Lie on the bench with your feet flat on the floor and grip the barbell with your hands around shoulder-width apart. They can be slightly closer than that, but don't move them too close together or the set-up will become unstable and you'll risk an injury to your wrists.
Some bodybuilders prefer to train their muscles just once per week, and some powerlifters prefer to do lighter benching sessions as many as 5 times per week. But most research shows that you can maximize your rate of muscle growth by training your muscles 2–4 times per week (meta-analysis).
By taking a wider grip on the bench press you lift less range of motion, recruit the larger musculature of your chest, and can better set your shoulders in the start position, which increases stability throughout the entire movement.
Why It's Problematic: Besides simply being uncomfortable, gripping the barbell too narrow can result in two issues. First, it's going to internally rotate the shoulders, which puts them in a compromised position when trying to press, and this position can also add unwanted stress to the shoulder joints.
Until you're moving big-time weights, close-grip and wide-grip bench presses will serve you best as accessory movements. The close-grip will overload the triceps, while a bottom-paused wide-grip is great for refining the groove of the press and teaching you to utilize your chest at the bottom and top of the press.
Without diving too deep into surveys done, a 225lbs bench press is a very respectable bench press for the average lifter. A typical weight for a male lifter is between 160lbs and 210lbs. Of course, the less you weigh, the more impressive your lift is.
Statistics show that the average, untrained man should be able to bench press at least 135 pounds.
The barbell should lightly touch the middle of your chest when performing the barbell flat bench press. By touching the bar to your chest, you ensure a full range of motion, which, in turn, activates more muscle fibers.
Unless you're entering the NFL combine, no. "For muscle building, you only need to lower the bar so that your arms are at a 90-degree angle." If you're going to be lifting heavy and testing your limits, lowering the bar slowly can be the difference between getting it up and not.
A grip which is too narrow will emphasize the triceps too much and not generate much power from the chest. The best grip for bench press is the grip at which you maximally activate your pecs and generate power. A grip which is too narrow will emphasize the triceps too much and not generate much power from the chest.
If you're weak off the chest in the bench press it's either because (1) you have weak contributing muscle groups, namely the pecs, or (2) you have inefficient technique, ranging from an inconsistent touch point, bringing the bar down to slow, lacking a bench press arch, or picking the wrong grip.
Wide-grip Bench PressA research study by the American Council on Exercise found this exercise to be one of the most effective moves for eliciting a high level of muscle activity in the pectoralis major, making it a more effective targeted chest exercise than incline dumbbell flys or traditional push-ups.
Use a thumbless grip when bench pressing to eliminate shoulder or triceps pain. Using a “false” or thumbless grip when bench pressing is controversial. Many lifters are afraid they'll drop the barbell, which is a very bad thing for your skeletal integrity.
With your hands just 10-12 inches apart, this is similar to what you'd use for the close-grip bench press during arm training. It hits the triceps dead-on and targets the inner-pec fibers especially well. With your hands much closer to the weight plates, the angle of your forearms is beyond perpendicular to the floor.
Close-grip pushups, which require the same movement at the shoulders and elbows as close-grip bench presses, also work all three heads of the triceps.
The triceps have an important role in the bench press. If your triceps are weak, then you'll struggle to lock the weight out. I always say to my athletes: “you should never fail a bench press rep at lock-out”. Therefore, strong triceps are necessary in order to maximize your strength on the bench press.
Typically used to target the triceps, the close grip bench press can also be extremely effective at targeting the inner chest if you really focus on slowing the movement down and squeezing the pecs together at the top of the lift.
As discussed earlier, the close grip bench press significantly increases triceps strength. Stronger triceps play the most major role in increasing bench press strength. After all, the triceps play a major role in the traditional bench press exercise. The front deltoids are involved in the close grip bench.
