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Close Grip Bench Press
Close Grip Bench Press Benefits
Close grip bench press was voted as the best tricep exercise for increasing your strength and getting more power in your regular bench press. This was recorded on a bodybuilding forum more than once and when you do the movement you will see why.
Close grip bench press is a great way to increase the strength of your triceps and improve the power of your regular bench press. The advantage is obviously that you can use a heavy weight but you need to make sure that you are doing the movement correctly.
Close Grip Bench Press Muscles Worked
Using a narrow grip on the bench press works the triceps muscles more than the chest and shoulder muscles.
Close Grip Bench Press Form
Some good advice is to lie down on a bench and keep your feet on the floor and not raise them on the bench. The grip on the bar should be no more than one hands width a part but also be weary of making the grip even narrower as mentioned above.
It is important that you do not lockout when doing close grip as you want to keep the tension constant on your triceps. This movement has been voted the best movement for developing strength in your triceps and you can see why as the weights that you can use are much heavier than any other triceps movement.
It is strongly advised that you do not put your hands too close together because not only will this put enormous stress on your wrists but also will change the angle to accent more on your elbow than your triceps. The breathing and the movement will be the same as doing a regular bench-press.
It is obvious that you will be doing this type of movement after you train chest as your triceps will already be pre-exhausted. But if you want to make strength gains quickly in your triceps it is a good idea to train them on a day that you do not train chest.
For example if you are doing a split routine it would be on a day that you do triceps and biceps together. This will give you a great "pump" effect on your arms and your triceps should be done first. When starting with triceps at the beginning of your workout you will be strong so you can use heavy weights. The big advantage when working with heavy weights is that you can do negatives with this movement very effectively. It will help isolate your triceps a lot if you can tuck in your elbows as much or as close to your body as you can.
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Close Grip Bench Press