Close-Grip Bench Press

Muscles worked: Triceps (assisted by chest, front delts).

How to do it

1. Lie back on a flat bench.
2. As you breathe in, come down slowly until you feel the bar on your middle chest.
3. After a second pause, bring the bar back to the starting position as you breathe out and push the bar using your triceps muscles.
4. Repeat the movement for the prescribed amount of repetitions.
5. When you are done, place the bar back in the rack.

Coaching cues

The two cues IronPack shows on this exercise's card mid-workout:

• Hands just inside shoulder width
• Elbows track tight to the torso

Logging it

IronPack suggests working in the 6 to 10 rep range, progressing in 2.5 kg jumps when you own the top of the range. Records are tracked automatically at every rep count from 1 to 12. Loading the bar? Use the plate calculator, and check your estimated 1RM from any hard set.

Related exercises

• Dips - chest, triceps
• Triceps Pushdown - triceps
• Overhead Triceps Extension - triceps
• Skullcrusher - triceps

Photos and steps: free-exercise-db (public domain). Cues, muscle weighting and logging guidance are IronPack's own app data. Last generated 2026-07-17.