"Bum Shoulder Bench Press" Article: Bar Path

James Strickland has long arms and benches close to 700 with a fairly close grip, but obviously he isn’t a normal guy and has very strong triceps.

As noted by @bulldog9899, it is really something that stems from shirted benching. Wide grip lessens the ROM and takes advantage of the help at the bottom of the lift that the shirt provides. My pressing is chest dominant anyway, so narrower grip goes to my weakness not my strength. I can see the relatively narrower grip being advantageous for some lifters - especially raw lifters and those who are triceps dominant. There is also that point in the lift where it becomes “Downhill”. That doesn’t happen with wide grip for many - it is a grind all the way to lockout and taxing even at lockout depending on arm angle at the top. But with narrower grip there is a point at which you are just coasting to lockout for many. My strongest is actually Index on the rings, personally, but I often train with pointer on the rings for whole cycles depending on my available accessory work (When I can actually bench, which is not under Covid). I have also never had the complained about shoulder issues, so that affects things.

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It’s cool you don’t have any pains, and im glad your brought up internal rotation anyway.

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