The close grip bench press is up there with skull crushers as one of the best exercises for packing muscle mass onto your triceps. The movement is very similar to that of a traditional bench press except that your grip is a lot more narrow. Hence the name close grip bench press. The narrower your grip is, the more stress you place on your tricep muscles. This exercise can feel a little awkward and unnatural at first but after a bit of practice you should begin to feel more comfortable with it. This is the type of exercise where you can load a decent amount of weight onto the bar so try placing it at the very beginning of your tricep workout. Here’s how to perform the close grip bench press with proper form:
Find a Bench. Just like the bench press, you will need a bench in order to perform this exercise. Find a bench and place it in the flat position.
Load Up The Weight. Load up the barbell with the appropriate amount of weight. If your new to the exercise don’t go too heavy to begin with. We want to get a feel for the movement first and master the form before we start throwing heavy weight around. It’s worth mentioning that a light set or two to warm the tricep muscle up is always recommended before you perform your main working sets, as it is with any other muscle group.
Don’t walk into the gym, load up the weight for your working sets and begin lifting straight away when your muscles are cold. You will eventually injure yourself. Working sets also feel a lot more comfortable once you have completed a light set or two to warm your muscles up.
Starting Position. Once you have your warm up sets out the way and have loaded up the bar for your working sets, lay down on the bench and position yourself under the bar. You don’t want to sit too far back or too far forward on the bench when first setting up. This will make it awkward and dangerous to remove the bar and get it into position. A general rule is to lay under the bar so that the bar is directly above your eyes when you look up.
Similar to the bench press technique, place your back and shoulder blades down against the bench whilst maintaining a slight ark in the lower back. Feet should be planted firmly on the floor with knees bent. Grip the bar using a narrow grip. The grip should be around shoulder width/slightly less than shoulder width apart.
Do not grip the bar too close. If your hands are right next to each other on the bar you will make the lift feel extremely uncomfortable. You will also have a hard time balancing the bar when you lower and lift it. Squeeze the bar hard just before you take it off the bench.
Lift the bar off the bench and position it up above your chest, similar to where you would position it for a standard bench pressing movement. Maintain the slight ark in your lower back whilst pinning your back down against the bench for stability. Look up. You are now in position for your first rep.
Lowering The Bar. Lower the bar down towards your lower chest. You will find that the close grip will force you to lower the bar down towards your lower chest as lowering it to the upper chest will feel awkward and unnatural. When lowering the bar focus on pulling the weight downwards instead of just letting it drop.
Also try and maintain that position where your back is pressed down firmly against the bench. Another important point to mention when lowering the bar is to let your elbows travel forward slightly. Do not let them flare out to the side. This will help ensure you lower the bar correctly down towards your lower chest.
As you lower the bar you should also think about keeping a tight and firm grip on the bar. Weakening your grip as you lower it can encourage your wrists to roll back slightly and throw your grip off, making reps feel harder and more awkward. Squeeze that bar!
Lifting The Bar. Once you have lowered the bar down to the lower chest, explode back up. At this point you want to focus on pushing the bar back up whilst keeping your back and shoulder blades pinned down against the bench while maintaining a tight grip on the bar. It can be natural for the bar to travel up and slightly backwards. Reason being is that when lowering the bar, it can again be natural to lower it down and outwards slightly towards your lower chest.
This is mainly due to the close grip you are using on the bar. Lowering the bar by letting your elbows travel forward slightly will also alter the line the bar needs to travel in order to get back into its original starting position. Do not worry if the bar does not follow a straight up and down line.
How to Perform The Close Grip Bench Press – A Few Useful Tips
Elbows Travel Forward. When lowering the bar you will need to allow your elbows to travel forward slightly in order to lower the bar in the direction of your lower chest and ensure you do not flare your elbows out. This can feel strange at first but when performing the close grip bench press, you will soon realise how unnatural it is to lower the bar in a direct straight line.
Tight Grip. Grip that bar firmly and you will feel stronger and more stable throughout every rep.
Pull The Bar Down. Again, when lowering the bar, focus on pulling the bar down while keeping your back pinned down against the bench. This should help improve your form and minimize any wobbling or balance issues during the lowering phase. When your muscles are fatigued sometimes its only natural for your muscles to shake a little and throw your form off so don’t obsess too much about your form on the final 1 or 2 reps. Just Try and keep your form as tight and strict as possible.
Push Shoulder Blades Down On The Bench. This one relates to when you are lifting the bar back up above your chest. Once you’ve lowered the bar successfully down towards your lower chest, push the weight back up by driving your shoulder blades down against the bench and keeping them there once the bar has returned above your chest.
