UB – PUSH – BENCH PRESS – GRIP WIDTH & ARM ANGLE – RESEARCH

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BENCH PRESS: GRIP WIDTH & ARM ANGLE

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EMG STUDIES

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PECTORALIS MAJOR: UPPER, MIDDLE, LOWER, ANTERIOR DELTOID & TRICEPS LONG HEAD
– Bench Press & Seated Chest Press

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Horizontal Bench Press and the Seated Chest Press Exercises Using Several Grips – 2023
José M. Muyor,¹ David Rodríguez-Ridao,¹ and José M. Oliva-Lozano
Procedure
– BP: pronated grip 150% and 50% of biacromial width
– SCP: neutral grip ~150% and pronated grip ~200% of biacromial width
– 20 physically active adults; minimum 4 yrs strength training; 8 reps at 60%1RM
Results
Clavicular Upper Section:
– SCP Neutral 150% Width 30 . BP Pro 50% Width 26 . SCP Pro 200% Width 27 . BP Pro 150% Grip Width 25
Sternal Middle Section:
– SCP Neutral 150% Width 31 . BP Pro 150% Grip Width 29 . SCP Pro 200% Width 28 . BP Pro 50% Width 22
Costal Lower Section:
– SCP Neutral 150% Width 27 . BP Pro 50% Width 27 . SCP Pro 200% Width 25 . BP Pro 150% Grip Width 19
Anterior Deltoid:
– SCP Neutral 150% Width 27 . BP Pro 50% Width 24 . BP Pro 150% Grip Width 23 . SCP Pro 200% Width 23
Triceps Long Head:
– BP Pro 50% Width 16 . SCP Neutral 150% Width 14 . SCP Pro 200% Width 13 . BP Pro 150% Grip 11

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PECTORALIS MAJOR: UPPER, MIDDLE & TRICEPS LONG HEAD
– Bench Press Narrow, Medium, Wide Grips

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Effect of Grip Width on Strength and EMG in the Bench Press – 2021 – Saeterbakken
Procedure
(1) RT group had to bench press at least 125% of their body mass
(2) NT group had to bench press less than 80% of their body weight
(3) NT group could not have conducted resistance training regularly in the last 6 mos (i.e., twice or more per wk)
Grip Width
The distance between the arm pits was measured and defined as:
(1) Narrow grip: distance between arm pits
(2) Medium grip width: half the distance between narrow and wide grip.
(3) Wide grip: 81 cm or 32 inches; the widest grip allowed in bench press competition
– the 6-RM in each of the three grip widths was achieved within a maximum of 3 attempts
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Results for the RT – Resistance Trained Group
RT – Clavicular Pectoralis Major: medium 105  ·  narrow 103  · wide 99
RT – Sternocostal Pectoralis Major: narrow 125  · medium 118 · wide 113
+ RT – Triceps Long Head: narrow 77 ·  medium 76 · wide 68
+ RT – Anterior Deltoid: medium 115 · narrow 111 · wide 111

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PECTORALIS MAJOR, ANTERIOR DELTOIDS, TRICEPS LATERAL & MEDIAL HEADS
– Bench Press Narrow, Medium, Wider Grips

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Wide, Medium, and Narrow Grip Width Effects on the Sticking Region during 1RM Bench – 2020 – Larsen, Gomo, van den Tillaar
· Strength Log Summary .
Procedure
– 14 bench press-trained recreational males ≥ 3 years of training performed 1-RM
– 1x bi-acromial distance = shoulder width
Results
1. wider grip – 1.7x bi-acromial distance: 80% pectoralis/delts . 20% triceps
2. medium grip – 1.4x bi-acromial distance: 75% pectoralis/delts . 25% triceps
3. close grip – 1x bi-acromial distance: 65% pectoralis/delts . 35% triceps

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PECTORALIS MAJOR: UPPER, MIDDLE, LOWER & TRICEPS LONG HEAD
– Bench Press Incline, Flat, Decline with Narrow and Wide Grips

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Effect of 12 Variations of Bench Press on 3 Heads of Pectoral Major – 2020 – Roy, Sercia – PDF File .
Procedures
· 13 healthy men with more than a year of resistance training experience
Grip Width
(1) C = Close or Narrow: 100% biacromial = shoulder width (2) W = Wide: 200% biacromial or 2x shoulder width
Type of Grip
· P = Pronated and S = Supinated
Bench Angles
(1) D = Decline -15º (2) H = Horizontal or Flat (3) I = Incline +30º
Results – MVIC – Note: I didn’t include supinated grip results
Clavicular Head Pec Major: IPC 70%  ·  IPW 70%  ·  HPC 68%  · HPW 50%  ·  DPC 50%  ·  DPW 45%
Sternocostal Head Pec Major: HPW 70%  ·  DPW 60%  ·  HPC 55%  ·  IPW 55%  ·  DPC 50%  ·  IPC 45%
Abdominal Head Pec Major: HPW 65%  ·  DPW 65%  ·  DPC 50%  ·  HPC 50% ·   IPW 40%  ·  IPC 25%
+ Long Head of Triceps Brachii: DPC 50%  ·  HPC 40% ·  IPC 35% ·   HPW 35%  ·  DPW 35%  ·  IPW 30%

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PECTORALIS MAJOR: UPPER, MIDDLE & TRICEPS LONG HEAD
– Bench Press Incline, Flat, Decline with Wide and Narrow Grip

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Variations of the Bench Press on the EMG Activity of 5 Shoulder Muscles – 1995 – Barnett
Procedure
– 6 male weight trainers ≥ 2 years of training; 4 conditions of trunk inclination and 2 of hand spacing @80%1RM
Bench Angle
(1) decline minus 18º (2) flat (3) incline 40º (4) vertical: military press seated on flat bench
Grip Width
(1) wide = 200% biacromial or shoulder width (2) narrow = 100% biacromial or shoulder width
Results
PM Clavicular: incline 55 · flat 50 · decline 35 (grip width unknown)
PM Sternocostal: wide flat 54 · narrow flat 50 · narrow dec 45 · wide dec 40 · wide incl 40  · narrow incl 30
+ Anterior Delt: wide/narrow vert. 90 · wide incl 85 · narrow incl 80 · narrow flat 70 · wide flat 50 · narrow dec 55 · wide dec 40
+ Triceps brachii – Long Head: flat 70 · decline 65 · vertical 40  · incline 38 (grip width unknown)
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