Bench Grip

[Stapled to the Floor]

Hello all.. new to the board.. glad to find ya.. Looks like a great Forum and looking forward to learning a lot..You guys have some pretty impressive lifters..... Im sure this has probably been posted before but since I am new... (Just started WSB 7 mos ago..bodybuild before seeing the light or shall we say the 3white lights..)I tend to be stronger with a narrower grip.. from what I gather this should be my weaker grip but I seem to get weaker once ring finger starts to touch line.. seem to be the strongest with pinky about half inch inside ring.. Have I found a weakness?? Should I train more with index on ring and illegal wides until they "catch up" and/or surpass my narrower grip or go ahead and keep blasting triceps and compete with a narrower grip? Sure seems like a lot more range/movement when using the narrower grip but since I am strongest there I hate to drop weight and move grip out.. of course I guess that is half of whats WSB is all about training your weaknesses.. your thoughts are appreciated

 

[CytoMel]

For our group here in South Florida we use a grip that is a thumbs length away from the inner smooth for just about all the ME benching days except for illegal wides. We move the grip out wide when we shirt up on ME day or when we compete we move it out wide on the rings.

BUMP to someone else who can help with the grip weakness question.

 

[Screwball]

I train most of my ME movements with my pinky on the ring. When I try to specifcally hit my triceps (i.e. 5-boards, rack lockouts, etc...) I will use the thumbs length away from the smooth as CytoMel suggested. My competition grip is maximum or index on the rings. I used to train with index on the smooth but I don't use it anymore do to flexibility issues in the shoulders. The ultra close grips also put a lot of strain on the wrists and forearms.

 

[p03t1c]

i usually bench with one finger on the smooth to a thumb's lenth away. i hard ever take my grip out really far as the real reason i ever do that is to shorten the distance i have to push the bar. everyone once in a while i will do a set with my grip out just for feel, but it's not that often. i'm not really sure what you're problem is from, but just try to slowly get your grip out to where you feel comfortable with it.

 

[powerlifterjay]

Here in central Florida I use my middle finger on th epower ring for bench comps and bench day. The closest i go on boards and shit is pinky on the power ring. I am close to the smoot on close grips and floors but we dont do those much either. I max on boards with my bench grip. I have learned from my experince with upping my close grip that there wasnt too much of a carry over to my bench. I like to use my comp grip the most cause it is were i wanna be the strongest at.

You might be weaker in this position because you may not have the elbow tucked technique down 100% yet. So your using your good tri power when your grip is closer then as you widen up you might be loosing tri drive and puttingmore on your delts and pecs. Check and make sure your elbows arent flared out when you bench. The wider you go the more flared ou they may become.

I may be wrong so i took a shot!

 

[Stapled to the Floor]

Thanks Jay and others

Thanks for the info.. I think since I am new to this bench style you are probably right.. I try to pull the bar apart when benching to activate lats etc but no matter how hard I try to focus, at the bottom of the lift I lose that focus (pulling bar apart) I think maybe at that time my elbows may flair out a little.. No Powerlifters around to critique my form for me though.. I will work more on concentrating on pulling bar apart and I think that will insure my "tuck" with the elbows..

 

[benchmonster]

Are you talking about having problems while wearing a shirt? I cannot go to the max grip raw. I am not very big, and have a bum wing, so going real wide raw is a problem, but with a shirt on, I always go as wide as I can and try and throw my hands wider as I am benching, the only thing which prevents this is the bar.

I used to train everything narrow, but have found recently that to get stronger with a comp grip, I need to train with it. Screwball and I have trained together a couple times, and neither of us can grip the bar real narrow (on the smooth) because it tears up our elbows. But since I cannot go with a comp grip raw without hurting my shoulder, I came up with the solution of training board presses while wearing a shirt once per week. This allows me to strengthen my comp grip, handle more weights, stay in the shirt groove, and put up massive PR's.

Just throwing out some ideas.

B.

 

[Arioch]

I keep mine in relative close, but then my triceps suck, so this is always what I am trying to work on.

 

[Dickvanveiner]

I used to work my ME work with a close grip but I never saw much of a carry over to my comp bench. I will usually on my max work start with a pinky on the ring and gradually move my grip out as the wts get heavier, I usually only go out to the ring finger. I find for myself that going a little wider on my ME has really helped me on my comp bench. I really like doing 5 board and 6 board presses with a wider grip, this is the grip I want to strengthen in the first place. I can really feel it in the triceps.

Benchmonster--I also did alot of boards(2 and 3 boards) using my shirt and I added alot of wt to my bench, I added 60lbs to my max in 8 months using the boards with my shirt.

 

[benchmonster]

Dickvanveiner,

That is great news. I have just stumbled on to these recently. I did a 3 board wearing a shirt with 550 a couple weeks ago, and got red lighted for butt raise on a 505 bench this weekend. My last meet 8 weeks ago, I bombed with 450. I know the shirt board presses made a huge difference. They will be a staple of my program for as long as I can continue to make progress with them. I am thinking for my M.E. days of going 2 board/shirt, then 3 board/shirt, then go for a rep record with 225, or 100lbs dumbells, and starting over.

Keep up the good work.

B.