My New Favorite Bench Press Ancillary Lift: Incline Close-grip Bench Press

The incline close-grip barbell bench press is by far my new favorite ancillary lift for the bench press. I just started doing them about a month ago after watching a Dave Tate seminar off of elitefts.com and have already noticed a big difference in my bench, mostly in how stable I feel in the bottom of the bench press and the lock-out.

If for whatever reason you don't have a way to do incline barbell bench press in your gym, you can always do incline dumbell bench press with your elbows tucked in tight and holding the dumbells with a neutral grip.

Not only has the incline close-grip bench really helped my stability and lockout, but it's also a fantastic way to build tricep strength and size. Since the triceps are usually the weakest link in the bench press, this is a great exercise to focus on. Big triceps are strong triceps and strong triceps are (most always) big triceps.

This is a pretty good example of the exercise.

**I think it's worth noting that the grip does NOT need to be a ton further in than a medium-grip bench. There's really no advantage to moving your hands in closer than having them over your shoulders.

Links to Dave Tates seminar: http://www.articles.elitefts.com/training-articles/supplemental-strength/