Learn to love close-grip benches - Huge Hardgainer's Ultimate Growth Enhancement System

The bite-the-bullet triceps ultimate mass builder

Close-grip bench presses are the bitch-goddess of triceps exercises. They hurt, they're exhausting, they're difficult to control, they're awkward, they're torture on the wrists and elbows if you do them wrong, and they don't give you the isolating burn that today's bodybuilders find so rewarding. Instead, they give you such a deep and overall pump in your triceps that you need sonar to find where it ends, and they pack so much mass into the belly of the triceps that it spills over into the inner and outer heads. In short, close-grip benches are to triceps what squats are to legs.

As with any classic compound movement, the risk-reward equation of close-grip benches is heavier on both ends than any triceps exercise known to man. Consequently, for most bodybuilders, the sacrifices are so great that, in order to avoid them, they're willing to forgo the equally great rewards, even though it means settling for less. Frankly, I sympathize with those guys. Close-grip benches are not one of my favorite exercises and, more often than not, they seem to be more trouble than they're worth. But bear with me. I have some tips that can turn this devil movement into your muscle genie.

The most common and legitimate complaint against close grips is wrist pain. If your grip is extremely close and you have plenty of weight on the bar, that's inevitable.

The closer your hands, the more your wrists will bend as you lower the bar, and the more weight you have on the bar, the more stress will be placed on your wrists. You're then faced with the choice of using either a wider grip or less weight. If you use a wider grip, your wrists don't have to bend as far and are thus relieved of some stress, but this also reduces "the load on your triceps, because more of the work will be taken over by your chest. So they say. They also say that using less weight reduces wrist stress. But that also reduces the mass-building effectiveness of the movement.

The other complaint is that the close-grip bench press is too compound to offer a net benefit; i.e., it works the chest and shoulders much as the triceps and is, therefore, an inefficient triceps exercise. Furthermore, goes the objection, the compound nature of close-grip benches means only the belly of the triceps can be reached, to the neglect of the inner and outer heads.

Nonsense. I can put all of those complaints to rest in short order. Simply use different hand positions. Check out these two versions.

CHEST-WIDTH GRIP

Close-grip bench presses were born with a curse: namely, their name, leading bodybuilders to assume that "close grip" means a grip that's as close as possible and that "bench press" means the same upper-body mechanics are involved as with bench presses for chest (elbows splayed outward, in line with the bar).

Wrong on both counts. Use a grip that is just at the inside of your pecs, and bring your elbows in toward your sides, so they are the same width as your hands. Now, as you lower the bar, you will notice that your entire arm moves through a single plane, slicing upward and downward parallel to the long axis of your body.

Since your elbows are not twisting and rotating from outward to inward, they underqo less stress; also, since your arms are against your sides, rather than away from your body, you will get a deeper contraction in your triceps and be able to press with more power. Yes, your pecs are involved to a great extent, but so what? Your triceps are pressing more weight than is possible in any other triceps exercise.

As you lower the bar, tighten your entire body, so you can explode off the bottom. Get a good extension, but don't concern yourself with a peak contraction; you'll be using so much weight that you'll be lucky to lock out, as it is. Besides, your peak contractions come with the next exercise.

THUMBS-WIDTH GRIP To complete the circumferential mass of my triceps, use a second technique of close grips in which my hands are thumbs-width apart. This isolates the outer and inner heads with a degree of power unmatched by any other movement.

Elbow position doesn't matter here; let them move naturally, to wherever they are most comfortable. Your focus now is in contrast to the previous chest-width bench presses. Where those are all power, calling upon the mass of your triceps to explode off the bottom with your elbows against your body, these repetitions need to be smooth and controlled. The pace of the reps must be steady and, since the elbows are in a more vulnerable and unsupported position, not explosive. You're trying to build a burning pump in those outer and inner heads all the way to a full lockout at the top, where you also get a hard peak contraction. That's where you'll discover one of the major advantages of this movement: The bar fixes your hands in a position that forces an extra twist at the top. You might feel more stress in your wrists, but your external triceps heads receive maximum benefit.

WORKLOAD My sets and reps for each of these versions are the same as for any other exercise: an initial set of 15 reps, then three all-out working sets of eight to 12 reps each. That, however, is where the similarity ends. Where they fall in a workout is as random as Stephen Hawking's universe. The one thing you'll discover about me is that, even after 14 years as a top pro, there is nothing that I consider worthy of the word "best." There's no best protein, no best movement, no best bodypart, no best workout. Variety is what has helped me develop my muscularity completely and proportionately. I don't look at any exercise as the be all and end all, but as one of many components necessary for my total package. Each receives equal time and dedication in terms of its rotation in my program, and the same holds for whatever technique I come up with for close-grip bench presses. may use both in the same workout, or I may use neither. I may use one this week and the other next week. I may not like them, but I use th em. So should you. If it means you have to wrap your wrists and bite the bullet, that's the price you'll have to pay; when you see what they do for your triceps, you'll know it was a bargain.

TYPICAL SHAWN RAY TRICEPS WORKOUTS

EXERCISE                    SETS  REPS

Workout 1

Chest-width bench presses    4    8-15
Thumbs-width bench presses   4    8-12
Triceps pushdowns            4    8-12
Dumbbell kickbacks           4    8-12

Workout 2

Thumbs-width bench presses   4    8-15
Lying triceps extensions     4    8-12
Triceps pushdowns            4    8-12
Dumbbell kickbacks           4    8-12

Workout 3

Chest-width bench presses    4    8-15
Lying triceps extensions     4    8-12
Triceps pushdowns            4    8-12
Overhead dumbbell triceps    4    8-12
 extensions

RELATED ARTICLE: NO WIMPY WARM-UPS

I don't believe in pumping away with an empty bar for a warm-up. That burns energy without tearing down muscle tissue or teaching my body coordination for the same but heavier movement. If I'm warming up, I'm going to have some weight on the bar. I want to feel I've had to push my muscles to a new level by the time I reach 15 reps. In that manner, I also have an idea of what I'll be facing in my heaviest sets. Having my body know what's in store is a better defense against injury than simply getting my blood to flow faster.

COPYRIGHT 2002 Weider Publications
COPYRIGHT 2003 Gale Group