There are only a few products that I wholeheartedly endorse, and Mark Bell’s Slingshot is definitely one of them. I’ve written about it before, but it was before I met Mark Bell and Jesse Burdick at the 2012 Arnold Sport Festival. Mark and Jesse were both really nice guys and they took the time to let me demo the Slingshot as well as chat about it afterwards. Observe the demo:



The weight on the first set was 185 while the second set was 275. Note that they told me it was 225 on the bar for the second set, so I felt like a fucking loser when it felt hard (your demo secret is out, Mark, you bastard). I’m not an exceptionally strong bencher (I’ve done 350), yet I usually do sets of 135, 185, 225, and 255 before I move to 275 for my final warm-up on bench (I found that more sets on pressing movements helps warm me up better). As you can see, I do 185×10 and then 275×9 with about 20 seconds of rest in between. As you can see, the slingshot allows the lifter to impart an exceptional work load on their benching musculature.

With a Slingshot you can either perform more reps at a given weight, more weight in a give set/rep scheme, more total sets, improve your mechanics, or improve your raw bench lockout. That’s some impressive utility, and that’s just for a raw powerlifter. Learn more in the following video:



The mechanics are improved because the Slingshot helps keep the elbows in a good position that results in an externally rotated shoulder. If you’ve read this post, then you understand that the lats are stretched and isometrically acting during a bench press (they are internal rotators, so when the shoulder is in external rotation, they are stretched). This provides greater shoulder stability in the bench and is necessary for a strong bench. The Slingshot can reinforce shoulder external rotation, especially in lifters (male or female) who have issues with habitual internal rotation. Chronically stroking the bench with good mechanics via a Slingshot will develop the musculature to do it raw.

Since the Slingshot provides the most assistance out of the bottom and maintains good mechanics, the triceps are properly recruited to do their job in locking out the bench. This is amplified when the lifter is using greater loads or volume with the Slingshot.

All in all, I think it’s a great tool. Pick one up if you’ve run into shoulder or elbow problems when you bench. It’s not a substitute fix-all for shoulder health (e.g. you still need to do the overhead press properly), but it can allow quality bench training despite the normal bench-related injuries.