- BarBend Newsletter
- Posts
- đď¸ââď¸ does bench press grip actually matter?
đď¸ââď¸ does bench press grip actually matter?
POWERED BY:
Todayâs newsletter is presented by WHOOP. Head here to get a WHOOP Strap and your first month for free!
Hereâs whatâs up in todayâs edition:
Muscle activation and your bench press grip
The power of the 21 workout
Larry Wheels deadlifts⌠with one hand
Exercise Tips
Get a Grip
One of the little intricacies of using the bench press in bodybuilding training has always been finding a grip width to maximize your muscle activation.
Except, maybe itâs not?
According to a research paper, your grip width when using a barbell to bench may be one of the least pressing concerns you could have. It seems axiomatic that a narrow grip will hit the triceps more, and a wider grip will hit the shoulders a little more (and the study shows this to be mostly true). These truisms bury the lede: chest muscle activation seems to be fairly constant throughout all the grip widths.
The study doesnât go into the ongoing debate about whether the bench press is strictly necessary, at all, for chest hypertrophy, but, after reading it, you may realize you donât need to worry about the small stuff quite so much.
From Our Sponsor
Track, Recover, Dominate: Get Your Free WHOOP Strap Now
Training but not gaining? Maybe your tracking is...waning?
WHOOP is the fitness tracker trusted by elite athletes to optimize their training and recovery with unbeatable data-driven insights.
Why WHOOP?
24/7 Monitoring: Track heart rate, sleep, recovery, and strain all day, every day.
Personalized Insights: Get tailored recommendations to maximize your workouts and recovery time.
Community Power: Join a global community of athletes pushing their limits and smashing goals.
Exclusive Offer for BarBend Newsletter Readers: Unlock your best self with a FREE WHOOP Strap and your first month on us!
Workouts
Hit Me!
Anyone who trained arms before they discovered the internet heard of, and engaged in, the â21sâ workout. In the modern world of information shooting off of satellites and social media âexpertsâ criticizing everything to death, this classic biceps training technique has sometimes been shuffled off into the back room as a âbro workout.â
You canât keep big biceps out of style forever, and with the buzzword âlengthened partialsâ on everyoneâs lips, itâs time for you to rediscover an old friend in the form of doing 21s.
The concept is simple: you do seven partials from the bottom position of a curl, seven from the top, and then force your blood-engorged muscles through the movementâs entire range of motion for seven more reps. The result is an arm workout that doesnât take very long, can be used with practically any curl variant, and leaves you feeling as pumped up as an early â90s basketball shoe. Step up to the Blackjack table and take the 21s challenge.
Friday Feats
With one hand tied behind his back
With palmarÄs across the wide worlds of both powerlifting and bodybuilding, Larry Wheels is no stranger to engaging in all sorts of feats of strength. So when he walks up to a barbell loaded to 675 pounds, you would expect something cool to happen, but you still might not expect him to reach down and lift the weight with just one hand.
A tried-and-true âget off my platformâ move, the single-handed deadlift isnât exactly an officially documented world record. Nonetheless, ripping a healthy amount of weight off the ground for all the internet to see is a power move that says, âIâve still got it,â after what has been a challenging year for Mr. Wheels. Discover his whole story, and imbibe the impressive feat, right here on BarBend.
Everything Else
Yellow Light, Green Light
Chris Bumstead isnât just resting on his laurels as a five-time Classic Physique Olympia winner. Instead, he is delving into the seductive-sounding world of yielding isometrics to take his chest workouts to the next plane of existence.
Online music critic Anthony Fantano documents his home gym-based exploits on his quest to squat 375 pounds.
Perhaps eyeballing Fantanoâs squat goals, 84kg powerlifter Agata Sitka creeps ever closer to her stated goal of bench pressing 160 kilos.