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Wider Grip?!

If you hold your arms in a crucifix position, then bend your elbows to 90 degrees that will give your a rough guide to hand position. Though obviously not 100% accurate

That assumes the bar will touch your chest somewhere near your collar bone, and that your shoulder blades aren't retracted/chest opened up. This will give you a really wide grip as Bazza suggested.

The bar should be touching somewhere around your nipple line or slightly below, with the chest high. If you grip the bar so that the elbows are 90 degrees with the bar touching in this position, the grip will be a lot narrower than your method.
 
If you want to have bigger chesticles and work them titties hard, try weight dips. On the flat bench, I believe triceps and shoulders work harder than chesticles.

I got some big gains in chesticle size recently through volume work (bench, dips, DB, MP) and eating a lot. My grip was narrow, is now standard width, not wide.
 
i did a wider grip today and felt alot more comfortable and felt alot better! cheerin
What weight were you working with and how does that compare to your other grip?

ps. I cbf going through and finding your log, just post in here since it's your thread :p
 
A simple way of hitting your chest more with a barbell bench is to do feet up benching. Just take a lighter weight, put your feet up with your knees bent so your feet are in the air and bench as you normally would touch and go.
 
A simple way of hitting your chest more with a barbell bench is to do feet up benching. Just take a lighter weight, put your feet up with your knees bent so your feet are in the air and bench as you normally would touch and go.

Thats auburn fitness first all over again
 
A simple way of hitting your chest more with a barbell bench is to do feet up benching. Just take a lighter weight, put your feet up with your knees bent so your feet are in the air and bench as you normally would touch and go.
Computer does not understand?

Do you mean because you are eliminating leg drive from the lift?
 
Yeah it's pretty much like fitness first benching haha except you're not doing it to fit in some extra core work.:p

I'm not sure why it hits pecs more, but eliminating leg drive is part of it. This doesn't explain why it takes stress off your shoulders though. I reckon pecs are recruited more over shoulders because of the lack of lateral stabilisation your legs would normally provide.

I'm the last guy to advocate bosu ball functional training, but this actually works. Plenty of powerlifters use it. I use it as an accessory exercise when I don't have access to dumbells.
 
I was reading about this in SS last night...

Basically the grip widht affects the ROM and when the load transfers from the chest to the tri's.

Also, from memory (it was only 15 hours ago!) wide grip allows you to use more chest at the bottom of the lift. So if you're struggling to lock it out, bring your grip in a bit. If you are struggling to get it off your chest, bring the grip out. If you still can't lift it, reduce the weight haha.

I always wondered what my chest would look like when I could bench bodyweight (80kg) for reps but it really doesn't look any better than when I was benching 50kg and doing shit like dumbell flys and pec deck.
 
I have been having bad right shoulder pains lately and heard about 'Guillotine Press' being easier on shoulder joints while possibly targeting more pecs that regular bench. You basically go wide (either index or pinky on rings) and lover the bar to your neck or chin even in a straight vertical line. I tried them today and I really liked how they feel.
 
That's because SS is a strength based program ;)

Yeah well it's working because Im stronger, but I thought novices were meant to do similar programs until they are ready to branch off.

Do you mean guys (with a similar BW) doing bodybuilding programs might have bigger muscles (in this case chest) than me but can't lift (in this case bench) as much?
 
potentially yes.

It also boils down to rest periods, how quick you bench, eating patterns, sleeping patterns, genetics etc etc

5 Reps seems to be widely accepted (in those funny rep charts) as predominantly a "strength" rep range with a slight carry over to hypertrophy, then anything higher seems to fall into more hypertrophy based. With anything 15-20+ just chasing the pump (20 rep squats aside!)
 
Thanks. Well Ive got my goals in order, I want to enjoy the benefits of being strong rather than just look good...
 
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