Long arms, wide grip better ?

[donsj]

I am 6 feet 1 inch. In a good shirt would I be better off with a wider grip and work on lockouts to help at top ?

 

[perkele]

Most likely.

 

[pwrlftrscott]

I am 6 feet 1 inch. In a good shirt would I be better off with a wider grip and work on lockouts to help at top ?

yes, even if your not stronger at first, you will be after some time with that grip. work board presses that are near the height of where the shirt stops giving support, and lockouts. i like board presses every week and lockouts every other week.

 

[Parabellum]

I'm 6'1 and I use the widest legal grip.

 

[Chambewy20]

Go wide, as wide as you can, get used to it and gain strength.

Your at a disadvantage already having a long stroke so go as wide as you can legally and get stronger. You've already identified one of your weaknesses, fix it, and you'll see hellacious gains.

 

[donsj]

Alright sounds good, I just feel stronger with that 2nd finger on the ring but you all convinced me.

 

[Devastation]

you'll need to work the transition point of the shirt thru the lockout to benefit from your shirt

 

[donsj]

you'll need to work the transition point of the shirt thru the lockout to benefit from your shirt

I guess I could do that raw or should I wear a shirt when doing the trans/lockout work ? Would wearing the shirt give me a better sense of exactly where to focus ?

 

[pwrlftrscott]

I guess I could do that raw or should I wear a shirt when doing the trans/lockout work ? Would wearing the shirt give me a better sense of exactly where to focus ?

do both, wear the shirt often, and do boards raw from you sticking point, i alternate shirt and raw days, this has worked well for me and others i know.

 

[Devastation]

you can do your work raw. use your shirt to find where the transition point of it is, and use that point for your work. do not neglect the bottom end of your bench, i still do zero momentum around once a month and do full range bench on my warmups, up to around a three rep max

shirt work does not have to be done every week. you need to do some actual work on your own, as a good shirt WILL assist more than you want. over time this can create weaknesses of their own which will result in failure or injury. shirt work should never be included as a max effort movement, but can be done after a max movement

 

[donsj]

Very interesting viewpoints Dev and plscott. I will implement them and see what happens this summer. I can see how this is of value. Been trying to figure everything out with my brother and getting stuff from the mags.

 

[Chambewy20]

You have to see what works for you... got to www.westside-barbell.com and read some of the articles or go to the metal militia site. They are a wealth of information.

 

[donsj]

Yeah somewhere in there I figured out this way to stick bands on the top of my power rack stick the bands on the ends- of the bar so it is light at the bottom and close to full weight at top of bench lock out point. I use the green bands for that one.

 

[the koala]

considering all said in this post - wouldn't it then be generally adviseable to use the widest legal grip no matter your height?

 

[Devastation]

in a competition, yes. always in training, no