STARTIN' OUT
June 2010 - Vol. 33 No. 8
BENCH PRESS VARIATIONS
by Doug Daniels
When choosing assistance exercises for the powerlifts, I suggest you choose ones that provide the highest positive transfer of strength to the targeted lift; and for this month we will deal with the bench. The best way to accomplish that is to choose exercises that are the most similar to the bench yet still can provide different stimuli to the muscle groups involved. The cool thing is that this can be achieved by using variations of the standard bench press and do not require any equipment other than a normal flat bench and a power bar. These variations are the result of simply changing grip width on the bar, elbow position, bar path or range of movement.
The first variation of the bench entails altering your grip width
on the bar. Grip width variations emphasize different upper body
muscle groups for specific goals. A common competition bench grip
is slightly wider than shoulder width. This width emphasizes the
pecs, delts and triceps equally, more or less. By simply widening
your grip, more emphasis is shifted to the pecs and away from
the triceps. Before widening out too far all at once, I suggest
widening your grip 1 inch on each side every 2–3 weeks. This will
allow your muscles and tendons to become accustomed to a wider
grip and develop the required flexibility and strength. Going
too wide too quickly could result in an injury such as a pull
or strain, take your time and increase gradually. You may notice
some pec soreness after the first few workouts due to the new
stress placed upon them. I suggest using a little less weight
at first, as you may not possess sufficient pectoral strength
to use the same weights with the wider grip. Lower your weights
by 20 percent from your normal width grip bench. Before you know
it, you will surpass your old narrower grip poundage. By adding
more involvement from the larger and potentially stronger pectorals,
you now are using more available muscle power to bench than relying
on the smaller triceps to carry the load.
The flip side or narrowing your bench grip is another option.
A narrower grip emphasizes your triceps while reducing involvement
of the pecs. Too many lifters use a grip that is too narrow, some
even going as narrow as touching their hands together in the middle
of the bar—not a good idea. Any grip narrower than shoulder width
does not work the triceps any better than benching with a shoulder
width. Second, this narrow of a grip can cause a lot of pain on
your wrists and shoulders. Lastly, you have far less control of
the bar and can easily lose it, risking injury. A shoulder width
grip is a win-win choice that provides maximum triceps stimulus,
greater comfort and safety. Oh yeah, and you can use more weight.
Varying elbow position is the next bench variation. Positioning
your elbows out at right angles from the body shifts more work
the pecs. Flip-siding again, positioning your elbows close to
the body shifts the work away from the pecs and towards the delts
and triceps.
The path of the bar can also be varied. Bar path is defined as
where the bar hits on the chest. During a normal bench, the bar
would hit the chest near the nipple area, which is the position
of best power and leverage. Varying where the bar hits the chest
enables different parts of the pectorals to be stressed. The incline
bench press is relied on to work the upper pecs, but similar results
can be achieved by lowering the bar higher on the chest, toward
the shoulders, during a regular bench press. As with increasing
grip width, don’t go too high on the chest or heavy too quickly.
Work into the weight gradually. Again, there may be some initial
soreness due to the different stimulus on the pecs. I’ll repeat
the warning of not going too high on the chest. Some lifters lower
the bar to the neck, which, of course, can be dangerous if they
lose the lift. Always use a spotter while doing any bench presses
no matter what variation. The reverse effect is gained when hitting
the bar lower on the chest, more towards the waist. This variation
targets the lower pecs, like decline benches. Neither of these
variations requires any special benches and can be performed on
a regular bench.
The last variation revolves around range of movement or in other
words, limiting the range of movement to less than a full bench
press. Pressing from the chest to one-half to two-thirds of the
way up keeps tension on the pecs and builds power off the chest.
Pressing from one-half to two-thirds of the way down to lockout
switches the work to the triceps. The logical final range variation
is pressing through the middle of the movement. This distributes
the load equally to all the muscle groups while providing continuous
tension.
Several of these variations can be combined to tailor a bench
workout that can fit whatever your goals are. For example, a lifter
in need of more pec power would work wide grip benches with elbows
out. For a final pump set, he would do partials from the bottom
using the same grip and elbow position. For added variety, some
sets could be performed high or low on the chest. Triceps can
be targeted by using close (shoulder) width benches, regular benches
with elbows in and benching from one-half way up to lockout.
One final recommendation on bench press safety I have is to not
use the thumbless or false grip. This grip was perhaps made famous
in the bodybuilding magazines of the 1970s. The California bodybuilders
believed they got a better pump or feel with the thumbless grip.
Please leave this to those golden boys! Benching while not having
your thumb around the bar makes it more likely to fall out of
your hand and on to you. I would bet most of the injuries involving
a dropped bar could have been prevented by using a thumb grip.
The regular bench press is still your best choice for building
power in the lift itself, but by simply varying grip width, bar
path, elbow position or range of movement, the regular bench can
be tailored to fit your individual needs without requiring any
extra costly equipment or gym space. Since all these variations
are hybrids of the bench, the positive strength transfer to your
competition bench will be high. As with any assistance exercises,
do not go overboard and perform too many extra sets. Sometimes
choices can be too obvious and simple.
