Blast Your Triceps with The Amazing Close Grip Bench Press

When it comes to bodybuilding and weight training, a great deal of people, tend to focus on certain muscle groups rather than others, or at least tend to favour certain body parts and muscle groups rather than others.

Typically, it’s chest and biceps that most people tend to favour, with body parts such as the legs and the triceps taking a back seat and hardly getting any real work at all. The triceps for instance, is one of the most beneficial muscles to exercise as it is actually responsible for building a set of huge arms, rather than the biceps, like some people seem to think.

One exercise that is absolutely great at really isolating the triceps and hitting all three heads of this muscle at once, is the close grip bench press, but people seem to shy away from it because they think that it’ll simply be working their chests. By taking a bench press, and adjusting your grip, you are essentially able to create a brand new exercise that works incredibly well.

How To Do The Close Grip Bench Press (to hit those triceps)

Lie down flat on your back on a flat bench, with a bar already racked up above your head. Make sure to choose a weight that isn’t too heavy, but isn’t too light either. After around 8 reps or so you will want to really feel the weight doing its stuff.
Grip the bar with a narrow grip with your palms facing the ceiling. Your grip should be slightly narrower than shoulder width.
Next, lift the bar off the rack carefully, and hold it above you with your arms fully locked.
Take a deep breath and slowly lower the bar down towards the middle of your chest. Make sure that you keep your elbows as close to your body as possible, at all times, as this will help to really isolate the triceps.
Slowly graze the middle of your chest with the bar, hold for a second, and then push the bar upwards, using power from your triceps, exhaling as you do so.
Once your arms are fully locked once more, repeat the entire process for the necessary required amount of repetitions.
When you’re done, make sure you re-rack the bar safely before letting go.
If you’re inexperienced with this exercise, make sure you use a spotter, as it can be tricky to master at first.
If you are new to this exercise, start off by just using the bar until your form is perfect, then you can think about adding extra weight plates to the bar.