04.29.11
Close Grip Benching
A variation of the bench press, close grip benching takes the exertion of a normal bench and forces all of it into your triceps. There is a great deal of form and technique required to do this exercise both effectively and safely.
What’s it for?
When you use a close grip to do the bench press, you are isolating most of the work and motion on your triceps. This exercise serves as a supplemental lift that can provide a huge boost to your triceps strength – which leads of course to a better bench.
Notice the thumb placement!
When should you do it?
Don’t put this exercise in with your regular bench day. The most efficient way to implement this routine is by assigning yourself a separate chest/triceps day, which incorporates the close grip bench. You can really trick your body this way – which, in terms of lifting, is a good thing.
Try doing around four sets of six to ten reps. If this is your first exercise of the day, make sure you do two to three warmup sets as well.
The Basics
As the video below demonstrates, you want to be gripping the bar in the normal fashion, but with your hands approximately ten inches from each other (this varies if you have longer or shorter arms).
I do NOT agree with the guy in the video’s insistence of placing the thumbs with the other fingers – as opposed to going against them. The close grip bench is difficult enough to balance – having your thumbs like that will only increase the difficulty.
When going through the motion, try to keep your elbows as close to your sides as you can. This means you shouldn’t have your elbows jutting out at a 90 degree angle. If this is the case, drop the weight until you can do it correctly. Form precedes weight (a true powerlifting motto to live by).
The first few times you do this, you will probably be very shaky and may tremble a lot – don’t lose balance and drop the bar. Drop the weight, not the bar.
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