Big Hands & The Bench Press

[Scott Beall]

Rip, I have a client that loves to wear gloves.

Tonight, for the first time, I made him take them off. I explained that gloves suck b/c they increase the circumference of his grip and prevent a firm enough connection to the bar b/c of the padding.

After his first working set, he complained that his hands were too big (and they are massive). I verified that his long fingers are, in fact, digging into his palms causing him to not get a secure grip around the bar.

He says that his gloves help "widen the grip" and make it easier to get a solid grip on the bar.

Is there a fix for this?

[Mark Rippetoe]

Teach him the difference between a compression grip and a tension grip. In a bench press, his fingertips press into the knurl of the bar, not his palms.

[Scott Beall]

I assume a tension grip is when the lifter extends his wrists. Is this correct? If so, can you explain physics-wise, WHY it's called a tension grip?

As I imagine the force of the bar coming down on the forearm, it seems that either grip would create compression on the forearm.

What am I missing sir?

[Mark Rippetoe]

In a deadlift, the bar is applying tension to the hand and arm. Gravity, etc. It's trying to roll out of the fingers, and the grip holds it in place. In a bench or a press, the bar is applying compression to the hand and arm, so the grip serves a different purpose, i.e. keeping the bar positioned directly over the bones of the forearm.

[jfsully]

In other words, for bench press, the grip is used to stabilize the bar in positon over the radius, it is not part of the kinetic chain. Like in the squat, if your grip is doing significant work, the bar is out of position. This is why we can use thumbless “grip” for the squat. Thumbless is possible but not recommended for the bench, because the consequence of the bar rolling out of position on the bench can be catastrophic. So there is no need to be squeezing the fingers tightly into the palms, just to keep the bar in position.

Do I have this right?

[Mark Rippetoe]

If the segment in question is used to move the bar, it's part of the kinetic chain, unless we want to be rather pedantic. But I get your point.