Press sitting with a narrow grip. Close grip bench press. We study all the subtleties and secrets. Standing Barbell Press Technique

The bench press with a narrow grip shakes the upper chest, the upper head of the triceps and the front deltas are included in the work. Basic exercise for gaining mass and strength of the triceps. Well adds volume and density of muscles.

Execution technique

1. Place a horizontal bench under the bar racks so that when you sit down on the bench, the bar is clearly over your head.
2. Settle on it. Bend slightly at the waist, but make sure that the buttocks, head and shoulders are firmly pressed to the bench. If you don’t have racks for the barbell, then you will need a partner who will help you to finish the last rep.
3. Grab the bar with an overhand grip. The distance between the arms should be less than the width of the shoulders. And it depends on the type of neck and your ability to hold the loaded barbell evenly.
4. Push the bar up and straighten your arms as much as possible. The bar should be parallel to the neck.
5. Inhale deeply and, stopping your breath, lower the bar to the lower part of the body.
6. Lowering the neck down, do not lower it to the end and do not stop, but immediately start pressing the barbell up.
7. Requiring the most difficult stage of lifting the barbell, exhaling squeeze the barbell.
8. When the arms are as straight as possible, take a short pause and try to load the triceps as much as possible.
9. Observe that during the exercise the elbows move exclusively along the sides, always point forward and do not diverge in different directions. Arms bend only in a vertical plane.
10. The speed of the exercise is normal.

1. When starting a triceps workout, do a close grip press in order to survive the maximum weight, because at the beginning of the workout the muscles are still full of strength and you will be able to survive the maximum weights, which is very important for such basic exercise like a bench press with a narrow grip. And so you will be able to load them with the maximum weight for your muscles. Keep in mind that the working weight in the close grip presses is much higher, unlike other isolated exercises for triceps.
2. Hold the bar firmly, the bar should not go to the sides, it should be strictly in front of you. This happens, happens when athletes hang different weights on the bar in different directions, due to lack of attention, or because of weak muscles for such a basic exercise. If you want to avoid this by doing initial position, sometimes check the position of the hands and make sure that they are at the same distance from the center of the neck. To make it easier to keep the bar even, take an EZ bar.
3. Having lowered the bar down, do not stop moving and do not stop. Because it can shift the focus of the load from triceps to pectoral muscles. Immediately start pushing the bar up as soon as the bar touches chest. With all this, in no case help and do not cheat by pushing the bar with your chest.
4. It's pretty important to stop breathing while lowering the bar and pressing, right up to the point where you've mastered the hardest part. This contributes to the development of powerful penetrating power and a strong fixation of the back in the correct position.
5. Do not bend your spine in order to help yourself squeeze the barbell with your whole body. This is quite dangerous for the back and does not increase the load on the triceps.
6. Holding the bar with a too narrow grip, lowering the barbell, your elbows will involuntarily diverge in different directions. This not only reduces the intensity of the load on the triceps, but also the loss of control over the bar is possible. Remember: the longer the bar, the wider the grip must be in order to keep the bar in balance. It is recommended to perform this exercise with a short bar.
7. When you sit on the bench, make sure the bar is exactly above your head. When you have removed the barbell and lifted it up, the neck should be above the level of the neck.

Application

Intended: Everyone from beginners to professional athletes. Exercise is suitable for everyone.

When: Do close grip bench presses as the first exercise in your triceps workout. In the middle of the workout, after finishing the bench press with a narrow grip, proceed to the French, and you can also add. At the end of your triceps workout, do isolation exercises to finish off your triceps.

How many: 3 sets of 4-9 reps with heavy weight.

Sports instruction: Close grip bench press - according to many one of the most the best exercises to support the growth and development of strength of the triceps muscle of the shoulder, namely its upper part. In addition, the close-grip bench press seriously clogs the top of the pectoral muscles and the anterior head of the deltoid muscle.

Lifters perform close grip bench presses to improve their bench press performance. The work of the joints and muscles inherent in the bench press with a narrow grip is suitable for gymnastics (elements on the uneven bars), boxing (open body blows), American football and hockey.

Video - Close Grip Bench Press

Second video - narrow grip bench press

Broad shoulders adorn both the male and female figure. For guys, they are, first of all, an indicator of strength and masculinity, and girls like the fact that thanks to the wide shoulders, the waist seems narrower.

