is true that benching with a close grip put less stress in your shoulders ?.. how can that be true if the ROM is bigger
Less adduction at the shoulder equates to less stress on the shoulder joint and pec, the elbow tends to take up the slack.
[quote]IronAbrams wrote:
Less adduction at the shoulder equates to less stress on the shoulder joint and pec, the elbow tends to take up the slack.[/quote]
This is why Jim Wendler uses a narrow(er) grip now that he’s been out of competition for a while.
Luke
To put it simply the triceps are doing more workload which takes away form the shoulders = less stress. Bench pressing is already brutal on the shoulders so its best not to take a crazy width narrow it a little bit to save shoulders for the future. Put a greater emphasis on tricep work to build lockout power your shoulders will thank you for it.
I am fairly tall at 6’1’', so my arms are relatively long. I benched with maximum allowed IPF width for about 6 months, until I payed the price, a really nice rotator cuff injury. Now, at thumbs legth from the smooth part, my shoulders are all healthy. I guess the maximum width should be left to geared lifters.
im having some shoulder issue, guess i gonna switch to a close grip
[quote]zombiec wrote:
im having some shoulder issue, guess i gonna switch to a close grip[/quote]
definetely, it will help you instantly.for me it was good, I discovered that my medium grip was stronger than my maximum width.
I hurt my bicep tendon with a close grip. There is a lot more internal rotation with a close grip than a normal one. Switched back to a normal grip (ring finger on rings) and have had no issues.
You can hurt yourself a million different ways if you do this shit long enough. Obviously a dinged bicep tendon (though a nagging motherfucker of an “injury”) is a lot easier to deal with than a torn pec or rotator though.
Saw better results from benching wide with a straight bar path (ala Westside) and focusing on tucking than I did with bringing my grip in. Brought the bar lower and pressed in a straight path up
I rotate between wide and medium. Too much of wide and I get shoulder issues. Too much medium and narrow and I get elbow and wrist issues.
I switched from max legal grip to less than thumbs length away from the smooth and I didn’t regret it. I now have benched 15 lbs more with a narrow grip than I did with the wide, awkward grip. When I used to bench with a wide grip my anterior delts got sore from benching and that was about it. Now the stress is a lot more in my chest and tris and I have had zero pain.
Keep in mind I am also 6’1" so I have fairly long arms.
Ill just pimp this vid to give you an idea of how I bench and what I feel works best for me at this point-
319 Competition Bench
[quote]Irish Pride wrote:
Saw better results from benching wide with a straight bar path (ala Westside) and focusing on tucking than I did with bringing my grip in. Brought the bar lower and pressed in a straight path up[/quote]
This. I have shoulder issues and a narrow grip aggravates it for the reason steel said and how you lay it out is what I do .
One thing to be mindful of is once you find your sweet spot for grip don’t be afraid to make small changes every now and then. My training grip is slightly narrower than my maxing grip.
[quote]niksamaras wrote:
I am fairly tall at 6’1’', so my arms are relatively long. I benched with maximum allowed IPF width for about 6 months, until I payed the price, a really nice rotator cuff injury. Now, at thumbs legth from the smooth part, my shoulders are all healthy. I guess the maximum width should be left to geared lifters.[/quote]
I am built the same way.
I found that the distance between both my hands is about 8 inches for best results.
Just changing the grip my a finger’s width or two can make a big difference. For most training I have my middle or ring finger on the smooth ring, but for max reps or weight I use index on the smooth. If my shoulders tell me to lay off of them I move to a medium grip with my pinky on or just inside the ring.