"How close?"
The barbell bench press has forever been the great measuring stick of upper body strength – a brutally effective way to challenge the pecs, delts and triceps. And from its original form, the barbell bench has spawned many a variation: incline, decline, floor press, football bar, buffalo bar, and the focus of today’s conversation, the close-grip bench press.
The close-grip barbell bench press, as its name suggests, is performed with a grip that's narrower than conventional on the barbell – but this begs the age-old question: “Well, how close?”
Before we answer that question, let's explore how the closer grip changes muscle recruitment in the press.
A wider, more conventional bench press grip forces the glenohumeral joint into more shoulder abduction, which in turn gives the pec major greater potential to be recruited in the press. If we recall, three muscle actions of the pec major are shoulder flexion, shoulder adduction, and shoulder internal rotation.
So as we begin to narrow the grip, we trade off shoulder abduction for shoulder extension, and in doing so, we increase the amount of joint travel at the elbow, which in turn will allow us to recruit more triceps to accommodate that increased range of motion at the elbow.
"If a close grip is good for triceps, then a closer grip must be better, right?" Not at all, actually.
But – how close is too close?
This is a subtle, but powerful question.
You see, most people in fitness follow what's called a dose-response relationship.
Which, simply put, means: “If some is good, more must be better.”
If some creatine is good, more must be better. If some pre-workout is good, more must be better. If some volume is good, more must be better. If a closer grip is good, the closest grip must be better…
Not exactly.
You see, most – if not all – of these relationships follow a bell curve distribution. This means there's a sweet spot of effectiveness to be found before you run into some unforeseen complication that ends up hindering the progress attributed to the change.
The close-grip bench press is no different. So, what’s the sweet spot? How close is to close? How close is just right?
Think more granular than just the shoulder and elbow.
The answer to this question lies hidden in the intricate anatomy of the wrist.
Let me explain.
The wrist is an understudied and often overlooked part of our anatomy, especially when it comes to lifting weights, putting on muscle, and building strength.
The wrist is a unique collection of 9 irregular bones, connected by a network of ligaments that allows for an incredible amount of dexterity and movement, but also rigidity, when needed.
A very unique combination of features, so unique that the wrist adopts a unique set of terms to describe its movement.
Like most joints, the wrist can flex and extend (move through the sagittal plane).
The wrist also “rotates”, a term that we uniquely designate as “pronation”, which could be seen as wrist internal rotation. And “supination", which we refer to as wrist external rotation.
Lastly, and most importantly for our conversation today, the wrist “laterally flexes”, which we refer to as radial deviation (laterally flexing the wrist towards the side of the thumb), and ulnar deviation (laterally flexing the wrist towards the side of the pinky finger).
And it’s here that our close-grip safeguard becomes apparent…
If you have your hands touching in a close grip bench, representing the “closest” of close grips, your body is going to be forced to make a number of compensations, the most concerning in our case being the amount of excessive ulnar deviation you will find yourself in at the bottom of the press.
See how lateral wrist deviation affects elbow flexion for yourself.
Try this.
As you sit and read this, make two fists and put them together side by side, and just do a couple of reps replicating the arm path of a close-grip bench.
Sit back from your computer so as not to punch your monitor, and notice what happens at the wrist joint as your hands approach your chest…You’ll see how your wrist starts to land into excessive ulnar deviation as your hands approach your chest.
Therein lies the problem – and the safeguard.
${component=Step}Problem: the body isn't fragile, but...
We don't condone fear-mongering with exercise selection, but after decades of doing this professionally and thousands of hours of anatomy study (theoretical, cadaveric, and clinical), I can tell you that the tissues of the lateral wrist are not by any means the strongest in the body.
Specifically, a collection of tissues called the triangular fibrocartilage complex (TFCC). The TFCC is a group of ligaments, cartilage, and tendons meant to help stabilize the lateral wrist. Although relatively robust, it can prove to be vulnerable when stressed under a heavy load in excessive amounts of ulnar deviation.
${component=Step}Solution: adopt a performance-first mindset.
If you're not convinced by the potential risk of landing into excessive ulnar deviation, then perhaps the thought of bigger triceps could entice you to keep your grip width in check.
When your hands are too close in a close-grip bench, you’ll end up limiting the range of motion at the triceps, thus decreasing the effectiveness of the movement.
If your grip position gets to the point where the range of motion is limited by your hands running into your torso, it's too close. The primary way we bias the tricep in the close-grip press is by increasing the amount of range of motion at the elbow. That range is limited if our hands are stopped by running into our chest.
The final grip width heuristic to get the most out of your close-grip presses.
When it comes to the close-grip bench press, you want to adopt a narrower than conventional grip right up until the point where your hands can't clear the sides of your torso. Once your hands are on your chest at the bottom of the press, you're increasing unnecessary stress at the TFCC and you're limiting the range of motion of the elbow, both of which pose both short and long-term consequences in the pursuit of growing big arms and a strong press.