close grip bench

[ba0412]

I want to focus on the inner chest and also transition to my tricepts at the end of my chest days. when i do it my thumbs are about 6" from eachother. should they be closer or farther away. also where should my elbows be. tucked in to the body or should they be out more. and where should i bring the bar, when my elbows are tucked in the bar goes to me lower chest.

[hrdgain81]

[MEDIA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TInmDdSQX4[/MEDIA]

This guys form looks pretty good to me, with the exception of him arching his lower back as he lifts. 6" is way to close IMO the best thing to do is have your hands dam near hit your pecs on the way down.

Also, by doing close grip bench, you arent focusing on your "inner pec", you cant isolate a piece of a muscle. Muscle grows as a whole, there is not "targeting" inner, upper, outer ... so on an so forth.

[unc4life]

just curious
whats the point of this, what makes it better then normal bench?

[hrdgain81]

its not better unc, just different. it hits your tris harder then regular flat bench, and there is less stress on your delts IMO.

[TALO]

Originally Posted by hrdgain81

Also, by doing close grip bench, you arent focusing on your "inner pec", you cant isolate a piece of a muscle. Muscle grows as a whole, there is not "targeting" inner, upper, outer ... so on an so forth.

This just wont die...so many people (including myself ) had / have this thought..

One question. What about the pec major and pec minor. Can these be focused on differentlly...??

I was told that they work together. And the pec minor will acually be worked when doing shoulders or pulling exercises....Don't know.

[Eric3237]

Yeah you can't really focus on them separately. Things that one is involved in involves the other. For instance.....pullups as far as the pulling exercises you mentioned.

[unc4life]

Originally Posted by hrdgain81

its not better unc, just different. it hits your tris harder then regular flat bench, and there is less stress on your delts IMO.

thanks i think il stick to normal bench until i cant progress anymore then work on incline and closed grip just for something different

[thonaker]

You can use close grip bench as a good tricep exercise. Your hands hit your chest. Not too close though.

People have tried to use it to work their inner chest, but I think a regular grip is sufficient for building your chest.

Troy

[Sleazy]

when i do it my thumbs are about 6" from eachother. should they be closer or farther away.

I'm just going to through this out there, you are probably thinking way too much about the distance between your hands. There is no correct distance on close grip bench that you need to aim for. The main thing is just that your grip is "closer" together when compared to your normal bench. As your hands move closer together the focus shifts away from your chest and more towards your triceps.

I have seen MANY people have rediculously close grips with heavy weights on this exercise and all I can say is that they are eventually going to mess up their wrists. In my opinion 6 inches is WAY too close.

If you notice in the video posted by Hrdgain that guys grip isn't extremely close together which is why he is able to hit this exercise so hard.

[thonaker]

Good point on the wrists. That makes sense. Thinking back, I used to grip really close. Seems like it might have been hard on my wrists. It's been a while since I did that exercise.

The weight could also become harder to manage and control if your grip is too close.

Troy