With the close grip bench press and chin-ups involving so much of the triceps/biceps respectively, should incorporating them mean a reduction in arm isolations?
Maybe a silly question as i know all exercises involve the arms to some degree - I guess it could just be a play it by ear thing. I’d rather know how much attention i should pay to it though before potentially developing an issue.
Thanks as always guys.
I make zero adjustments when including those lifts.
Play it by ear, see how it goes.
If you’ve had a history of problems with your biceps, triceps or elbows, pay close attention!
If your arms are good, don’t worry much at all.
Awesome, cheers dudes. I’m thinking of making CGBP my main benching movement one day of the week. Hoping the lower weight allows me to push it hard for 3-4 sets but allow good recovery to then do heavier more neutral/wider grip bench later in the week.
Also… for all the stuff I hear about the triceps activation, I feel I’m going to get some DOMs in my upper chest tomorrow morning and some serious OHP carryover! I never really considered the longer range of motion and the activation at the top closer to what you’d get with dumbells. What a great movement that I don’t see anyone else at my gym doing.
why are you running your own program? Why not stick with a proven one from an expert? Then you won’t have to worry about questions like this. You can just do what you’re told to do.
You’re a beginner. You don’t know how to modify programs, because no beginner has the prerequisite body-awareness/experience to do so. You’ve just got a bunch of ideas and feelings floating around in your head about what will/won’t work for you. If I were you, I’d start thinking a lot less, and just run a good program that’s been proven to be effective.
I’m not a “beginner” as such, (440lb deadlift, 250lb bench etc), but I do get that this may be a beginner-ish question so I posted it here.
Is it such a bad thing that i’m absorbing myself into the space, reading and learning as much as I can to create my own program that is loosely based on other programs (right now it’s 80% a basic modified hatfield split)? There’s something about the freedom that I enjoy that keeps me excited to keep reading and further myself. I don’t mind if it may get me there a little slower, but i find it fun to experiment. I’ve neutral grip flat benched 2x a week for 90% of my time in the gym, i’m just toying with other exercises in the same movement pattern.
It can’t be both.
Enjoy the freedom. Take chances. Make mistakes. Get messy.
Not as punchy as ‘live, laugh, love’… but i like it.
I stole it from Ms Frizzle
If are actually ADDING close grip BP and chin ups to your program and not just replacing two other exercises, then you are adding volume to your program.
Now you need to determine if you will be overtraining with their addition. If you weren’t near overtraining, I would think your are okay.
The best way to get the assistance you want, you should show us your program highlighting where you are adding close grips and chins.
Adding an isolation exercise or two isn’t much of a big deal IMO. But adding two compound exercises should be done so with consideration of volume and subsequent recovery concerns.
I don’t know why this is deemed so much towards a criticism? It’s not as if i’m going in blind. Every evening I spend time either reading or listening to things in the space and have done for a good couple years now. Of course i’m not an expert, and nothing is as valuable as real experience, but It’s done me okay so far. My program is pretty much just slightly altered versions of others anyway.
It’s just a simple question that i haven’t had to consider before, so rather than being stupid I tried to learn from people more experienced.
RT_Nomad, no i’m not adding to the program, I’ve been considering substituting one of my bench days for close bench for a bit of variation, I used to do pullups/pulldowns quite a bit but giving weighted chins a go. I’m actually doing Chins on a Monday and Pulldowns on a Friday now but did consider doing Chins 2x a week instead. Weights going up every week right now so I’m gonna keep it as it is though.
You’re gonna get lots of criticism and abuse if you keep using the term “in the space.”
I’m pretty sure I picked that up from Steve Shaw habitually saying it.
Be gentle with me please guys. v_v