I was never a good bencher, had very small wrists, started at 6 1/4 inches, and struggled to get much better than 1 1/2 bwt.
now I am 60 and from years of OL PL and hammer, superheavy weight, throwing my mobility is shot and my bench is, well not competitive, even for a master.
I gave up with regular grip, in, out, wide, narrow, and now reverse. It feels okay and the weights are starting to comeback up
I have a big comp in 7 weeks and bigger comp in 23 and was wondering about benching, inclining with a parallel grip “football bar” … I mean if I am reduced to reverse grip how can it not help…
any experience using such a bar, preferably first hand experience not youtube, internet science
I used it for a while as a second bench day lift, but didn’t notice any real carryover. It might work the pecs a little harder because the hand angle mimics a flye, but other than that it isn’t very different.
I use it a fair bit. In my experience it takes the pecs out if anything (more a triceps exercise). It’s awkward to rack and unrack. I wouldn’t want to be trying to do reps of less than 8 or so with it unless you good medical insurance.
I’m 56 with the typical list of aches and pains you get from years of lifting and learning the hard way. I’ve switched to the football bar for most of my pressing and love it. I agree with banco in that I feel it hits the triceps harder than a straight bar. My shoulders love the football bar. I also find that progress with the football bar is mirrored with the straight bar.
[quote]banco wrote:
I use it a fair bit. In my experience it takes the pecs out if anything (more a triceps exercise). It’s awkward to rack and unrack. I wouldn’t want to be trying to do reps of less than 8 or so with it unless you good medical insurance.[/quote]
If you tuck your elbows more because of the hand angle then it would limit pec involvement. I used the same degree of tuck as with regular bench, though.