Thread: Where do you hold the bar for BP?

Its relevent to a persons shoulder width (bones) of placing of hands, a good way of knowing your distance is when you bring the bar down to chest your forearms are vertical.

The most stable/strong position as far as I'm aware is vertical.

The further you go out with the hands, the more the risk to your delts/pecs. The maxmimum legal grip is forefinger on the ring, which is my standard bench grip.

It may be too wide if you are short or have short arms. When I was younger I used to use the middle finger on the ring, I am 6'2".

I am actually not significantly weaker with my pinky on the ring. The closer you grip, as you noticed, becomes more triceps intensive. Since lockout strength is my weakness I almost prefer to work that way more often.

Originally Posted by Doublebase

In relationship to the smooth rings on the standard BP bar. I am a skinny guy and I used to keep wrap my middle finger around the ring. I was then told that is way to far to hold out on the bar. I was under the impression that the further you held out the more chest. A guy at the gym explained to me that its more shoulders. He had me hold in closer and it killed my triceps but I did feel it in my chest.

I usually tell people to start at the same hand spacing that you would use for a natural push-up and adjust from there.

Theres a rule of thumb. Extend your thumbs out and place your hands on the bar. Make sure the end of your thumb is at the line between the inner area of the bar(smooth) and the outer area(rough). Thats exactly where your hands should be.

I place my middle finger on the ring, and that feels fine for me, forearms are totally vertical when the bar's at my chest.

I go with the forearms vertical, which so happens to be exactly the way Scorpion describes it.

The way scorpion described it seems like it would be way too wide for me, maybe you guys are just taller or have longer arms?

Originally Posted by Scorpion

Theres a rule of thumb. Extend your thumbs out and place your hands on the bar. Make sure the end of your thumb is at the line between the inner area of the bar(smooth) and the outer area(rough). Thats exactly where your hands should be.

there is no exact hand placement. depending on your arm length and if you are benching for strength or hypertrophy will ultimately determine your hand spacing