Close grip bench press

[Tomer]

Hey,
I've just added close grip bench press to my tricep routine but i'm having problems isolating the tris in this excersize.
My chest is usually still sore from my chest day and i can feel it burning up when i do the close grip benching.
I have tried using low weight and really watching my form but still the same problem.
should i have my elbows close to my sides when bringing the weight down?
what is the proper form to get the real tricep isolation and use little to no chest
thanks in advance

[asajiro]

wait at least five days between your chest workout, and doing close grip bench presses. another thing you could try is puting your tricep workout after working your chest

[Tomer]

well, right now my split is back/chest and arms/shoulders
it doesn't make sense to wait 5 days because then my tris would be sore for my next chest workout

[asajiro]

try doing close grip bench with a reverse grip for your tri's. if that doesn't work give working your chest and tri's on the same day a shot.
when i was doing close grip bench presses for my tri's, i always felt them in my chest as well, no matter what i did. that's one of the reasons i started working tri's with chest.

right now, this is what my workout looks like

chest, tri's
off day
back, bi's
off day
shoulders
off day
legs


i hope this helps you somewhat

[Robert]

I love close grip bench, its brought my lacking tris up to par with my buddy. I do chest/tri's and hitup close grip after my chest workout, it is the first tri exercise I do. I keep my elbows tight to my body and my grip isn't extremely close so that it wont hurt my wrists. I dont really feel a burn in my chest, I use to but my grip was to wide, narrow your grip a bit unless it already is narrow enough. If that doesnt work then load up and EZ curl bar and do it on that, the angle of the grips shouldn't hurt your wrist.

Peace

[Tomer]

thanks for the advice guys.
today i held the bar a little closer ( even though i thought i was too close ) decreased weight and really focuse on hitting the triceps. And i got a pretty good burn.
Robert - the ez curl bar idea is a good one, thanks.
next week i'll try that

[bigobb]

how close is your grip? I've always used thumbs apart, so that my 2 thumbs from my hands touch each other.

[Yosef]

if you felt that your chest is working too,.....simply don't do it

[Fudog1138]

As long as there is weight on your chest then your going to stimulate fiber in your chest. How much depends upon your grip. Wide grip hits more pectoral fiber, close grip depends more upon your triceps doing the action. Either way both muscle groups are involved.
Today is tri/bi/forearm day for me. Yesterday was chest. I'll feel a bit of a pinch in my sets of close grip. If I'm unusually sore I could pre-fatigue with skull crushers or superset skulls then close grip press.

[Robert]

Yeah, no matter what the chest will always be involved. Thats why I do it on chest day and make close grip my first tricep exercise.

peace

[Big H]

Originally posted by Yosef
if you felt that your chest is working too,.....simply don't do it

Disregard this advice..

[Big H]

Where do you go down over? Your chest, higher chest, or stomach.. I don't feel a burn in my chest, cause i go down lower and come up over my eyes.. It works..

[Tomer]

big h - i go down to around my nipples just like regular bench press
next week i'll try going down lower, thanks for the advice

[gozz]

I have started doing close grip bench duriing my tricep workout and advice so far has been good. However can someone definitely say whether you are supposed to keep your elbows tucked in or have them pointing outwards when you do it? Thanks

[wick]

I have started doing close grip bench duriing my tricep workout and advice so far has been good. However can someone definitely say whether you are supposed to keep your elbows tucked in or have them pointing outwards when you do it? Thanks

tucked in

[gozz]

tucked in

Cheers wick. Thats good because ive been doing it that way so far so im glad ive been doing it right

[Beachman]

http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/...enchPress.html

This might help.

Good luck!

[DJAuto]

tucked in

Absolutely. I prefer a little chest activation as well so I regularly flare out my arms.

[XXX666]

Hey,
I've just added close grip bench press to my tricep routine but i'm having problems isolating the tris in this excersize.
My chest is usually still sore from my chest day and i can feel it burning up when i do the close grip benching.
I have tried using low weight and really watching my form but still the same problem.
should i have my elbows close to my sides when bringing the weight down?
what is the proper form to get the real tricep isolation and use little to no chest
thanks in advance

still keep your elbows close to your torso but as you lower the weight move your hands so that your knuckles get continously closer to your shoulder. your bend the elbow more.

try this. Hold your arms next to your sides and bend your arm so your hands are right at your shoulders. THis is where you want your hands to be when you close grip bench press. its almost like a partial bench press and partial skull crusher.

[desolator1]

All I can feel in CGBP is my shoulders if I tuck my hands, on the bottom the upper arm does exactly a front raise. Solution? Or maybe CGBP isn't the right exercise for me?