How to do the Barbell Close-Grip Bench
Step by step
- Lie on a flat bench and grip the bar about shoulder-width, hands closer than normal.
- Unrack the bar and hold it steady over your lower chest.
- Lower it toward your lower chest, keeping your elbows tucked close to your sides.
- Press straight back up to lockout, driving through your triceps.
The thing people get wrong
Keep your elbows tucked near your ribs, not flared out - that tuck is what shifts the load onto your triceps. Do not narrow your grip so much that your wrists hurt.
Coaching cue
Squeeze the bar hard and keep your forearms straight up and down at the bottom.
Stay safe
Use a spotter or safety arms; a narrow grip is easy to lose control of near lockout.
Make it easier or harder
- Easier: Start with the empty bar to find a grip width your wrists like.
- Harder: Pause the bar on your lower chest for one second each rep.
Muscles worked
- Primary: Triceps, Chest
- Secondary: Front delts
What to do instead
Same job, different movement — useful if you don't have the equipment or it doesn't feel right today.
Daily Coach builds this into a real weekly plan. It picks the exercises for your equipment and experience, swaps around injuries you tell it about, and tracks what you actually lifted.