Conventionally, the shoulders can be divided into two hemispheres - front and back. The latter works when performing traction movements, that is, in those cases when you bring the weight closer to you.

The front hemisphere, respectively, is activated mainly when pushing the load away from the body.

It is this movement that occurs when performing a bench press from the chest while sitting. Let's consider it in more detail.

What muscles work

The seated bench press is one of the main exercises for working out the deltas. During the execution of this bench, the following are involved:

• deltoid muscles;
• pectoral muscles;
• triceps.

Another advantage of this exercise, along with good shoulder pumping, is that it allows you to load the upper chest.

Because the top part pectoral muscles lag behind almost everyone, any exercise that makes it possible to load it with work will not be superfluous in the training program.

The largest part of the load during the vertical press from the chest is received by the front bundles of the deltas, the lateral bundles are included in the work much less. In this case, it is possible to additionally transfer part of the load from the anterior bundles of the deltoid muscles to the lateral ones, varying the width of the grip.

Implementation options

Bench press sitting from the chest

The main thing for this exercise is to place your hands on the bar a little wider than your shoulders. However, depending on the individual characteristics of the anatomy, as well as the goals and objectives of the bench press, it can be slightly changed.

With a narrow grip, the front bundles of deltas work to the maximum. Wide, respectively, allows you to transfer a significant part of the load to the side beams - it is perfect if wide shoulders are your goal.

Press from behind the head

This embodiment allows you to turn off the chest as much as possible, transferring almost the entire load to the deltas.

At the same time, the lateral and even posterior bundles of the deltoid muscles, which are weakly involved in the barbell press from the chest, are more actively included in the work.

Incline Bench Press

This option involves performing a bench press while sitting on incline bench. This technique allows you to give the maximum load to the pectoral muscles. The required backrest angle is 30-45 degrees.

Execution technique

Consider the technique of performing a bench press from the chest. Variants of the exercise, involving lifting the barbell from behind the head or in an inclination, in fact, differ only in the position of the arms and body.

• Take the bar from the racks and take the starting position: sit on the bench, legs wide apart and firmly resting your feet on the floor, the bar of the bar is at the top of the chest, the back and forearms are vertical, the chest and shoulders are straightened, the gaze is directed in front of you.
• As you exhale, quickly but smoothly straighten your arms, lifting the barbell up.
• While inhaling, slowly, maintaining control over the projectile and maintaining the correct trajectory of movement, lower the barbell down.

Do not forget that your joints must be well warmed up before starting the exercise. This will minimize the risk of injury.

Particular attention should be paid to the shoulder joints, which, when performing a bench press while sitting, receive a rather atypical load for them.

As for the negative phase of the movement: spend two to three times more time lowering the weight than lifting it - in this case, your muscles will grow as quickly as possible.

During this exercise, the bar moves in a wide amplitude, therefore, if you want to increase the volume and mass of muscles, you need to do from 6 to 12 (maximum - 15) repetitions in one approach.

The exception is the bench press: in this case, in order not to injure the shoulder joints, it is better to use less weight, doing 15 to 20 repetitions.

Use a bench with a back to give your body a solid support during the exercise. This will avoid a large load on the spine, and will also help you concentrate on the quality study of the target muscles.

Even if you don't have back problems, it's always best to choose between two exercise options - standing and sitting - the latter. When exercising with serious weights, the spine experiences great stress, and the result of this is a deterioration in its condition, which has a negative impact on the work of all organs and systems of the body.

Therefore, it is worth starting work in the gym with strengthening the back and, whenever possible, try to minimize the load to which it is exposed. If the bench also has a back, the load on the spine will be small.

Common mistakes

• The back and forearms during the exercise should be vertical: do not tilt them forward or backward. If you find it difficult to keep them perpendicular to the floor, use the Smith machine. You can also reduce the weight of the burden.
• If you are doing the overhead press, do not lower the bar to your shoulders in the low position, this takes the load off the muscles. The weight during the entire approach should be on weight.
• Also, when pressing from behind the head, keep an eye on the position of the elbows: you do not need to take them either forward or backward, they should be directed to the sides and down.

