Close-Grip EZ-Bar Press

Execution

1. Bring the bar over your lower chest with the arms locked out, and set your shoulder blades down and back as a base.
2. Inhale and lower the bar under control, keeping your elbows tucked close to your body.
3. Lightly touch your lower chest, then exhale and press the bar straight back up.
4. Lock the arms out near-straight at the top without slamming the elbow joint.
5. If you miss a rep, lower the bar to your chest, roll it down to your belly and sit up; a flat bench has no hooks to catch it, so never push a set to that point when you train alone.
6. To end the set, bring the bar to your chest, sit up with it, rest it on your thighs and only then lower it to the floor; never let it go back over your head.

Quick cues

• Elbows tucked close to the body.
• Touch the lower chest, not the middle.
• Press straight up, not out to the sides.
• Grip at the bar's narrow notches.

Common faults

• Fault: The elbows flaring out like a normal bench press

  Fix: Actively tuck the elbows in against the ribs for the whole set.

• Fault: Gripping too narrow and straining the wrists

  Fix: Use the bar's built-in narrow notches instead of gripping right at the center.

• Fault: Bouncing the bar off the chest for momentum

  Fix: Pause with a light touch on the chest, then press actively.

• Fault: Lowering the bar to the middle of the chest instead of the lower chest

  Fix: Aim the bar toward the lower chest, near the base of the sternum, to keep the emphasis on the triceps.