Mudge

My grip does make a difference, and I feel pretty tootin' good about my groove (not so much that I'd tell someone to f'off for making suggestions). If I bring my arms in more it uses my triceps more which is my weak link, the numbers dont move in a huge way unless I CG it, but it still makes a difference. I lose about 5 pounds at least, if I move my hands even one finger inside.

If I move outside I can push another few, but risk injury, my shoulders bothered me after a few weeks of doing this.

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Mudge

Which is why these guys bench to the gut often, but again it varies. If you look at McVicar, he benches to the gut and he has huge arch going.

Saturday Fever

If I bring my grip in, I get weaker because I can't generate the same amount of force over the extended period of time. I can generate enough force to hit a rep at 405, for example, over a period of 4 seconds. But with my grip in, I can't sustain the force for the extra 2 seconds (assuming that's how much extra ROM it creates).

I'm not weaker with a closer grip, however, as I can still generate the same amount of force. I simply can't generate it over the extended displacement.

yay.

Mudge

4 seconds versus 6 seconds suggests you are shortening your ROM 50%, which I know I am not doing with a mere 1 finger movement on each side.

Cold Iron

SF- Are you saying you have 2 diferent grips, one for 1rm's and the other, with a closer grip, that is used for all your other rep ranges?

CowPimp

Great responses guys. This is the kind of thought I like going into this. It seems so simple, but there is a lot of room for speculation.

The other thing I was wondering, in relation to this, is the grip used on other compound lifts. For example, do you grip wider on the bench press than when you military press or do a bent row? I try to keep the grips the same, but maybe that's not such a good idea.

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Saturday Fever

I change my grip all the time. But when speaking of powerlifting and an optimal grip, the answer is simple. The optimal grip is the grip that gives you the shortest ROM.

yay.

mmorpheuss

Very true.

So the question you basically have to ask yourself is are you trying to to move the most amount of weight for that one moment in time, or are you trying to increase your overall strength with each and every training session?

If your answer is the latter, then your grip should vary from workout to workout IMHO. I change the width of my grip on barbell rows for example, and occasionally use an underhand grip.