Close-Grip Barbell Bench Press

Triceps
Chest
Shoulders

Equipment: Barbell

New to this

Your first close-grip barbell bench press

What weight should I start with on the close-grip barbell bench press?

The empty bar, 45 lb, for 2 sets of 5. Expect to handle 20 to 30% less than your regular bench press once you start loading it.

Set your hands shoulder-width apart, no closer. Hands touching in the middle is a common picture of this lift and it puts your wrists in a bad spot for no extra triceps work.

What usually goes wrong on the close-grip barbell bench press?

Your elbows flare out to the sides. Tuck them close to your ribs on the way down. That tuck is what shifts the work from your chest to your triceps.

Your wrists bend backward under the bar. Stack the bar over your forearm bones and grip hard. If your wrists still ache, your hands are too close together.

The bar drifts toward your face. Bring it down to the bottom of your sternum, same as a regular bench press.

If the bench is taken

All of these load the triceps under a press. Dips are the closest match and use more weight; the pushdown is the version with the most precise load control.

How to do it

Lie back on a flat bench. Using a close grip (around shoulder width), lift the bar from the rack and hold it straight over you with your arms locked. This will be your starting position.
As you breathe in, come down slowly until you feel the bar on your middle chest.
Tip: Make sure that - as opposed to a regular bench press - you keep the elbows close to the torso at all times in order to maximize triceps involvement.
After a second pause, bring the bar back to the starting position as you breathe out and push the bar using your triceps muscles. Lock your arms in the contracted position, hold for a second and then start coming down slowly again.
Tip: It should take at least twice as long to go down than to come up.
Repeat the movement for the prescribed amount of repetitions.
When you are done, place the bar back in the rack.