Does wide grip bench press lead to injury?

[jenkmen]

Does wide grip bench press lead to injury? I had an exercise science professor teach us never to do anything wider than medium grip bench press because wide grip would lead to shoulder joint injury over time. I'd like to incorporate wide grip bench into my training but I don't know if I will get fukkd from doing that. Anyone know anything more about this?

[jaxqen]

"To potentially minimize the risk of injury, the bench press should be performed with a grip ≤1.5 biacromial width to maintain shoulder abduction within 45° (8, 10)."
https://basratprod.blob.core.windows...urnal_2007.pdf


Lead to injury? Nope! Maybe increase the risk of injury, according to science.
But, you know... YOLO. Just kidding!

[air2fakie]

For some people it's not an issue so you'll only find out how it impacts you by doing it, IF you feel there's sufficient benefit to try. You'll likely start to get indicators if it's creating an issue before it becomes an actual "injury".

[MG5]

This will vary person to person. Some do great with it, others not so much. Don't think there's any set rules here to apply to every single person.

[EliKoehn]

A wide grip with mostly flared elbows has always felt the most natural for me, and only one time have I ever had a shoulder issue from benching: after stopping presses altogether for two months during the lockdown last year, I reattempted to press too heavy, too soon, and had a mild/moderate pain in my shoulder for about two weeks. Dropped the weight and worked through it, making sure not to use it as an excuse to stop benching, and it went away completely with no trace.

That said, I'd just be careful and not attempt significantly more than you know you can do. If you ease into it, and experience no issues, then I wouldn't worry about it at all. Also, if you have longer arms, a normal grip relative to your frame will appear "wide" on the bar, but your own relative joint leverages across the range of motion are what defines this.

[BeginnerGainz]

Depends on your build.

Flat bench pisses off my left shoulder. But I can incline bench with a lot of elbow flare as often as I’d like.

Don’t be afraid to experiment.

[WolfRose7]

Narrow and tucked has consistently been more injuruous to me.

Wide has been my default when working around minor bicep injuries.

For what its worth my very experienced coach has also observed similar.


Worth adding, poor load selection being the main cause of injury, varying your grip by a large amount without significantly reducing the load may well lead to injury. Which may be why we see some people who only benched narrow jump to max width, get hurt and then falsely attribute the grip width to the injury.

[EliKoehn]

Narrow and tucked has consistently been more injuruous to me.

Wide has been my default when working around minor bicep injuries.

For what its worth my very experienced coach has also observed similar.

Why is narrow and tucked regarded as "proper," or am I imagining that?

I'm stronger with flared elbows 100% of the time, but still not sure if that's simply because that's how I've always done it.

[WolfRose7]

Why is narrow and tucked regarded as "proper," or am I imagining that?

I'm stronger with flared elbows 100% of the time, but still not sure if that's simply because that's how I've always done it.

I'm not sure.
I suspect one of the usual pseudo physical therapist on YouTube is probably to blame and it took off from there.

Even my cg is relatively flared, or it just aggravates the hell out of me doing any volume.

[EliKoehn]

I'm not sure.
I suspect one of the usual pseudo physical therapist on YouTube is probably to blame and it took off from there.

Even my cg is relatively flared, or it just aggravates the hell out of me doing any volume.

Well, I've seen this often in the gym "you'll add 15 pounds man if you just learn to tuck your elbows," etc., and I'm honestly not sure whether or not that's true. Whenever I try it, it's a much weaker press, but that could be neural adaptation or technique that I'm lacking. It's still shoulder abduction so I doubt it uses any of the relevant muscles more, overall.

[BeginnerGainz]

Well, I've seen this often in the gym "you'll add 15 pounds man if you just learn to tuck your elbows," etc., and I'm honestly not sure whether or not that's true. Whenever I try it, it's a much weaker press, but that could be neural adaptation or technique that I'm lacking. It's still shoulder abduction so I doubt it uses any of the relevant muscles more, overall.

You got it.

When you switch up techniques, you lose the skill component and it is a motor pattern that has to be practiced until you become proficient with it.

[jademonkey]

Well, I've seen this often in the gym "you'll add 15 pounds man if you just learn to tuck your elbows," etc., and I'm honestly not sure whether or not that's true. Whenever I try it, it's a much weaker press, but that could be neural adaptation or technique that I'm lacking. It's still shoulder abduction so I doubt it uses any of the relevant muscles more, overall.

When I first started lifting, I found I'd put my elbows really close to my sides and bring the bar low. I thought I was supposed to have my elbows out, but my shoulders wouldn't let me so I did it "my way". Then I realized most stuff online recommends ~45 degrees and "my way" was only slightly closer to my sides. A few months ago I was doing close grip and it was almost as strong as regular grip.

Lately I've been having some pretty significant left shoulder pain I've been meaning to try and figure out. Might be creeping my shoulders wider lately... Idk. Or maybe just using all delts. Delts are always the first to fatigue. Every few months I have to try and troubleshoot something and it gets annoying.

[TheShadowMan]

I like to do all my horizontal presses on the ground, so i've never had any problems arise from grip widths. Be it wide or narrow, they always feel really good. I've tried benchpressing before, but I never really felt as strong and stable as when done from the floor. I guess in a rack with safeties set at a correct height i'd feel better about using a bench with, but floor press has always served me well I think.

[GeneralSerpant]

Not a matter of the exercise it's more a matter of your posterior leveraging. I feel like a lot of people it's going to be a matter of your particular tensile coordination at the back, but it is possible train from quite a disposition from optimal power widths inclusive of keeping regard for hypertrophy stimulus emphasis on the target muscle.

[Garage Rat]

I think your more prone to a possible injury with shoulder or outer pec strain/tear.
That being said there is no rule other than be careful,don't max out with the wide grip,and go for a feel for bodybuilding purposes.
Many old school bodybuilders did these for the outer pec line.
There is a picture somewhere of Sergio Oliva doing them with a collar to collar grip on the bar.
I would just experiment and see how they feel for you and be aware of any weird feelings that might happen.