Bench Grip Width

Lower the bar to your mid chest.

Bench grip width. In fact most of them bench with the maximum legal grip width with their pointer fingers on the grip rings 81cm apart. An analysis conducted by lehman 2005 on the muscles recruited in different styles of bench press showed that a wide grip bench press recruits the pec muscles twice as much as the triceps when compared with a shoulder width narrow grip. Lower the bar to your mid chest. To make this grip work your forearms must be close to perpendicular and your elbows must be close to your sides.

Lie on the bench with your eyes under the bar. 2x shoulder width distance for wide grip bench press. Grab the bar with a medium grip width thumbs around the bar unrack the bar by straightening your arms. This distance is your theoretical perfect grip width for the barbell bench press setup.

Reverse grip just outside shoulder width the fourth choice is a reverse grip on the barbell. How to bench press with proper form. Research has demonstrated in a one rep max bench press test that theres no difference in the pectoralis muscle recruitment with a wide bench press grip. Range of motion will be shorter though that isnt a huge issue since fatigue likely wont play a role in a 1rm attempt.

Press it back up until your elbows are locked. Additionally research showed a large difference in the amount of triceps activation with the 15 biacromial distance grip so not only is a wide grip an injury risk but its a performance reducer.