bench press for sprinters

    Posted In: Strength & Conditioning

        • Participant
          Irish100m on November 22, 2011 at 6:53 am #17984

          when i bench i have my hands at shoulder width apart, the fella spotting me said i would be able to push more with a wider grip … but I’m sure i remember someone telling me the narrower grip (shoulder width) correlated more to sprinting performance.

          What do you guys think?

        • Participant
          Eric Broadbent on November 22, 2011 at 7:04 am #112480

          I wouldn’t think it would really matter much at all. If you think you need to get stronger upper body wise and want to put up heavier weight then go a little wider.

        • Participant
          Mccabe on November 22, 2011 at 7:57 am #112485

          Grip width brings in different muscle groups, my coach says something pretty similar and that you don’t run with your arms out wide so why bench like that…I disagree with it though. Just get the muscles strong.

        • Participant
          Irish100m on November 22, 2011 at 8:50 am #112489

          so what muscles does a wider grip work as opposed to narrow?

        • Participant
          Mccabe on November 22, 2011 at 9:30 am #112491

          Having a narrow grip the stress goes from the chest to mostly the tricep and a bit of delts.

        • Participant
          Craig Pickering on November 22, 2011 at 9:31 am #112492

          A wider grip in theory allows you to bench more, as the bar has to travel through a lesser distance to reach your chest.

          My advice is to not worry about the grip or anything. The main plus point of bench as training aid is hormonal release, general strength, and some neural improvements. It doesn’t really matter if you are biasing your chest a bit more than your arms, or vice versa.

        • Participant
          Craig Pickering on November 22, 2011 at 9:32 am #112493

          Having a narrow grip the stress goes from the chest to mostly the tricep and a bit of delts.

          This too!

        • Participant
          star61 on November 22, 2011 at 10:04 am #112494

          Why not just vary your grip. Do wide grip, narrow grip, medium grip. If you find one you love, stick with it, throwing in the others occasionally for good measure. If you really dislike one version, don’t do it anymore. The difference between each will have little to no impact on your sprinting.

        • Participant
          Pete Diamond on November 22, 2011 at 11:13 am #112497

          Why not just vary your grip. Do wide grip, narrow grip, medium grip.

          Or throw some dumbbell bench in there, so you hit a wider range of motion with each rep.

        • Participant
          Irish100m on November 23, 2011 at 9:55 am #112525

          thanks for the replies!

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