Starting Strength

lifters can close-grip a fairly high percentage of their standard-grip bench press. A wider grip shortens the range of motion excessively and takes out too much tricep, as well as producing a longer moment arm between the hand and the shoulder joint. Heavier weights can be benched with a wide grip since the bar doesn’t have to move as far (the legal width for powerlifting competition is 32 inches between index fingers).

    Figure 5-12. The major muscles involved in the bench press.

    But we are trying to make people strong by using the bench press, which isn’t necessarily the same thing as making people bench a heavier weight. Most people will self-select a medium grip when they first do the exercise anyway. It feels more natural than a wide grip, which must be practiced extensively before it will be productive. A medium grip gives all the muscles of the shoulder girdle a share of the work and produces the kind of overall shoulder and arm strength we want from the exercise.
     
    Elbows
     
    An understanding of elbow position is essential for lifting efficiency and, once again, safety. The elbow joint is at the distal end of the humerus, as it articulates with the radius and the ulna. The bony knob on the end of the ulna that most people think of as “the elbow” is the olecranon process, to which the triceps tendon is attached. The pecs and delts attach to the anterior side of the humerus up by the shoulder. Essentially, all the force being generated by the muscles involved in the bench press moves the elbow down and up, and the forearm parallel to the bar with elbow directly underneath the bar so that no moment force develops between the bar and the elbow. The action around the shoulder joint contributes to the movement of the elbow, but the shoulder doesn’t – or at least shouldn’t – change its position against the bench while the humerus is moving. Think of it as if the elbows move and the shoulders do not (even though this is not literally true).

    Figure 5-13. The forearm must be vertical from all angles to ensure optimum force transmission to the bar and to ensure that no rotational force is generated.

    The position of the humerus while it moves the bar is crucial to the success of the movement. This position is determined by the angle the humerus makes with the torso as it proceeds from the lockout position down to the chest and back, as seen from above. The bar starts at the lockout position directly over the shoulder joint. In this position, there is no moment arm between bar and pivot point – the bar is in balance, with no effort being expended to keep it there other than keeping the upper arms and the forearms locked in a straight column of support. At the bottom – on the chest – a humerus angle of 90 degrees to the torso, a position of complete “abduction,” would have the upper arms at right angles to the bench, parallel to the bar, with the bar directly over the shoulder joints. If mechanical considerations were our only concern, this would be the ideal bottom position because it would produce a mechanically ideal bar path, with zero moment between bar and joint through the whole range of motion, and zero force to apply on any leverage between bar and shoulder.
    But mechanical considerations are not our only concern. We need to be able to train the bench press without injuring our shoulders. Shoulder surgery is a GREAT BIG DEAL, I assure you. This makes anatomical considerations very important in an analysis of bench press mechanics.
    The press is never a problem for shoulder health because when you are standing, the scapulas are free to rotate up and in toward the spine as you drive the bar up. This allows the scapular position to accommodate the humerus locked in line with the forearm, so that there is no impingement between the bony knobs on the lateral scapula – the acromion and coracoid processes – and the rotator cuff and bicep tendons. The scapula gets out of the way of the humerus because it can “float” into a position that doesn’t hurt anything ( Figure 3-5 ). In fact, the scapula is pulled out of the way by the trapezius muscle as the bar is shrugged into lockout.
    In contrast, the bench press position traps the scapulas under the rib cage into a solid platform against the bench as the chest is shoved up and the back is arched. The scapulas are adducted – pinched together or retracted. They do not move if the position is assumed correctly, because they are