Hi John,
The Close Grip Bench Press seems to be a favorite of yours. Is there an advantage with this movement?
How Close are your hands?
Hi Jeff,
Yes, I like it for my Triceps, since I can use a pretty good amount of weight.
Back in the day, I did 315 x 13 reps (I was showing off to some thingyy football players in college)
I was on the track team and the Football Team seemed to have a lot of arrogance, and really the only people on the track team they didn't goof on was myself and the SHOT, DISCUS, HAMMER, and Javelin throwers.
There was a new crew of Freshman Players all full of themselves on the bench press when I walked into the weight room.
I had on baggy sweats and at 6' 3" I actually looked a little thin.
They were warming up with 135# and I asked if I could jump in with them.
The looked at each other and agreed, but didn't look too happy about it.
So I went last on the 135#. As I got under the bar, I was asking them questions like what was the best grip, and how fast you should try and move the bar.
I struggled to do 9 reps. I saw them looking at each other and snickering.
They then jumped to 225# and they each did maybe 8-10 reps.
As I got down to do my set, they were telling me to be careful.
I did a painfully Super Slow 5-6 reps.
Then they decided to go for a set of singles with 315#.
One guy made it, and the other failed but his buddy helped him finish screaming "ITS ALL YOU MAN, ITS ALL YOU"
When I sat down to do my set they were telling me it was a bad idea to even lift that off the racks, but I just asked them to stand on either side of the bar, and not to touch it unless I asked them to.
I set myself, rammed it off the rack using a 6" - 8" width grip, and slammed 10 reps with the bar bending badly each time it hit my chest.
In my peripheral vision, I could see the plates keep going after the bar had stopped on my chest.
I stopped at the top on rep ten, looked at each of them and did three more reps.
So the close grip has always been a favorite of mine.