Bench Press

I used to do thumbless on lite sets and regular grip on max effort, eventually I used the thumbless grip so much that I stuck with it.
 
All all valid points. I use thumb around the bar and on a max effort lift. My hand placement it a thumb length away from the smooth part. Right inside the rings. This is where I generate more power. I will try it out to see how my elbows and shoulders feel, but not on a max effort lift.

I was using the Texas Power Bar at my gym. But after a few years of guys do oly lifts and just dropping it on the pins the bar has lost its rigidity.

A few months or weeks ago I purchased an Eleiko Competition powerlifting bar. And the difference in stability and rigidity was night and day. And I believe that has a small part to do with my shoulders and elbows feeling a bit beat up.

I love the bar. But like @brutus79 and @colossus25. I was taught to squeeze the shit out of the bar and try to bend it to get lat and tricep activation.

I'm sure that I won't make the switch to suicide. Just will work it in on lighter sets. More like my warm up sets.

@DrinkFlintWater @Demondosage, I'm going to get an axle/fat bar they are pretty inexpensive. And use it in my off season work.

@Demondosage every time I see you post your username just makes think of high doses of tren. Lol...
Like a g for that bar... worth all that $? I looked at them... and then kept looking lol
 
People do thumbless bc it's easy on the wrists. The reason it's easy on the wrists even if the wrists are bent is bc the bar sits right above the wrist and not further out on the hand so there's no torque on the wrist only straight forces acting down.

You can get the same thing with a normal grip if you know how to grip the bar right. Plus it's much much safer.
 
If its a machine or smith going thumbless is great. I can get better contractions that way.
If its a free weight use your damn thumbs. Its a built in safety feature being born with thumbs. Duh! Lol

This is a good point. Most of my max outs are with smith or machines and that's been due to my travels (always the new guy in the gym so I don't talk to anyone, be gone in a week or month so what's the point) and with these equipment I do a lot of false grips. Every movement of grip and hand placement gives me something new. Free weights...yeah you better be using them thumbs lol
 
People do thumbless bc it's easy on the wrists. The reason it's easy on the wrists even if the wrists are bent is bc the bar sits right above the wrist and not further out on the hand so there's no torque on the wrist only straight forces acting down.

You can get the same thing with a normal grip if you know how to grip the bar right. Plus it's much much safer.
You probably have enough hair on your hands that you could do a suicide grip and wrap the bar with the hair and still be safe?
 
I was taught to "bend the bar" where I have a thumb around the bar, gripping as tight as I can while attempting to make my wrists face each other and forcing my elbows in. All my torque comes from that activation, which activates my lats, which gives my tris a base from retracting my scapular area. I honestly wouldn't know how to stay solid and tight with a suicide grip... it just seems pointless.
Mind you im not talking about max attempts but pressing thumbless makes it easier for me to get in to the mentality of pressing like a bear. If you look at the anatomy of a bear and see their arms act more like levers its an interesting advantage and oddly enough its also one i find that gets superior contractions during my chest work. Mostly on the hammer machines or smith machine.

If you take this version of a press, The Twist Press, you can see in an exaggerated form what im trying to describe. It creates a very interesting dynamic on chest day.
Or this

Dumbbell hex press. Hand/wrist placement can entirely change your chest work
 
As for suicide grip. I used on warmups today. I had a rough day today so I just cut my losses and wrapped it up. But I worked up to 275 on bench suicide as I got ready to rack it, that bar rolled out of my hands and on to the rack thank god. No suicide grip ever for me.
 
As for suicide grip. I used on warmups today. I had a rough day today so I just cut my losses and wrapped it up. But I worked up to 275 on bench suicide as I got ready to rack it, that bar rolled out of my hands and on to the rack thank god. No suicide grip ever for me.

I've never had that happen... Idk I've pushed some heavy weight suicide, and I don't have big hands or anything... Maybe because I always chalk? Fingers crossed I didn't jinx myself lol
 
I've never had that happen... Idk I've pushed some heavy weight suicide, and I don't have big hands or anything... Maybe because I always chalk? Fingers crossed I didn't jinx myself lol
I believe in my case it's just a matter of getting acclimated to using the false grip.

As I get older I'm willing to try things that will place less strain on my body.

Not sure if I'd be willing to practice this one though.
 
To me it depends on the exercise. On bench press, I always go close grip, unless it's super low weight and I'm going for reps. But, on lat pull downs, for instance, I almost always go suicide. Suicide grip helps build forearms with certain exercises, but on bench, close grip is safer.
 
To me it depends on the exercise. On bench press, I always go close grip, unless it's super low weight and I'm going for reps. But, on lat pull downs, for instance, I almost always go suicide. Suicide grip helps build forearms with certain exercises, but on bench, close grip is safer.

How does suicide grip help build forearms? Normal grip or fat grip builds forearms not suicide it actually takes a lot of stress out from them also I am not sure what you mean by close grip since it usually indicates the distance between your hands on the barbell. I believe you mean thumbs around
 
I started using a suicide grip after a shoulder injury. Wrapping my thumb had my elbows bow at an angle that put unneeded stress on my shoulder. Basically I needed to re-work my technique, but instead I just changed grip.

After a few months, I had almost dropped the bar a couple times and decided that was the end of that. Then like brutus, was told about the idea of "bending the bar..." like wrap your thumbs as you lay down and before you push off, feel like your breaking the bar in half so you pull elbows in. Haven't had too many problems since
 
I use false and haven't had anything even close to an issue yet. I have had my wrist wobble a few times before I started using wraps. I can see how a false grip with wrist wobble could end up badly. Luckily I'm not strong yet so if the bar fell on me I'd be ok, lol :p
 
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