Reverse Band Press

Exercise Description: Made famous by Louie Simmons, the reverse band press has been around for some time now.  It has also become know as  using the the future method with the Bench Press 

I still remember the first time we did this movement. We set the bands up from the top of the rack so the barbell was being suspended by the bands. We used a strong band for this. We found it took around 145 pounds for the barbell to touch our chests with a seven foot power rack.

I was excited as hell to do this. Who wouldn't be? You now have a band helping toss the weight off your chest. I was all jacked up thinking about the huge weight we'd be lifting. Then, as we worked up, something strange happened.

The weight got freakin' heavy!

The bands didn't help so much at lockout. Next thing we knew we had a great training device to bring up a lifter's lockout strength. This has since become a staple of our training.

Some days we'll use an average band and on others a strong band. This movement became part of the great max effort mix of the floor press, board press, chain press, close-grip inclines, and rack lockouts. Our arsenal was growing and has been growing ever since the first day I stepped into the gym.

To do the max effort reverse band press, all you do is anchor the band around the top of your power rack, load the bar, and work up. Many lifters like to do this for 5, 3 or 1 rep maxes. This just depends on what works best for you. This is really all there is to it.

Here's one of the 50 bench cycles I've listed in the Dynamic Bench Manual. 

Post Injury Phase — Reverse Band

This cycle is intended for recovery and post-injury training. The weight and band should be set up so there's zero weight at the chest. You'll have three options:

1. Light band and 65 pounds

2. Average band and 95 pounds

3. Strong band and 135 pounds

This is one of the best post-injury cycles we've seen. The key to making this work is to let the band do most of the work and keep the muscle tension to a minimum. This workout should be done every bench day until your strength begins to return. This is also a great restoration workout that can be used during regular training phases at the end of the entire session.
Post Injury Training

Weeks 1-3:

2-4 times per week: 1-2 sets, 100 reps

This is to replace the regular bench training.

Restoration Training:

1 set, 100 reps

This is to be completed at the end of your workout on bench training days.

* Just because this worked for me doesn't mean it will work for you. Check with your doctor before using any injury related training protocol.