Bench Grip

[Stapled to the Floor]

Hello all.. new to the board.. glad to find ya.. Looks like a great Forum and looking forward to learning a lot..You guys have some pretty impressive lifters..... Im sure this has probably been posted before but since I am new... (Just started WSB 7 mos ago..bodybuild before seeing the light or shall we say the 3white lights..)I tend to be stronger with a narrower grip.. from what I gather this should be my weaker grip but I seem to get weaker once ring finger starts to touch line.. seem to be the strongest with pinky about half inch inside ring.. Have I found a weakness?? Should I train more with index on ring and illegal wides until they "catch up" and/or surpass my narrower grip or go ahead and keep blasting triceps and compete with a narrower grip? Sure seems like a lot more range/movement when using the narrower grip but since I am strongest there I hate to drop weight and move grip out.. of course I guess that is half of whats WSB is all about training your weaknesses.. your thoughts are appreciated

 

[CytoMel]

For our group here in South Florida we use a grip that is a thumbs length away from the inner smooth for just about all the ME benching days except for illegal wides. We move the grip out wide when we shirt up on ME day or when we compete we move it out wide on the rings.

BUMP to someone else who can help with the grip weakness question.

 

[Screwball]

I train most of my ME movements with my pinky on the ring. When I try to specifcally hit my triceps (i.e. 5-boards, rack lockouts, etc...) I will use the thumbs length away from the smooth as CytoMel suggested. My competition grip is maximum or index on the rings. I used to train with index on the smooth but I don't use it anymore do to flexibility issues in the shoulders. The ultra close grips also put a lot of strain on the wrists and forearms.

 

[p03t1c]

i usually bench with one finger on the smooth to a thumb's lenth away. i hard ever take my grip out really far as the real reason i ever do that is to shorten the distance i have to push the bar. everyone once in a while i will do a set with my grip out just for feel, but it's not that often. i'm not really sure what you're problem is from, but just try to slowly get your grip out to where you feel comfortable with it.

 

[powerlifterjay]

Here in central Florida I use my middle finger on th epower ring for bench comps and bench day. The closest i go on boards and shit is pinky on the power ring. I am close to the smoot on close grips and floors but we dont do those much either. I max on boards with my bench grip. I have learned from my experince with upping my close grip that there wasnt too much of a carry over to my bench. I like to use my comp grip the most cause it is were i wanna be the strongest at.

You might be weaker in this position because you may not have the elbow tucked technique down 100% yet. So your using your good tri power when your grip is closer then as you widen up you might be loosing tri drive and puttingmore on your delts and pecs. Check and make sure your elbows arent flared out when you bench. The wider you go the more flared ou they may become.

I may be wrong so i took a shot!

 

[Stapled to the Floor]

Thanks Jay and others

Thanks for the info.. I think since I am new to this bench style you are probably right.. I try to pull the bar apart when benching to activate lats etc but no matter how hard I try to focus, at the bottom of the lift I lose that focus (pulling bar apart) I think maybe at that time my elbows may flair out a little.. No Powerlifters around to critique my form for me though.. I will work more on concentrating on pulling bar apart and I think that will insure my "tuck" with the elbows..

 

[benchmonster]

Are you talking about having problems while wearing a shirt? I cannot go to the max grip raw. I am not very big, and have a bum wing, so going real wide raw is a problem, but with a shirt on, I always go as wide as I can and try and throw my hands wider as I am benching, the only thing which prevents this is the bar.

I used to train everything narrow, but have found recently that to get stronger with a comp grip, I need to train with it. Screwball and I have trained together a couple times, and neither of us can grip the bar real narrow (on the smooth) because it tears up our elbows. But since I cannot go with a comp grip raw without hurting my shoulder, I came up with the solution of training board presses while wearing a shirt once per week. This allows me to strengthen my comp grip, handle more weights, stay in the shirt groove, and put up massive PR's.

Just throwing out some ideas.

B.

 

[Arioch]

I keep mine in relative close, but then my triceps suck, so this is always what I am trying to work on.

 

[Dickvanveiner]

I used to work my ME work with a close grip but I never saw much of a carry over to my comp bench. I will usually on my max work start with a pinky on the ring and gradually move my grip out as the wts get heavier, I usually only go out to the ring finger. I find for myself that going a little wider on my ME has really helped me on my comp bench. I really like doing 5 board and 6 board presses with a wider grip, this is the grip I want to strengthen in the first place. I can really feel it in the triceps.

