Platform Article: The Close-Grip Bench Press

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

My primary experience with the close-grip bench is that I was inadvertently doing it and artificially limiting my bench numbers by around 30 - 40 lbs (maybe 20% difference).

That being said, I “felt” the close-grip version much more, and even after a 30 lb jump once I made some adjustments to my grip, I still barely “feel” the wider grip bench. Probably because of the increase in muscle mass usage, like the The Squat vs the high bar variation.

Don’t worry about feel yet with the big lifts as a novice. Just get the mechanics correct and the feel will come with time and growth. If there isn’t much pec mass there you won’t feel much. Like a guy that doesn’t have any hamstrings will struggle to feel how they work in an RDL or SLDL. The guy with big giant slabs of muscle hanging off his femurs will feel every fiber stretch and contract

[AndrewLewis]

Eric,

There's a lot of unintuitive shit going on with the lifts, so as long as the weight keeps going up and the mechanistic analysis of the lifts is sound, you're fine.

I don't think anyone would press and bench with the grip that we use unless they thought about it a lot and trained for a while. I've never had a client take the grip and go "yeah that makes sense" until the press something heavy. Then it all makes sense.

[Eric Schexnayder]

Don’t worry about feel yet with the big lifts as a novice. Just get the mechanics correct and the feel will come with time and growth. If there isn’t much pec mass there you won’t feel much. Like a guy that doesn’t have any hamstrings will struggle to feel how they work in an RDL or SLDL. The guy with big giant slabs of muscle hanging off his femurs will feel every fiber stretch and contract

Totally agree, didn’t mean the lack of “feel” was negative in anyway. Actually using my pecs in the lift now makes lifting more weight much easier.

[Eric Schexnayder]

Eric,

There's a lot of unintuitive shit going on with the lifts, so as long as the weight keeps going up and the mechanistic analysis of the lifts is sound, you're fine.

I don't think anyone would press and bench with the grip that we use unless they thought about it a lot and trained for a while. I've never had a client take the grip and go "yeah that makes sense" until the press something heavy. Then it all makes sense.

Definitely some unintuitive details on all the lifts. Who would have thought the best way to squat would involve bending over and using your back?

In my particular case, I understood the importance of the vertical forearm. I just completely failed at recognizing what a vertical forearm looks like. Doesn’t help that my eyes are in my skull and not 10 feet away.