Wide grip bench

[novicio]

Hi,

When benching, the past few months I've been using a not so wide grip - with my middle fingers on the smooth line of the bar.
Today I decided to go a bit wider, not having done this a long time, and I had my thumbs on the outside of the smooth lines.

In addition to that, I let the bar touch my chest before pushing back up. Normally I'd stop a couple of inches above the chest.

Now I feel a discomfort/mild pain in my shoulders at the base of the neck.
Did I overdo it?
Should I switch back to my regular grip and not go so low or is it because I've engaged muscles to a greater degree?

Thanks.

 

[lcars]

i dont use really wide grip anymore as i found it stressed my shoulders too much,however i place my forefinger on the notch/line on the olympic bar or maybe half an inch past,this seems to work for me(although ive dropped bench for now).you shouldnt feel discomfort or pain when doing bench so id just drop back to what you were doing before.

 

[Lol]

Anything you do which is markedly different to your usual exercise form will place stress on your body that is different to what it is used to. It's always a good idea to drop the loads back until you get used to a new groove. Then build up again gradually. HST is ideal for this as you start a cycle with relatively light loads; it's much better to introduce a new exercise at the start of a cycle.

 

[quadancer]

Also we can't go by the lines on the bar. Slapshot's shoulders are probably 2-3" narrower than mine I'd guess. So we don't speak the same language when talking about the lines. I'd compare everything to your straight up grip as a reference point.