Elite bench press bodyweight and grip width observation

[Chiaki Nitya]

Mr. Rippetoe, it seems that in terms of elite-level competitive bench pressing, in general, those in the lighter weight classes have a relatively wider grip, and those in the heavier weight classes have a more narrow grip. Do you have any thoughts on analyses on why this seems to be the case?

Is it as simple as lighter lifters are lifting absolutely lighter weights and can get away with a technique that places the pecs and delts in a less safe position, vs heavier lifters who may be more prone to injury with a wider grip, at the weights they're handling?

Thanks for any insight you may have on this topic.

[Mark Rippetoe]

I don't know that it seems to be the case, since I don't follow powerlifting.

[Szymon]

There is a maximum grip width set by the rules. So for a short, 65 kg guy the grip is wider in relation to his body than for a heavy weight tall guy.

Same thing can be observed in snatch.

[Mark Rippetoe]

How to Fix Powerlifting? | Mark Rippetoe

[Chiaki Nitya]

Even accounting for morphology, larger elite raw benchers use an absolutely closer grip, not just relative to their frame and shoulder width. They grip the bar well within the maximum legal width, whereas most lighter weight elite raw benchers take a max legal width grip.

I just thought it may lead to an interesting discussion about why that seems to be the case.

[Szymon]

Even accounting for morphology, larger elite raw benchers use an absolutely closer grip, not just relative to their frame and shoulder width. They grip the bar well within the maximum legal width, whereas most lighter weight elite raw benchers take a max legal width grip.

Do you have any video ?

[Theseahawk]

Even accounting for morphology, larger elite raw benchers use an absolutely closer grip, not just relative to their frame and shoulder width. They grip the bar well within the maximum legal width, whereas most lighter weight elite raw benchers take a max legal width grip.

I just thought it may lead to an interesting discussion about why that seems to be the case.

The powerlifting websites discuss this kind of stuff in quite a bit of detail. I don't think there'll be much of a conversation about it here since everyone wants to use the longest effective range of motion for general strength adaptations anyway.

Mark Bell's older videos has some good content about bench grip width, in between him trying to sell the sling-shot. But I don't know how much of it was for geared lifting and how much for raw since he was a geared lifter. From what I remember, he said going wide was foolish because going narrower allowed your biceps and forearms to bunch together and you triceps and lats to bunch together so you were real tight when the bar was on the chest.

[pstein]

Mr. Rippetoe, it seems that in terms of elite-level competitive bench pressing, in general, those in the lighter weight classes have a relatively wider grip, and those in the heavier weight classes have a more narrow grip. Do you have any thoughts on analyses on why this seems to be the case?

Is it as simple as lighter lifters are lifting absolutely lighter weights and can get away with a technique that places the pecs and delts in a less safe position, vs heavier lifters who may be more prone to injury with a wider grip, at the weights they're handling?

Thanks for any insight you may have on this topic.

It's not that universal, though. USAPL/IPF lifters tend to have a wider grip independent of weight class (Dennis Cieri, multiple time IPF world record holder in the bench @93kg uses the maximum grip). I think it's interesting to look at this as untested vs. tested. Untested, larger lifters tend to be in closer. Tested lifters tend to be wider.