Close-Grip Bench

[cshea2]

I stopped doing bench press for about 6 weeks or so just to switch it up...

I did Incline Db press for my main chest work as well as close-grip bench. I might great gains on both adding weight or reps every time.

I'm confused though because I went back to bench today with what I thought was going to be very light (225) and struggled to squeeze out 4 reps. A couple weeks ago I got 6 reps with 225 on the close grip; that's why I was disappointed today.

Keep in my mind i'm fresh off a week of no training at all.

My question is do you get a direct carryover to your bench when you do close-grip? Didn't work out for me... haha

 

[GMO]

My advice to you is to never exclude bench press from your training routine. It is a staple of any program. It is good to switch up between dumbells and barbell, but bro...you gotta have it in there.

 

[cshea2]

My advice to you is to never exclude bench press from your training routine. It is a staple of any program. It is good to switch up between dumbells and barbell, but bro...you gotta have it in there.

Good advice... I learned the hard way.

Barbell bench has a lot of carryover to db press, but db press has almost zero carryover to the bar...

 

[nononsensemuscle]

Was I reading right that you did 6 reps with close grip then just 4 reps with regular bench press 6 weeks later? This is a pretty big difference...close grip is much harder.

 

[whitemike370]

wider= more chest work out

 

[cshea2]

Was I reading right that you did 6 reps with close grip then just 4 reps with regular bench press 6 weeks later? This is a pretty big difference...close grip is much harder.

No doubt, theres usually a good 20-30 pound gap between my bench and my close-grip. Maybe I just need get the technique down for the bench again, and I'll quickly get back to where I was.

It's normal to go back in weight a little bit when going back to the barbell from the dumbells, but I agree with you it's much weaker then it was 6 weeks ago.