The Proper Arm Placement for a Bench Press

There is a proper way to place your arms and hands when you're performing the basic bench press. There are also secondary ways to perform the press that utilize different arm and hand placements. As you do a bench press, your pectoralis major, deltoids and triceps brachii all work together. The pectoralis major in your chest performs horizontal adduction, the deltoids of your shoulders perform shoulder flexion and your triceps brachii extend your elbows. If you change the placement of your hands and arms, you will impact which of these muscle groups have to work the hardest.

  1. Traditional-Grip Bench Press

    • The traditional version of the bench press involves setting your hands on the bar so that they’re just a bit wider than your shoulders with your palms facing your feet. As you perform the exercise, your arms flare slightly out to your sides. This means you’re performing mostly shoulder horizontal adduction and your pectoralis major is the primary muscle recruited. The deltoids and triceps brachii act as assisting muscles .

    Close-Grip Bench Press

    • The close-grip bench press involves setting your hands to shoulder-width apart or narrower. When you do the close-grip version, your arms stay in close to your torso as you lower and raise the bar. There is a greater degree of elbow extension. This means that your triceps brachii becomes the primary muscle recruited. There is also more shoulder flexion than with the traditional version so your deltoids have to work harder. The pectoralis major becomes an assisting muscle in this version. Be careful not to set your hands too close together because it can cause bar instability due to stress on your wrist joint.

    Wide-Grip Bench Press

    • The wide-grip bench press involves placing your hands a few inches further out than you did with the traditional bench press. For the wide-grip version, as you lower the bar, your arms flare wider out to your sides than when performing the other two versions. Therefore, there’s less shoulder flexion and elbow extension and even more shoulder horizontal adduction, which means the chest has to handle an even greater load than with the traditional version. If you place your hands too wide, your range of motion will be adversely affected.

    Considerations

    • Using a wide grip when you’re performing bench presses places a significant amount of stress on your shoulders. As you lower the bar to your chest, the front of your shoulders is stretched to an unsafe position. A 2007 study published in "Strength and Conditioning Journal" found that using a wide grip when doing bench presses increases the risk of anterior shoulder instability, rupture of the pectoralis major muscle and atraumatic osteolysis of the far end of the clavicle. Therefore, avoid doing bench press with your hands positioned out much further than shoulder-width apart and use a lighter weight until you build up strength.