Narrow bench press for triceps focus

There is the flat bench. There is the mythology of the flat bench. There is Monday night: full gym, and all that after the weekend can't wait to train their chest - therefore, flat bench. There are the accessory exercises of the flat bench press. There is the question with a capital D: how much do you bench press? 

Let's try to go beyond stereotypes, and for once ... are we talking about bench press? 😉

Hands and flat bench: the sense of grip

However, there is one fact to consider, and one that is often overlooked: there are several holds for doing flat bench press.

This is because the position of the hands, the width of the arms and the orientation of the forearm musculature all contribute to vary the effect the training movement has on the target muscles:

• pectorals
• triceps
• deltoids

A bit like in the age-old debate of incline bench press and high chest workout, in which one wonders how much the inclination of the bench affects the trained fibres: change the pinch (made with three fingers) bench press means act on the percentage of activation of the individual muscles.

An example? The narrow bench which, in a nutshell and faster-than-you-can't, focuses on the triceps.

Narrow bench, steel triceps

The name says it. Narrow bench press means grasping the barbell with your hands closer together than during the standard flat bench press.

Result? If with the flat bench the focus is on the pectorals, and secondly on the triceps and deltoids, with the close grip bench press the focus is on the triceps.

How do you bench press tight?

Like the flat bench:

• lie down on the bench
• feet firmly on the ground
• shoulder blades down / back
• contraction of core and buttocks (and why not, legs)
• you grab the bar with a grip that is tighter than your normal. Generally, the distance is that of the shoulders (can you tighten more? Yes ... but. See below)
• perform the movement

A trick for avoid any type of shoulder and elbow mange: For optimal movement, your forearms should still be parallel to each other. This does not mean that you cannot tighten your grip almost to the contact of your hands, but I advise you not to use this mode with heavy loads, but only on light series.

Advice on how to use the close grip flat bench

First of all: it is not a fundamental exercise. the bench press is and remains the key exercise. With the tight grip, however, you have at your disposal a terrific accessory for

• work the triceps directly
• avoid other exercises triceps-centric which, due to physical conformation, give you discomfort in the elbows (like the french press or standing extensions)
• exhausting your arms after the main push workout
• vary (it doesn't hurt)

Last tip: don't think you can use the same loads on the narrow bench as you use on the flat. Lightweight parts, with long series, and build impressive arms.

The meaning is precisely the work of (almost) isolation of the triceps.

 

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