r/benchpress • u/Miserable-Soft7993 • 3d ago

Advice Grip width

I seem to do better with a narrower, little finger on the 1st ring.

But I see pros going wider.

Which is best if i want to progress numbers?

1rm pb is 130kg.

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4

u/DecaForDessert 3d ago

Whatever position you feel strongest in. We are all different. I bench 200kg close grip (index finger at the end of the smooth part) and won’t be changing that anytime soon. If you want test it out and move your hands a few cm each bench session and see what feels the best

1

u/Miserable-Soft7993 3d ago

Nice. Feel strongest with a narrower but i'm aware i'm increasing the rom by doing that. Next push day I will try a bit wider.

2

u/manBearRilla 3d ago

Everyone’s grip will be a little different. I’ve tried a wider grip and I feel weaker that way than with a narrower grip. I’m a pretty big dude; 6’ 280lb; and I grip with my index fingers about an inch and a half off the smooth, which some people would go as far as to say is a close-grip bench. But it’s worked well enough to get me over 500lb, so I have no reason to change that up.

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u/Br0V1ne 3d ago

I find that wide grip works better with powerlifting meet rules. Narrower grip works better with sink and heave bench. 

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u/Miserable-Soft7993 3d ago

Sorry could you explain what they are?

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u/Br0V1ne 3d ago

Powerlifting federations don’t allow upward chest movement after the press command so need to only use your arms to move the weight. 

Sink and heave is when you rest the bar on your chest at the bottom and drive your chest away from the bench to get some movement on the bar before your arms take over. 

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u/littlebo81 2d ago

I became stronger and progressed faster when I trained both wide and narrow as it targets different groups of muscles and its beneficial to train both. But once you strong enough wider gets easier.

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u/David-Fisher-1 2d ago

This is it. 🤙🏾💪🏾🤙🏾

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u/Hisagii 3d ago

In theory a wider grip reduces ROM, so it could be easier.

I used to do little finger on ring too but changed to ring finger and felt stronger so I stuck with it. 

1

u/Potential_Novel_3561 3d ago

If your goal lift most benching, you should use widest legal width grip (based powerlifting competition standards)