There are various versions of why this exercise is also called the army or soldier press.

According to the most plausible, a similar exercise was previously used by soldiers who did it using a rifle as a weight.

According to another, the barbell chest press was called military because an athlete who performs it in a standing position and keeps his legs together resembles a soldier standing at attention.

15 years ago, Australian scientists from the University of Queensland conducted a study various options bench press.

In their work, they described the nature of the load on certain muscle groups. Researchers have confirmed that the incline bench press works better on the upper chest than the flat bench press.

However, they found that the difference in the effectiveness of these exercises for working the upper pectoral muscles is actually negligible.

Also, Australian scientists found that the upper chest is maximally included in the work when using a narrow grip.

• Choose the version of this exercise that suits you, depending on your goals: bench press from the chest, from behind the head or in an incline give a different load on the muscles of the shoulders, chest and arms.
• Performing a military bench press with support on the back of the bench will minimize the load on the spine.
• Watch the position of the body and forearms: during the entire approach, keep them vertical.
• Always keep a slight arch in your lower back when doing the barbell shoulder press, this will help to avoid spinal injuries.

Video

Useful video about bench press sitting:

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According to many professional athletes, the close grip press is one of the best exercises for developing triceps. This is due to the fact that all three heads of this muscle are involved in the process of its implementation. If someone made up the top exercises that give real gains muscle mass triceps, then this type of bench press would take far from the last place on the list.

By varying the weight and number of repetitions, you can achieve different goals. Eg:

• strength exercise- increased weight of the bar, no more than five repetitions;
• Mass exercises- the entire range, up to twelve repetitions;
• Neutral (mass + force)– transitions between moderate and high intensity, up to eight repetitions.

Muscles involved

Although this exercise is designed to pump triceps muscle shoulder, it is not isolated. In addition to triceps, the bench press uses:

• Delta;
• Clavicular department;
• Large chest.

The deltas and chest muscles involved in the process of lifting the bar, although they are auxiliary, are also pumped well. If you want to improve the program of exercises for these groups, include bench presses with a narrow grip in it.

Regular, and most importantly correct execution such an exercise will allow you to achieve an increase in strength, an increase in muscle mass, and, if we are talking about bodybuilding, a beautiful relief.

Correct exercise technique

In order for your classes to be effective and safe, you should follow the rules for each exercise.

The narrow grip triceps press is performed as follows:

• Set a suitable weight and lie down on a horizontal bench;
• Set your hands a little narrower than the width of your shoulders;
• Raise the bar with outstretched arms;
• Holding the bar as straight as possible, lower your arms with the bar;
• Starting position - the neck is in the middle of your chest - lowering is carried out on inspiration;
• Pause;
• Exhale and push the bar up. Use the strength of the triceps exclusively;
• Return to starting position;

Close grip bench press. Photo: bodybuilding.com

Elbow pain often occurs when doing the bench press. This pathology of overtraining is usually associated with excessive exercise.

When performing a bench press, in order to hold the barbell at the end of the movement, it is fixed on outstretched arms, while the elbow joints experience serious friction and receive microtrauma, which can subsequently cause an inflammatory process.

Note: this pathology inherent in the bench press, in more rare cases, causes calcification of the joint cavities, which leads to the impossibility of further sports activities. In such cases, very often surgery is the only means to achieve full extension of the arm.

Then, for a certain time, the presses must be performed not until the arms are fully extended at the end of the movement, and this should be done until the pain disappears completely.

• First you need to work out the technique itself with an empty neck. Only then can the weight be used;
• Make sure that the distance between the hands on the bar is 20-25 cm. The mistake is to assume that a narrower grip will help to work out the muscles better. An excessively narrow grip leads to the fact that the athlete receives excessive loads in the area of ​​the elbow joints and wrists;
• Lowering the bar takes twice as long as lifting;
• If the weight is large, unusual for you, do not press without insurance;
• It is not necessary to straighten your arms completely when your arms reach the top;
• Track the trajectory of the neck. For beginners, it often shifts, which is fraught with a drop in efficiency and injuries;
• Your elbows during the exercise should move exclusively along the body;
• Press slowly, not on momentum.

In general, the ideal option for a novice athlete is to perform this type of bench press in the Smith machine. Fixation eliminates the displacement of the neck to the sides. The body remembers the position and develops the habit of holding the bar straight at all times.

