Wide-Grip Decline Barbell Bench Press
Trains the Abdominal Head.
- Equipment
- A barbell, a decline bench and a rack
- Mechanic
- Compound
- Force
- Push
- Level
- Intermediate
How to do it
- Set a decline bench and hook your legs under the pads before lying back.
- Set the safety catches just below chest height.
- Take an overhand grip noticeably wider than shoulder-width — wide enough that the forearms sit vertical at the bottom.
- Unrack the bar and hold it over your lower chest with straight arms.
- Lower to the base of the chest, letting the elbows travel out more than on a standard grip.
- Press back up without letting the elbows drift toward your head.
Common mistakes
- Stacking two shortening choices without dropping the weight. A wide grip shortens the range and so does a decline; together they can make a load feel light that the shoulder is not in a strong position for.
- Going wider than the shoulder is comfortable with. The grip that works is the widest one that still lets the forearms sit vertical at the bottom.
- Getting into position without help on a heavy set. Head below the hips, bar above the throat, and no way to sit up out of a failed repetition.
- Assuming it builds a separate lower chest. The fibres running from the ribs are best placed for this angle and they are part of the same pectoralis major as everything else.
Muscles worked
Primary
- Abdominal HeadPecs