Triceps

Triceps
Exercise safely to its fullest degree, and avoid wrist fractures and ligament strain. It'll still hurt like hell though.

CHEST-WIDTH GRIP
Use a grip that is just at the inside of your pecs, and bring your elbows in toward your sides, so they are the same width as your hands. Now, as you lower the bar, you will notice that your entire arm moves through a single plane, slicing upward and downward parallel to the long axis of your body.

Since your elbows are not twisting and rotating from outward to inward, they underqo less stress; also, since your arms are against your sides, rather than away from your body, you will get a deeper contraction in your triceps and be able to press with more power. Yes, your pecs are involved to a great extent, but so what? Your triceps are pressing more weight than is possible in any other triceps exercise.

As you lower the bar, tighten your entire body, so you can explode off the bottom. Get a good extension, but don't concern yourself with a peak contraction; you'll be using so much weight that you'll be lucky to lock out, as it is. Besides, your peak contractions come with the next exercise.

THUMBS-WIDTH GRIP
To complete the circumferential mass of the triceps, use a second technique of close grips in which your hands are thumbs-width apart. This isolates the outer and inner heads with a degree of power unmatched by any other movement.

Elbow position doesn't matter here; let them move naturally, to wherever they are most comfortable. Your focus now is in contrast to the previous chest-width bench presses. Where those are all power, calling upon the mass of your triceps to explode off the bottom with your elbows against your body, these repetitions need to be smooth and controlled. The pace of the reps must be steady and, since the elbows are in a more vulnerable and unsupported position, not explosive.

You're trying to build a burning pump in those outer and inner heads all the way to a full lockout at the top, where you also get a hard peak contraction. That's where you'll discover one of the major advantages of this movement: The bar fixes your hands in a position that forces an extra twist at the top. You might feel more stress in your wrists, but your external triceps heads receive maximum benefit.

As far as your workload is concerned, you can use the same reps and sets as in any other exercise. A good example can be an initial set of 15 reps, then three all-out working sets of eight to 12 reps each.

Hopefully, we've put all those misconceptions about close-grip bench presses to rest so that you can continue working toward the ripped triceps you've always wanted, and much deserve. This does not mean, however, that you should fear them any less.