Dumbbell Larsen Press (Straight Leg Chest Press)

Sit on a bench with your dumbbells resting on your thighs. Kick up with 1 leg at a time to get the dumbbells loaded near your chest before lowering yourself under control and pointing the legs straight out with the toes pointed down. Keeping your shoulders down and back with your chest sticking out, press the dumbbells towards the ceiling until your elbows are straight. Then, bend the elbows to lower the weights back down. Lower the weights until the dumbbells tap the chest or the shoulders and repeat for repetitions. When you are done, bring the weights together in a neutral grip. Lift your legs into the air and whip them down as you do a situp in order to sit upright with the weights on the hips before lowering them to the ground. This is an option if you don’t want to drop the weights to the left and right of you potentially hurting your shoulders or damaging the equipment or possibly injuring the people next to you.

Trainer Tips: The guy who "invented" this exercise is Adrien Larsen, he was born with leg deformities so he benched this way during training to build his bench, then planted his feet for competition to lift more weight. This is another way to eliminate leg drive and focus on upper body strength and stabilization when benching or pressing. When pressing, the more the elbows are flared out, the more shoulders and rotator cuffs will be used. Make sure you keep a proud chest, lock your lats, and bring your elbows in slightly to use more chest, back, and triceps as opposed to prioritizing shoulders; especially when the weight is heavy to avoid injury. Pressing extra wide is not wrong, but should be done with lighter weight for high reps to avoid excess strain on the shoulders.