Another option is to perform a similar exercise using the barbell EZ bar. It allows you to increase the weights used and is more “anatomically correct” specifically for the triceps.

It can easily be called the most common exercise and the most effective in terms of working out the triceps. For some reason, novice athletes neglect the execution technique, as a result, other muscles are involved, the number of injuries increases, and the target muscle develops poorly.

Close Grip Bench Press Benefits and Features

Main advantages:

• Basic exercise, respectively - perfectly builds muscle mass;
• Increases the results in the classic bench press by strengthening the triceps, chest muscles and front deltas;
• Narrow grip is versatile. With it, you can solve various problems, for example, build mass, develop strength, improve relief (depending on the number of repetitions).

The athlete must establish a “connection” between the “brain and muscles”, do not use a too narrow grip, do not choose heavy shells in order to avoid connecting third-party muscles.

Close Grip Press - Technique

We focus not on weight, but on technique:

• IP: lying on a horizontal bench, arms shoulder-width apart, remove the projectile and bring it out over the middle of the chest;
• Slowly lower the bar to the chest, lightly touching it;
• Hold on for a second;
• Squeeze the bar up, returning to the IP.

We lower the projectile on the inhale, raise it on the exhale. Pay attention - the elbows should be pressed to the body as much as possible. Close grip barbell bench press correct technique implementation, will allow you to achieve the desired result in a matter of months.

The narrow grip press has certain features:

1. Distance - at least 20 cm. But keep in mind - the indicator is individual. Pay attention to the width of the shoulders, be guided by this indicator. The principle “the narrower the better” does NOT work here;
2. Do not straighten your arms at the top point to the end, this will keep the joints healthy;
3. The period of lowering the bar should take exactly 2 times longer than the lifting of the projectile;
4. Be sure to do the exercise with a partner when working with large weights;
5. Do not allow inertia, neck oscillations - otherwise (at best) non-target muscles are involved, and the triceps will not be able to be worked out effectively;
6. For the first time, use an empty bar or minimum weight to practice the technique. No need to be shy about other fitness center visitors. As soon as you see that the exercise is performed correctly in terms of technique, you can take more weight.

The bench press with a narrow grip lying down requires a high concentration of attention - it is strictly forbidden to stop at the bottom point so as not to switch the load on the pectoral muscles. Do not push the projectile with your chest, do not bend your back while squeezing the barbell. Try to fix the whole body in one position, and work only with your hands.

Elbows confuse beginners. Trying to keep the bar in a stationary position, many people forget about the joints. The elbows diverge in different directions when squeezing the projectile, thereby switching the load. Make sure that they are always strictly pressed against the body.

Possibilities and variations of presses with a narrow grip

In the narrow grip bench press, you can use not only the classic straight bar. Allowed:

Narrow EZ Bar Press

Narrow bench press in the Smith machine

The Smith machine is one of the best solutions for beginners. During the exercise, you do not have to be distracted directly by fixing the neck in the correct position. The use of a curved neck also contributes to the stabilization of the projectile. It is considered more anatomically correct, allowing the triceps to work in the usual direction.

If you want to diversify the training, you can periodically include it in the program.

Who, when and how much

To whom

Beginners and pros.

When

At the beginning of training, the basic exercise. Then proceed to.

How many

Depending on the goal (number of approaches - from 2 to 5):

1. For strength - 3-5 repetitions, heavy weight;
2. For mass - 10 repetitions, average weight;
3. Mass + strength = 7-8 reps.

This exercise allows you to carefully work out the triceps, make your arms more prominent and massive. Follow the technique for maximum effect.

Masses to you and relief!

My respect, dear ones! Today on this frosty December day, we'll be warming up with a hot tech note called close grip bench press. After reading, each of you will learn everything about the correct technique for performing this exercise, its advantages and ... well, let's not get ahead of ourselves and create some intriguing intrigue :).

So get comfortable, we're about to start.

Close grip bench press. What, why and why?

