The Larsen Press can help increase your bench, upper body stability; improve form; grow your pecs and much more.

Put simply, the Larsen Press is a variation of the Bench Press with a slight twist — to keep your feet straight ahead in the air instead of grounding them into the floor to assist your leg drive.

So basically, this Bench Press variation is one without a leg drive and necessitates a ton of stability in both your upper body and core to prevent your form from breaking down.

Strength athletes, powerlifters, and bodybuilders alike can benefit greatly from implementing the Larson Press into their training.

Why You Should Do The Larsen Press

There are various reasons why you should do the Larsen Press.

If you struggle with stability or have a relatively weak upper body, this movement can help ingrain good form.

One of the benefits of this movement is to deliberately sacrifice tightness — which comes from retracting your scapula onto the bench and solidly planting your feet into the ground to produce a legendary leg drive — with the goal of benching through the instability.

Furthermore, as you will fight against losing tightness of your upper back on the bench, it will teach you how to improve your set up to become more efficient at bench pressing if upper back tightness is one of your weaknesses.

Invariably, losing upper back tightness will result in a weaker press, longer range of motion, suboptimal muscular activation, and increased risk of injury.

This is why you should strictly use the Larsen Press as an accessory movement instead of a primary lift.

We recommend starting off small and with lower rep ranges; between 50-60% of your Bench Press 1 rep max and no more than 5-6 reps per set.

With each successive rep, keeping tightness will become more challenging and we don’t want you to incur any injuries.

Unlike the Floor Press, which also forces the lifter to press the weight without the assistance of the leg drive, the Larsen Press incorporates a full Bench Press range of motion, making it a perfect accessory movement for those who are weak off the chest.