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Reverse Grip Bench Press
Reverse Grip Bench Press Benefits
Most of us do a bench press on an incline when we think of concentrating on the upper chest but the truth is that there is a better way that the upper pecs can be isolated. Training the chest with a combination of various movements is something that you should be weary of.
This is simply because one can start to get a bit carried away with all the many different variations that are available. But you need to try stuff out so that you know what works for you and what does not. It is always good to do a little research about recent studies that have proven something one way or another.
There are many advantages that you will get from doing reverse grip bench press. Probably the biggest and certainly the most noticeable benefit will be an increase in the power of your normal bench presses strength. But doing a reverse grip bench press has other advantages as well.
The major advantage, which has now been conclusively proven by a recent study done by kinesiologists at the Canadian Chiropractic College. They proved that doing a reverse grip bench press recruited 30% more of the upper pecs than a regular bench press.
This goes to show why you will radically improve the strength of your regular bench press when you train reverse grip for a few weeks. Studies done previously on incline bench press with a regular grip show that only 5% more of the upper pec muscles are recruited.
Reverse Grip Bench Press Muscles Worked
The reverse grip bench press works the chest and triceps muscles, and has stated also works the upper chest hard.
If you are anatomically aware of how muscles work then you will no doubt think that reverse grip bench press makes a lot of sense. It certainly is a wonder that bodybuilders have not been raving about the effectiveness of this movement for years.
Reverse Grip Bench Press Form
A word of advice though before you suddenly jump in and do this new movement is to take a much lighter weight that you normally train with when starting out.
Lay on the bench and place your feet firmly on the floor.
Grab the bar with an underhand (palms up) grip.
Un rack the weight and while keeping your elbows tucked into your sides, slowly lower until 1 inch from your middle chest.
Flex your triceps and push the bar up.
Do not lock out your elbows, lower again and repeat for reps.
You will find that you can increase your strength quickly but you should make sure that you are holding your hands a little wider than your shoulders. A good idea is to also make sure that you have a spotter because you will fail very quickly when you first start out.
Just to repeat you will need to start off light as you will be using a new angle on the upper pecs that will be taking most of the weight directly.
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Reverse Grip Bench Press