Q and A with Brad (Hand Position)
| Question: | Hi Brad - I would like to know the different effect on the pec muscle between a normal grip (palms facing away) dumbell bench press and a hammer grip (palms facing in) dumbell bench press - does the hammer grip minimize shoulder involvement ? Thanks,,,,,,,, |
| Answer: | Hi Claude……thanks for writing in.
Changing your hand position with any exercise simply changes the percentages in which different muscles are integrated into the exercise. With the flat dumbbell press, different hand position will change the integration of the pectoral, anterior deltoid and triceps muscles. The great thing about free weights is you can infinitely adjust the position of your hands to your particular comfort level and feel. No matter what the hand position, the majority (greater than 50%) of the movement involves the pectoral muscle. However, with the hands facing toward the feet, most of the remaining 50% (I would guess about 30% or so) is on the anterior deltoid. Then lastly of course is the triceps and other stabilizer muscles to take up the last 20%. With the hands in the hammer position, facing each other, the percentages are all changed up. Now the deltoids are released a great deal. More of the movement is on the triceps and stabilizer muscles, even some of the lat. So now I would guess the percentage is more like 50% Pec, 30% triceps, and the remaining 20% anterior deltoid and to some degree that lat. Then you have all percentages in between. I really like a combination of them all. At the top, I like to have my hands facing my feet, on the eccentric portion I slowly turn my hands inward until I reach the bottom or stretched portion. I never fully reach the hands in position as I feel I can not stabilize the dumbbell, I leave them slightly turned in. Then as I power the weight back up, I slowly turn them back to the hands facing feet position. I hope that answers your question Claude. In a nutshell, the hands turned in does release the tension on the deltoid quite a bit by shifting the load to the triceps and stabilizers. |
