Arnold Schwarzenegger shares in his monthly newsletter tips and insights on weight training based on decades of experience as a seven-time Mr. Olympia Champion. His advice can range from how he achieves the muscular connections of the mind to how he adapted his training to avoid injury as he grew older.
Most recently, Schwarzenegger answered fan questions about bench press techniques, especially grips. His thumb is not wrapped around the bar when he makes this move. This is called a suicide grip, Men’s health I don’t generally give advice — and the more I hear Arnold talk about it, the more I can understand why.
“I was able to give you all the pages of why I did it, but this newsletter is all about being honest,” he wrote. “There was no real reason. I did it mainly on a sloping bench just because I felt good.”
The purpose of the suicide grip is simple: you are removing the joints from the equation. When you wrap your thumb around the bar, by default the bar sits slightly higher in the palm of your hand. This means that you need to find the right position for your wrist, which often causes the bar to move further away from the bones of your forearm. That’s another thing you have to control when you’re on the bench press. The suicide grip avoids that: the thumb does not wrap around the bar, making it easier to place the bar directly above the forearm bones (ulna and radius) and keeping the forearm perpendicular to the ground. Will be the ideal angle needed to generate force on the bench press.
The problem is that this creates a lot of risk. Since your thumb isn’t wrapped around the bar, you have much less control over the bar, opening the door and slipping off the grip and hitting your body.So we Men’s health We do not recommend using a suicide grip, especially if you are new to the bench press. It is safest to hold the bar firmly and learn how to protect yourself from injury and other problems.
In addition, wrapping your thumb around a bar (or dumbbell or kettlebell) offers other benefits beyond safety. Full grip on the bar reduces the risk of bench press and allows you to take advantage of the principle of irradiation. You can more easily rejuvenate stable muscles by squeezing the bar and applying maximum tension to the forearm muscles. Your shoulders, forearms, and middle back.
Arnold himself acknowledges in his newsletter the risk of injury associated with this technique. “It’s called a suicide grip for some reason,” he said. “Do this only if you have a spotter. Make sure you have a real spotter, not someone looking at Instagram while you’re losing weight.”
You probably like it too
