Fellow Tall People....How Wide Is Your Grip?

[CrownMe]

I'm trying to figure out how wide other tall people with long arms grip the bar during flat bench presses. I've been switching it up alot lately to see what works better. Im talking people 6'4'' and taller.


Help a tall guy out.

[abitkt7raid]

Originally Posted by CrownMe

I'm trying to figure out how wide other tall people with long arms grip the bar during flat bench presses. I've been switching it up alot lately to see what works better. Im talking people 6'4'' and taller.


Help a tall guy out.

I put my ring fingers on the knotch for flat bench, I'm 6'6", everything else feels wrong to me.

[Vigor]

Originally Posted by abitkt7raid

I put my ring fingers on the knotch for flat bench, I'm 6'6", everything else feels wrong to me.

I do the same but place my middle finger on the knotch for a slightly wider grip

Edit: Also don't do a full ROM, puts too much strain on elbows + shoulders when you're tall. Instead of touching your chest with the bar, bring it down just so it's about an inch above your chest.

[Metal_Fingers]

Middle finger on the groove.

Recently scratched bench and started working on form. My elbows flaired out too much and killed the shoulders/elbows. Sucks looking like a bitch, but pain free is pain free.

[JBrook]

Im only 6'1" and I go index finger on the rings. the rings are different widths by different makers but mostly within a 1/2 inch or so. Heres what i do, when my upper arms are parallel to the floor my forearms are at 90 degrees. i think if you are at 90 or greater you should be fine, if its at less than 90 youre probably using your triceps too much.

[CrownMe]

Thx for all the responses.....i just recently switched my grip to the point where i cant get any wider or my hands will touching the barbell stand.

[CrownMe]

Originally Posted by Metal_Fingers

Middle finger on the groove.

Recently scratched bench and started working on form. My elbows flaired out too much and killed the shoulders/elbows. Sucks looking like a bitch, but pain free is pain free.

I scrapped flat db bench because of the same reason....it was killing my left shoulder and i could not figure out why.

[Metal_Fingers]

Originally Posted by CrownMe

Thx for all the responses.....i just recently switched my grip to the point where i cant get any wider or my hands will touching the barbell stand.

Well that is pretty much a wide grip bench. not much tri work there. I found that using wide, normal, then narrow grip on bench day pretty much killed my arms/chest. You might want to dabble with that for a full upper body push workout.

[odin673]

Your forearm should be perpendicular to the floor(or facing straight up) at the bottom of the movement.

[D4rkhorse]

Originally Posted by CrownMe

Thx for all the responses.....i just recently switched my grip to the point where i cant get any wider or my hands will touching the barbell stand.

Seems like that may be a little too far. I know you're very tall at 6'5", but I'm guessing you don't need to go out that far for a neutral width grip. Unless you have a very long upper arm, you're going to be focusing more on the outer pec than the overall development.
If moving around your grip still isn't feeling right for you, you may need to evaluate other aspects of your form, including how flared your elbows are and the path the bar is traveling in your lift. There are a lot of aspects to this lift that could be causing the "not right" feeling.

[altus5]

i also put the middle fingers on the notches. A year ago I was using a much wider grip and ended up busting up my left shoulder pretty bad. It taken this long to get back to where I use to be at that point, but I learned a valuable lesson about hand placement and especially pre-lift stretching.


I would also take the above mentioned advice not to go all the way down to the chest for us tall guys. If someone calls you out on it just be confident in knowing you were blessed with extreme height and a proportional penis.

[CrownMe]

again thx for all the responses. I was trying to wide grip cuz i felt like i was never hitting my chest hard enough on chest day when i was done. I think ill try with the middle finges on the notch and see how that works out cuz the grip i used before the wide grip was more narrow than that.

[TheAntar]

Originally Posted by CrownMe

again thx for all the responses. I was trying to wide grip cuz i felt like i was never hitting my chest hard enough on chest day when i was done. I think ill try with the middle finges on the notch and see how that works out cuz the grip i used before the wide grip was more narrow than that.

I have tried a few places but I'm still a newb (6'7 though).

My question is: the outside of my left arm is sore after I bench. If I just stand there, place my palm down and lift my arm above my shoulder it hurts quite a bit. But if I turn my hand over and do the same, there's no pain. Think this might be related to the discussion topic, ie my bench grip is bad for someone my size?

[sw0097]

you cant go by rings, they vary on different bars. pick a bar you like and use it every time. thats what i do

[JayPSlugger]

Originally Posted by JBrook

Im only 6'1" and I go index finger on the rings. the rings are different widths by different makers but mostly within a 1/2 inch or so. Heres what i do, when my upper arms are parallel to the floor my forearms are at 90 degrees. i think if you are at 90 or greater you should be fine, if its at less than 90 youre probably using your triceps too much.

This answer hits the nail on the head

[skuss40]

i put the middle finger in the notch....i like to go all the way down and touch my chest just slightly though

[mstgkillr]

I am 6'8" and I grip the bar with my pinky on the rings.

[Tallbill]

Middle finger or index finger, but I can't has bench anymore.