Each kachenka and phytonyashki has their favorite exercises in the gym, the first have a bench press, the second have pop-press, such as squats and twists on a Roman chair. The bench press with a narrow grip can also be safely attributed to one of the most common and most effective exercises for the development of arm muscles (triceps) with free weights. However, often the technique of performing a narrow bench press in most, especially beginner, athletes suffers, most often this happens for the following reasons:

• the brain-muscle connection is poorly debugged, which leads to the rocking and hanging of the bar when lifting / lowering;
• incorrect hand position and too narrow grip;
• weight of the projectile inadequate to the level of fitness and, as a result, the implementation of movement due to the connection of “third-party muscles”.

In this note, we will try to reveal all the technical nuances of the narrow grip bench press exercise in order to perform it perfectly. Actually, we started.

Note:

For better assimilation of the material, all further narration will be divided into subchapters.

Muscular atlas

The essence of performing any exercise is the inclusion of the target (s) in the work. muscle groups and the exclusion from the work of all "non-core". In other words, if the exercise is insulating, then the entire load should fall solely on one muscle, the more “ballast” you connect, the lower the efficiency will be, and the worse the muscle will grow.

Therefore, it is extremely important to understand which muscles are involved in the movement, i.e. by what muscle units it is carried out. As for the close grip bench press, its muscle atlas looks like this:

The narrow bench press is a multi-joint exercise for triceps, which is designed to act simultaneously on all three heads (lateral, medial, long) of the triceps brachii. The weight of the projectile should be squeezed out due to the muscles of the arms - the combined effort of all three heads of the triceps.

Advantages

Performing a bench press with a narrow grip provides a number of undeniable advantages, in particular:

• is one of the best complex exercises for building muscle mass of the triceps;
• close grip is versatile and can be used to achieve three goals - the development of maximum strength (1-5 reps, heavy weights); maximum weight (8-12 reps, full range); combination of mass and strength (moderate/high intensity, 5-8 repetitions);
• allows you to increase the results in the classic bench press by strengthening the "strength" of the triceps, front deltas and chest muscles;
• this is an easy-to-use exercise that allows you to quickly prepare the projectile.

Now let's explore...

Execution technique

Correct execution technique is important in any exercise, the narrow bench press is no exception, it represents step by step.

Step #0

Equip the bar and lie down on a horizontal bench. Place your hands narrower than shoulder width, tear off the projectile from the rack and, holding it at the top, bring it to the middle of the chest. This is the starting position.

Step #1

As you inhale, slowly lower the bar to the middle of your chest, lightly touching it. Make sure that throughout the entire trajectory your elbows go along the body (located close to the body).

Step #2

After a second pause, due to the strength of the triceps (on the exhale), squeeze the weight up, returning the projectile to the PI. Repeat the specified number of times.

In the picture version, this disgrace looks like this:

On the move so...

Note:

Many athletes use a very narrow grip, believing that this way the triceps are loaded better - this is not so. A close grip does not actually involve more triceps muscles, on the contrary, it has a negative effect - it creates excessive stress on the wrists and elbow joints.

To get the most out of the exercise, take note of the following tips:

• normal grip width is when the hands are at a distance 20-25 see apart, although everyone is individual;
• at the top point, do not fully straighten your arms;
• the descending phase should take twice as long as the ascending phase;
• watch the position of the neck throughout the entire trajectory, it should not walk and drift;
• elbows should move along the body;
• do not allow inertia and repulsion of the bar from the chest;
• use an insurance partner when working with large weights;
• try the narrow press option, when the legs are on the bench and the spine is firmly pressed to the horizontal surface;
• before working with weight, fix the technique using an empty neck.

Follow these tips, and then your triceps will always swell :).

Variations

There are variations of this exercise, which also take place in the training program. In particular, do not get hung up on the classics, try these variations of the narrow press:

• in the Smith simulator;
• EZ bar press.

Well, that's probably all that I would like to report. Now let's sum up and say goodbye.

Afterword

Another technical note has come to an end, today we got acquainted with such an exercise as a bench press with a narrow grip. Now you are exclusively theoretically savvy, it remains only to consolidate all this boltology in practice, so we blow into the hall and fix it!

Glad to see everyone in good health, see you soon!

PS. Do you use the close press in your training program?

P.P.S. Did the project help? Then leave a link to it in the status of your social network - plus 100 points to karma, guaranteed.

With respect and gratitude, Dmitry Protasov.