always good to have Brother Bruce here. That’s it for today. Bench press, deadlifts, start learning how. Watch the blogs. Get out of here.

(originally published on February 24, 2015)