T Nation

Bench Grip

Powerlifting
#1

Hey guys, just a quick question 'bout benching.

I have long arms, and i have red that if you are a long limbed guy, you should go with a wide grip to compensate you poor leverages. Also i readed that for the long limbed guys a narrower than normal grip should be done because you can’t tuck your elbows when griping wide.

Personally the wide grip feels kind of awkward, when the bar comes down and i glue the elbows to my lats, my forearms creates some kind of “_O_/” . Also, when bench that way i feel that is way harder to tuck, when i press my elbows flare pretty quickly, transfering a lot of the work from my tris to my pecs (obviusly, since my shorter torso has a stronger torque than my never-ending arms), and if you think about it, benching with the forearms pointing out is a great way lose make the pecs go into a poor mechanical position (pecs are the “Hug” muscle, remember?)

But anyway benching wide makes the ROM shorter.

Now, when i do a narrower grip, i feel much more secure and stable, also the tris comes to play a lot more along with the front delts. But the br has to travel more distance (and i feel that).

Keeping it short, do you have any advices regarding to the grip and the training of the bench press for the long limbed guy?, i have red that broad work works awesome!

Thanks!

#2

Use what your strongest in, If you can bench 225x7 with a wide grip, and 225x11 with a narrow grip, go with narrow, or vise versa. Get a feel for it over a few weeks.

I dont really have long arms, but thetre not stubs, But I can feel at times that I can bench more narrow then I can wide, and anyore the wides I will go raw is my ring finger on rings, and shirted, middle finger.

do what works for you.

#3

im shorter (5’10") and have average length arms and i bench with my pinky in the rings. i agree with the above post and would like to add that doing more upper back work (pull ups and rows) will help you have a more stable base to push from.

#4

I’ve got a long arms and tried benching with index fingers on rings (max width) for a year before I realized I really wasn’t making any progress. I read that article you mention about using a narrower grip for tall guys, and I moved my grip in to middle finger on ring and notice improvement. I am going to experiment. Pinky on ring is too narrow. I am trying to find what works for me.

#5

im 6’5’’ and was stuck at 275 for over a year with max legal grip, moved to pinky’s on the rings and quicly got back to 275 and am now at 315, work speed and youll be fine

#6

[quote]gabex wrote:
I’ve got a long arms and tried benching with index fingers on rings (max width) for a year before I realized I really wasn’t making any progress. I read that article you mention about using a narrower grip for tall guys, and I moved my grip in to middle finger on ring and notice improvement. I am going to experiment. Pinky on ring is too narrow. I am trying to find what works for me.[/quote]

interesting that you guys consider pinky on the rings a narrow grip. for me that’s pretty danm wide!

I considered a narrow grip putting the thumbs about 3 inches away from the smooth part of the bar.

from the vids of EFTS, i saw that most of the non-shw are benching with their elbows tucked which move almost streight up (altough they still flare as the bar go up).

#7

I switched to max wide about 6 months ago, and it took about 2 months to get my bench back up to where it was with my narrower grip. with a wide grip you really have to stay tight or you will come out of it easily.

#8

I have monkey arms, and for the longest time I benched pointers on rings, and I found it hard to consistently tuck my elbows, aka my form was always changing. I changed to middle on the rings a few weeks back and my form’s been more consistent and I do feel more stable.

#9

I have a very similar situation. I have long arms and despite being told over and over again to widen my grip I keep benching close. The wider I go the more unstable I feel. As someone mentioned early, find what works best for you and go with it. I find my sticking point to be about 6 inches off my chest, training heavy floor presses has helped me to keep getting stronger while benching with a narrow grip.

#10

I have pretty long arms, I’m 73" tall and have a 76" reach. I always thought a wide grip would work best for me, but due to a shoulder issue I brought my grip in so that my index fingers are about 4" out from the smooth part of the bar (basically my hands are just outside shoulder width). I have since seen an improvement in my form ( much better ability to keep elbows tucked) and my bench has gone up. It’s a different grove (touch lower on chest) but I really like it and don’t think I’ll ever go back wide unless I start benching shirted.

#11

i train using wide, medium and a more narrow grip. each style has there specific advantages and disadvantages and each can be used to strengthen a weakness.