clarification for close grips...

[cal]

was reading simmons article...
he said that with close grips that one should lower the bar to the nipple line or higher...he said that it will be much better for gains in size and strength...anybody agree?

i have always done it so that ...bar on close grips was pretty low like on my regular bench. my grip is middle finger on ring for reg bench and index on smooth for close grips...strangely i have found very little carryover...maybe its my style and the fact that i lower the bar too low?

for example for flat bench i do 275x5, close grips 265x5. pretty close. oddly though, when i do reg bench my tris seems to feel very weak...even though its almost the same as my reg bench...

 

[brianmincher]

I have been thinking about this a lot lately. I had read from some of the Ohio guys that to really increase your strength, you should do all pressing with a finger on the smooth then when you move out to comp width you will smoke the weights. I can't grip that narrow without tearing my elbows all to Hell, but I did switch over and did all my speed work with a narrow grip, about an inch and a half off the smooth. But then bombed out at the meet with a weight I have done in the gym over a half a dozen seperate occasions.

This cycle I am going to cut out all full length pressing on M.E. day, and move the hands out a bit on speed day, because the closest miss I had at the meet was when I moved my hands in, so I think something I have left out in the last 8 weeks has weakened my wide grip bench.

As for lowering the bar to above or below the nipples, I think what Louie was referring too was the fact that you will get a bigger stretch when lowering the weight above the nipples. I think pressing that high on the chest probably shifts the weight away from the lats somewhat, and over to the triceps. The more stress you put on the triceps, then the stronger they will get. At least that is the way I percieved it.

B

 

[endpoint]

I think i am the same as you brian......that grip just feels plain wrong.

a couple centimeters out and im fine.

im trying to use that more to get used to it....maybe its a weakness for me?

 

[barbell265]

close grip..

As the name implies my good Bro's it is ment to be closer than a flat bench. I go much narrower than you fellas' are talking. To give you an idea I put my arms straight up while on the bench and that's about where my grip is, maybe a little more narrow. I bench 275x5 flat & 205x3 close grip(sets of 5).

Am I thinking wrong here or what??

 

[powerlifterjay]

No your not thinking wrong. If i do close grips i am shoulder width apart. Any closer is stress on my wrists and achy on my shoulder.

 

[CytoMel]

Use a THUMBS WIDTH DISTANCE AWAY FROM THE SMOOTH for ME days and use that as your cl
ose for your first three sets on DE day. I hit a 365 thumbs incline yesterday at 242 and I have wide delts and so do many here and that index on the smooth can fuck with them with the heavy lifts.

 

[bigokie]

Close grip

I trained all my last westside cycle using a close grip only, on both days. Then when I went to max out I busted hard. I found out that for me I have to use a wide grip to keep in the groove.
I think the reason the guys at westside train with a close grip is because they have been benching so long that benching is second nature to them. Therefore they train with a close grip and because it hits the tri's much harder. Just my thoughts.

But also, George Halbert trains with a wide grip at least on occasions, and no one can doubt his benching power.