The Pivot Press

The pivot press is a combination of the incline T-bench chest press I described in 3 New Ways to Bench Press and a strategically timed hip thrust.

Here's How to Do It

1. Set up like a traditional T-bench chest press.
2. Instead of keeping the hips tall throughout with the glutes contracted, lower your hips by doing the eccentric (lowering) portion of a hip thrust, all while holding the arms in the fully extended position.
3. Once your hips have reached the bottom of the hip thrust and your torso is at approximately a 45-degree angle, you'll begin performing the eccentric (lifting) portion of the chest press in a very slow and controlled fashion. Once you reach the bottom, pause, and then drive the hips up explosively so that the torso is parallel to the floor (instead of at a 45-degree angle).
4. Press the weights back to the top.

The eccentric portion of the actual dumbbell press occurs in the bottom of the hip thrust with the torso at a 45-degree angle. In contrast, the concentric portion of the chest press occurs with the hips tall in the fully contracted position of the hip thrust and the body in a flat press position.

Besides providing a mix of flat and incline positions that equally target both the upper and middle regions of the chest, there's a very specific reason why this pivot press is so effective.

It allows you to maximally overload both the eccentric and concentric portions of the lift simply by adjusting your body position between each phase of the press. In other words, the pivot press places the body into a more biomechanically difficult position during the stronger eccentric portion of the lift, and in an easier position during the weaker concentric phase of the exercise.