Because of the physical demands of this lift I cannot put too much emphasis upon the need for special preparatory training with exercises that will prepare you for this feat of strength.
The very first thing that the beginner should accept as a fact in connection with the “Bent Press” is that everyone can do it, if only the job is tackled in the right way. I mention this because I know that quite a number of people-otherwise good lifters among them-believe that it is a feat which can only be successfully accomplished by certain individuals who have been singularly blessed by Nature! The idea, though so common, is quite wrong! There is nothing to stop any man who has the full use of his four limbs learning this lift and eventually becoming good on it. That is, providing that he does not, at the commencement, attempt to rush matters.
Learn the style that I have described and you will have a graceful, effortless press that will look like one continuous motion rather than a series of unrelated, jerky movements.
It is my opinion that the correct name for this lift should be the “Body Supporting-Arm Extending” lift. If you carefully analyze this title while looking at the photograph of the correct lifting method, you may easily see the reason for this name. The name “Bent Press” implies, pressing while bending. This, however IS NOT the case. First, the “bent” position is assumed and only then does the pressing begin.
One of the secrets of the late Arthur Saxon’s enormous Bent Presses was that he relaxed his muscles as he leaned away from the bell. One gets so much further down that way, and the contraction of the arm and Latissimus, etc., comes in much later than the beginner ever realises.