Wide-Grip Barbell Bench Press

Chest · Barbell

How to do it

Lie on a flat bench with your feet planted and grip the bar about three inches wider than your normal grip on each side. Blades pinched and pulled down. Lower the bar to mid-chest, breathing in, brush it and press as you breathe out. A wide grip shortens the range and opens the chest more, so you move a bit more weight but the shoulder works in a more exposed position. The classic mistake is chasing that extra and going too wide: if your forearm is not vertical at the bottom, you have gone too far.

Variants

The drawing shows one way of doing it, and the technique above describes that one. Almost every exercise has variants — standing or seated, the grip, the bench angle — and is still the same exercise: if you do it another way, write it in the exercise note and you will have it every time you train it.

Also works: Shoulders, Triceps

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