But my guess would be that if benching with a thumbless grip allowed him to bench more, he’d do it.
Further, losing the bar isn’t an issue if you are benching with the kind of benches that have “safety catches,” for lack of a better term. They are there to protect the neck, etc. Or just bench in a power rack if it’s a huge concern. Either way, it’s not the big deal people are making it out to be.
Do you know anyone personally who has lost the bar with a false grip? I don’t. This isn’t a smartass question, either.[/quote]
You’re probably right, but since he doesn’t use a false grip, maybe he finds that he can bench more without it. Or maybe an experience like that makes one more concerned with whatever one felt caused that experience and hence avoids it in the future.
You’re right, its probably not that big of a deal because obviously a number of people use the false grip with no issue. For me, its less comfortable and I certainly feel less “secure”, but that could just be because I haven’t used it at all since I watched the bar roll out of my friends hands onto his chest. It was only 225, but it certainly didn’t look like it felt very good. He was alright, but needless to say, I’d rather avoid that situation. And in my eyes, the false grip was what caused that to happen to him. Sure, I could mess up my grip too and it could end up injuring me, but I “feel” more secure and confident with the thumb around grip, and if anything helps boost a lift, its confidence.
Only thing I use false grip on is incline bench on a smith machine. I’m not entirely sure why, but I find that it really lets me get my elbows underneath the bar and hits my front delts a lot better.
There’s plenty of reasons to try false grip, and there’s plenty of reasons not to try false grip. We have a 500# bencher here saying try it, we have a 715# bencher who is quoted on having tried it, and from what I can gather, a fair amount of evidence that it is indeed more dangerous.
It’s up to you whether you want to give it a go or not.
As for wrist wraps: I used to use em on heavier attempts, and actually got some significant results, but I didn’t use them for that specific problem. I broke my arm near the wrist back when I was a kid, and get some pain there sometimes, thought I’d give em a try. You can get a decent pair of wrist wraps for like 7 bucks, may as well see how it goes.
Definitely get some wrist wraps and try wrapping your hands a few different ways for a few different workouts and see what you like best.
Also, when you grab the bar - grab the bar with your pointer finger and thumb with your wrists twisted out. Then rotate your hands against the bar so that as each finger comes in contact with the bar (well, the part of your palm below your finger) that finger squeezes the bar.
This will help you get a death grip in the bar, position the bar comfortably in your hand, and set you up perfectly from the set up to ‘bend the bar’ which will help your wrist issue as well as help keep your back tight.
[quote]rrjc5488 wrote:
Definitely get some wrist wraps and try wrapping your hands a few different ways for a few different workouts and see what you like best.
Also, when you grab the bar - grab the bar with your pointer finger and thumb with your wrists twisted out. Then rotate your hands against the bar so that as each finger comes in contact with the bar (well, the part of your palm below your finger) that finger squeezes the bar.
This will help you get a death grip in the bar, position the bar comfortably in your hand, and set you up perfectly from the set up to ‘bend the bar’ which will help your wrist issue as well as help keep your back tight.
I hope I explained that right, lol[/quote]
Thank you that was helpful, i think i’ll buy wrist wraps anyway as they could help with presses, even if i manage to sort out this wrist issue, they should have some good future uses.
holding the bar lower down your hand x2. i was having the same problem with snatches and realized you definately don’t want the bar further up by your fingers (like you want when you are deadlifting) when you are trying to support it on top of your forearms. wrist-wraps help me, for sure, but don’t solve the problem of needing to hold the bar lower down my palm.
interesting discussion about the false grip. i’ve always written it off as suicidal - but i’ve never tried it. i didn’t know that it was frequently used. guess i’ll stop considering it a write-off.
If your wrists are bent than the opposing pulling muscles are weak. If your bending knuckles toward your head(which I assume you are) it is indicative of weak grip and forearms. Train them both directly.
[quote]tom63 wrote:
Use a regular grip and learn to bench correctly , risk benefit. Use wrist wraps .
And I don’t recall , but done Feds font allow a thumbless grip .[/quote]
Here is some basic math that can be used on any question you may have.
proper grammar + correct spelling + proper punctuation = information that can be turned into an answer.
If you don’t show the basic respect to the people your asking for help, by taking the time to proof read, why would (or how could) they want to help you? I’m not being a jerk, it’s something to think about.
[quote]T3hPwnisher wrote:
I don’t think tom needs any help with posting on this forum, based on how long he has been here and his helpful posting history.[/quote]
[quote]T3hPwnisher wrote:
I don’t think tom needs any help with posting on this forum, based on how long he has been here and his helpful posting history.[/quote]
Yeah, I saw his post count after I posted that and figured it was just a mistake, and he probably wasn’t one of those people who can’t seem to be bothered to type coherently. That’s just a pet peeve of mine.
[quote]T3hPwnisher wrote:
I don’t think tom needs any help with posting on this forum, based on how long he has been here and his helpful posting history.[/quote]
[quote]T3hPwnisher wrote:
I don’t think tom needs any help with posting on this forum, based on how long he has been here and his helpful posting history.[/quote]
I’ll throw two more cents in here because this thread resurrected: In my own version of the thumbless grip, the bar is nowhere near the edge of my palm and may even still be farther back than optimal. So in my own situation, the risk of losing the bar is very low. I wouldn’t use the grip if I felt I could use a normal grip properly, FWIW.
GGRRR!