Best Way to Bench with Long Arms?

So I am pass the stage of bodybuilding and have found that a wide grip (index finger around the ring on the olympic bar ,49lb bar) is optimal for chest growth when brought down at nipple level. However, I started playing with my grip width because I couldnt seem to find my best groove to stay tight and most powerful at. So as I was playing with CGBP I have found that I have the ability to stay tighter and be more explosive but the range of motion takes longer which means would take longer for me to get stronger and get more reps in.

So I tried doing the wide grip back to the index finger on the ring part of the bar and brought the bar to my sternum, right below the chest and pressed from there. At this point, I felt fairly strong, stronger grip, less range of motion but could not just stay as tight with the CGBP. So currently my goal is to get stronger on the bench and felt that this should be posted on the powerlifting thread.

What have you long arm guys felt works best for you on the bench in terms of bar parth and grip and other info that you make think may be helpful?

I am thinking of trying a different grip width by bringing my arms a little closer in the bar, somewhere much closer where my arms are broughy in more and that my pinky is not wrapped around the ring portion of the bar but much more closer but not close to the point where it becomes a CGBP.

The weight difference in pressing with both grips are almost the same but CGBP has less reps.

Prioritize getting your chest, shoulders and all of your upper back involved first. Then make adjustments from there.

Your bench shouldn’t be dictated by limb length, bench the way that moves the most weight. Instead of worrying about things you can’t change, worry about finding a good bench setup.

[quote]cparker wrote:
Your bench shouldn’t be dictated by limb length, bench the way that moves the most weight. Instead of worrying about things you can’t change, worry about finding a good bench setup.[/quote]

100% this. For what it’s worth with long arms a wide-ish grip tends to help but if you’re tighter with a closer grip chances are it’ll work better. If you want to cut the distance, work on your arch. The higher you can push your touch point the shorter the bar path.

Not sure if I have long arms but they are long for my body. I had shoulder issues (pain with an empty bar) until I was very strict on the following:

Wrists directly under barbell,
Elbows directly under wrists

Get that right and everything should sort itself (you may need someone to watch/video as it can be hard to judge from the bench).

Talk skinny guy here.
Wide grip, accompanied with lots of lat and upper back work is what feels right to me. But I only bench wide because that is what moves the most weight.

MarkKO has the most important point, which I’ll echo. Bench in the way that you’re comfortable with. If you like your form and enjoy how it feels, you’ll probably bench more often.

I’ll start off with, I’m far from an expert. However watching a duffin video on learning to bench the other day I’ve recently moved my grip to pinkie on the ring of the bar as when I had them closer in, my elbows were tracking too far underneath the level of the bench when I brought the bar to my chest. In his video he recommends that you choose a grip which allows your elbows to go only an inch or two below the top of the bench when the bar is at your chest.

Just my input,
Brendan.