Benchmonster--I also did alot of boards(2 and 3 boards) using my shirt and I added alot of wt to my bench, I added 60lbs to my max in 8 months using the boards with my shirt.

 

[benchmonster]

Dickvanveiner,

That is great news. I have just stumbled on to these recently. I did a 3 board wearing a shirt with 550 a couple weeks ago, and got red lighted for butt raise on a 505 bench this weekend. My last meet 8 weeks ago, I bombed with 450. I know the shirt board presses made a huge difference. They will be a staple of my program for as long as I can continue to make progress with them. I am thinking for my M.E. days of going 2 board/shirt, then 3 board/shirt, then go for a rep record with 225, or 100lbs dumbells, and starting over.

Keep up the good work.

B.

 

[k1401]

I'm a little confused about the last few posts.

I thought that the shirt would help off the chest, and then tris took over. If so how would doing boards with a shirt help?
Not trying to take anything away from you guys, if you're making gains maybe I should try it as well sometime.
I just don't understand how the shirt is helping off the boards.
Can someone enlighten me?

 

[Dickvanveiner]

Thanks Benchmonster,

I was stuck for a while and knew I was weak in the 2 to 3 board area. What I did for a program was go for 8 weeks doing a simple 5,5,3,3,3,2,2,1 periodization using westside ME movements.

weeks:
1. warm up to 2x5, No shirt on 2 or 3 board
2. same 2x5 same
3. same 2x3 same
4. I put the shirt on, this got me used to the new groove and also helped me to overload this area to greater degree than if I wasn't wearing a shirt, It kept me tight, and personally I liked the fact I could go heavier, it also changed the exercise and kept to the priciple of westside of changing exercises every 1-3 weeks. It also saves the shirt, not as much wear and tear as when you take it all the way down to your chest (2x3)

I'll continue with the shirt until I max on week 8.

And to your post k1401--I was only using a poly shirt, and the poly in my opinion will help you over a greater range of motion than compared to denim( I may be wrong, don't hold it against me), so by wearing the poly, it keeps your shoulders tighter and your tris tight and you don't lose any energy when you contract, you develope more force--I'm probably explaining this wrong but try it and you'll see. I've read some articles on this, I can't remember where maybe someone else can help me here.

 

[benchmonster]

K1401,

I don't know exactly how to explain this, but I can do a lot more wearing a shirt on the board presses than I can without the shirt on board presses. I don't know if this is true for everyone or not, but it is for me. I wear a double denim. I don' t wear poly any more, too hard to get into IMHO.

I cannot go to a max grip without a shirt. My shoulder will not hold up to it. The shirt puts me in a different, and much more powerful groove than I have raw. By training with a shirt on for boards, I intended to do this so I could maintain my shirt groove between meets without having to wear the shirt and myself out by doing reps in it all the time. But I discovered very quickly that I could use a lot more weight than normal by doing board presses with a shirt.

Before doing shirt/boards recently the most I had ever benched was a very questionable 475 a couple different times in the gym. The most I had ever done for a 3 board press was just low 400's. But then I stumbled onto this idea, and now as posted above, have benched over 500 (albeit with a red for butt raise, but there was not doubt the strength is there) and a 550 3 board press. I am better able to overload the muscles that are responsible for locking out big weights by doing board presses with a shirt. I have no pain in my shoulder, and it just works.

I think everyone should try them. Louie Simmons says that there is a movement out there for everyone that will put 50 lbs on their bench. I think for me, at least, that I have found that movement. I would note that I have only done one M.E. day with a 2 board/shirt, and one M.E. day with a 3 board/shirt. I will know for sure if these work well after having done each of them for 5 workouts or so. I will keep the board updated.

B.

 

[k1401]

Thanks for the replies
I'll have to try working those in my ME day cycle after my upcoming meet.
Always looking for something new.

 

[powerlifterjay]

I can defintily hit more with a shirt on boards. I did a 700lbs off a three board a few weeks ago. But i cannot do that without the shirt. We just started using these and i liek them. We have been doing them trying to get used to pulling down on the shirt. Good movement.