Bench press width article

[Wilhelm]

https://www.elitefts.com/education/how- ... ress-grip/
This is the first hard and fast formula i've seen for establishing the correct raw BP hand position.
The author includes his reasoning.
I've been going max legal width for a while now.
This would move me in a whole hand width to pinkies just inside the rings.

I'm going to try it out tomorrow.
I'm very interested to get people's opinions on this though.

The comments have a couple arguments for why the "hard and fast" nature of the recommendations are overstated.
Guess i'm going to have to move my camera for next session.
****************************************************

"Numbers Don’t Lie
Hand position on the bench press directly correlates with external rotation of the shoulder. There are certain positions that cause excessive stress on your glenohumeral joint. When your arm is externally rotated and abducted 90° from your body, this is defined as the “at risk” position for shoulder injury. This is the exact position of pressing that graced my younger self with a nice shoulder injury. When gripping the bar with a distance of two times biacromial width or greater, the shoulder is forced to be abducted above 75°. At 1.5 or less, shoulders are placed at the ideal 45° of abduction. It has been shown that when arms are abducted 45° from the body, it will produce the greatest amount of force into the bar via EMG analysis [2]. Many geared lifters adopt the ultra wide two times biacromial distance or more grip to shorten the bar path and to work the shirt more. This is not something a raw lifter should ever do for performance. The shirt helps protect the lifters shoulder where a raw lifter is left with nothing but tendons and ligaments. The geared lift is different style of pressing and is not suitable for a raw lift. Raw lifters attempting to mimic this style even with a sever elbow tuck are approaching the “at risk” position and halted progress."

"Wide Grip Means Wide Chest?
Injury risk and performance are not always held hand in hand. Pushing the envelope in the quest for gains isn’t out of the question. The argument can be raised that a wider grip works to activate more pectoral muscles without decreasing tricep lockout strength. Unless you are in a shirt, this is not the case. Research has demonstrated in a one repetition max bench press test that there is no difference in the pectoralis muscle recruitment with a wide bench press grip [1, 3]. Additionally, there is a large difference in the amount of tricep activation with the normal 1.5 biacromial distance grip [1]. Science talks, the results of the EMG settle the case that taking a wide grip is not only an injury risk but a performance reducer. Raw lifting all too often looks up to the strongest of the geared trying to find that magic technique that will help add pounds on the bar. But, they are two different lifts and need to be treated as such. Stealing geared hand and arm position methods sets the stage for situations of decreased performance and possible injury."

[PatrickDB]

Just measured my biacromial distance at roughly 16". This puts my purportedly strongest grip at 24".

Use a grip with pinkies just inside the rings. My hands are 3.5" long, and the powerlifting marks are 32", so my grip is approximately 32-7=25".

So the formula matches, to within measurement error, the grip I found through experimentation myself. Cool.

On the other hand, I'm not sure I trust EMG analysis in this situation, or really any situation.

[Root]

How does one find one's acromion processes?

[Allentown]

How does one find one's acromion processes?

Palpate the acromion process, Root.

[cwd]

How does one find one's acromion processes?

I'm 18" by this measure (my wife helped me). So my ideal bench width would be 27" which is 5" onto the knurling, 3" wider than I've been using.
Today is International Bench Day, so I'll try this out.

[cwd]

It turns out I am stronger benching 27" wide than 21". Sweet. We'll see how my shoulders tolerate it, they seem fine after one session...

[PatrickDB]

It turns out I am stronger benching 27" wide than 21". Sweet. We'll see how my shoulders tolerate it, they seem fine after one session...

Welcome to the dark side.

For consistency, it may be better to think in terms of which finger is on the powerlifting mark instead of distance from the knurling.

[cwd]

For consistency, it may be better to think in terms of which finger is on the powerlifting mark instead of distance from the knurling.

Right, I'm putting my pinky about 1" in from the mark. So probably about 5" in on each side from max legal width.

[edit] -- actually, ring finger on the powerlifting mark. Pinky is an inch or two in from the snatch-grip mark. Dual markings on the B&R bar is confusing.

[cwd]

More pec soreness than usual, the day after benching with the wider grip, but no joint/tendon pain. I think it's good.

[Hanley]

Huh. I sorta just default to "pinkies on rings", but this 1.5X measurement puts me at a 27" grip like cwd. That's "ring finger on rings” for me. I'll try it.

[JonA]

More pec soreness than usual, the day after benching with the wider grip, but no joint/tendon pain. I think it's good.

Haven't measure yet, but ring finger on the mark has always been my typical width. Unfortunately, no pectoral swoleness has ensued.

[Wilhelm]

I'm glad i found this article when i did.
I had gone max legal width maybe 3 weeks ago.
Measurement has me pinkies just touching the rings, but i'm going with pinkies right on the rings for ease of setup and repeatability when tired.

[BenM]

I measured the width between my acronomial processes last night, I made it about 15 inches. I is small framed, I guess

My normal bench grip is pinkies on the rings, although occasionally I'll go a little wider to try and get more chest activation, as I think my bench is very tricep dominant (one of the many reasons I am weak sauce).

My hands are about 9cms/3.6" wide so by my maths, I'm gripping at about (32" - 7.2") 24.8" so I should be moving them in another half an inch roughly, or a touch more) on each side - pinkies just inside the knurling. Amirite?

I will give it a go this evening, it'll be interesting to see how it feels. Not entirely convinced though.

[SJB]

I measured the width between my acronomial processes last night, I made it about 15 inches. I is small framed.

Cry me a river bitch I rounded up to 14".

[BenM]

I measured the width between my acronomial processes last night, I made it about 15 inches. I is small framed.

Cry me a river bitch I rounded up to 14".

Hah! And you bench more than me, at 20 odd years older. Damn you :p We’re on pretty much the same programming, hopefully I’ll catch you soon!

I tried the narrower grip tonight, didn’t feel any stronger or weaker. Gonna stick with it for a bit.

[SJB]

To be on the same programming as me you will have to become a program hopper par excellence. I am happy to increase my bench .5kg (hope you saw the .) per week. I think you should aim a lot higher than me.

[slowmotion]

Where do you measure from - to?
That short video gave me nothing.

[ My close grip is slightly narrower than my press grip, and my bench grip is with pinkies in close proximity to ( but not touching ) the rings. ]

[PatrickDB]

Where do you measure from - to?

Distance between index fingers.

[slowmotion]

Where do you measure from - to?

Distance between index fingers.

That fish I caught.... it was this wide ..... between the eyes.

[PatrickDB]

Where do you measure from - to?

Distance between index fingers.

That fish I caught.... it was this wide ..... between the eyes.

I'm an idiot.

Just use where your pec inserts at the shoulder. It doesn't have to be perfect (because obviously 1.5 probably isn't the exactly optimal multiplier anyway). There's also a video above.