Many of my lifters have been subjects in the close grip bench press experiment. That is, using a close grip (about shoulder width) as their main bench press grip instead of their competition grip bench for an extended period of time. It’s worked tremendously well for most of them, many to the point of matching or even exceeding their wide grip bench 1-rep max.
Here’s why I think close grip is so effective.
Increased Range of Motion
A closer grip means the bar moves through a longer range of motion, which means we do more work with every rep. In physics, work equals force x displacement. More work = more gains.
Tougher to Stay Tight
A narrower grip challenges your ability to keep your back arched, your shoulder blades pinched and your lats tight. You can feel this without even getting under the bar: move your arms far apart and your shoulder blades naturally pinch together. Move your arms close together and your shoulder blades want to spread apart.
Tougher to Keep Your Elbows Under the Bar
The single most important thing you can do during the bench press is keep your elbows under the bar. We want our wrists and elbows stacked on top of each other at all times. Your forearms and triceps should make a field goal post shape, not a pyramid shape. The narrower your grip, the more likely your elbows are to flare out too early. Get good at close grip bench and you’ll get REALLY good at making sure your elbows stay under the bar.
Better Bar Speed
Success leaves clues. If you watch the best benchers in the world, especially ones in heavier weight classes lifting the greatest absolutely weights (700-plus pounds), most of them opt for a narrower grip. I believe this to be because world-class bench presses rely largely on bar speed of the chest, much like conventional deadlifts are fast than sumo deadlifts off the floor. Check out the ridiculous bar speed by Julius Maddox on his 782.6 pound world record bench press (Julius will likely be the first person to ever bench 800 raw):
A wider grip may reduce the range of motion, but at some point, maximal weights will make it difficult to generate speed off the chest. The world’s best benchers seem to blast-and-grind, using tremendous power and speed of the chest to transfer the load to their massive triceps for a strong lockout.
Triceps Hypertrophy
Close grip bench builds massive triceps. This plays on the last point, where huge triceps are the key to locking out big weights. We know mechanical stress (i.e., straining against heavy weight) is perhaps THE most important factor for muscle growth, and close grip bench press is the most loadable triceps exercise you can do. The weights you use for close grip bench are going to blow away anything you can use for dumbbell extensions, triceps pushdowns or even dips.
Come a Little Closer
For these reasons, I almost always program some variation of close grip bench press in a lifter’s program if one of their goals is to improve their maximal strength in the bench press.