Barbell Reverse Grip Bench Press
The reverse-grip bench press is a flat barbell bench press done with your palms facing you, which tucks the elbows close to your sides. It works the chest, with a slight shift towards the upper chest, plus the triceps and front shoulders, and is used as an accessory to the standard bench.
Also called: Reverse Grip Bench, Supinated Bench Press, Underhand Bench Press, Bradford-grip Bench · Equipment: barbell · Pattern: push
Step by step
- Set the bar in the rack at a height you can reach with bent arms, and have a spotter stand behind the bench for the hand-off. Lie down with your eyes just below the bar and your feet planted flat.
- Take an underhand grip about shoulder width apart, with your thumbs wrapped fully around the bar. Set the bar low in your palms with your wrists stacked over your forearms.
- Pull your shoulder blades back and down into the bench and take a big breath to brace your trunk.
- Take the hand-off from your spotter and hold the bar at arm's length over your shoulders, keeping your shoulder blades set.
- Bring the bar down under control, letting your elbows stay tucked close to your sides. The bar touches further down your torso than on a normal bench, around the bottom of your breastbone or the top of your stomach.
- Touch with control, then press the bar up and slightly back until your elbows are straight over your shoulders. Keep your feet driving into the floor and your glutes on the bench.
- After the last rep, lock out and guide the bar back to the hooks with your spotter's help.
- Thumbs wrapped fully around the bar
- Elbows tucked close to your sides
- Bar to the bottom of your breastbone
- Wrists stacked over your forearms
- Press up and back over your shoulders
- Take the hand-off, then set your shoulder blades
In VALDA, these cues are one tap away on the exercise while you train.
What it trains
| Muscle | Role | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Pectoralis major: clavicular (upper) | Prime mover | C |
| Pectoralis major: sternocostal (mid) | Prime mover | C |
| Triceps brachii: medial head | Secondary | D |
| Triceps brachii: lateral head | Secondary | D |
| Anterior deltoid | Secondary | C |
| Biceps brachii | Stabiliser | C |
Evidence grades: A = strong research base · B = good · C = limited · D = coaching consensus.
What goes wrong, and the fix
Thumbless grip
Fix: Wrap your thumbs fully around the bar before the hand-off.
Wrists bent back
Fix: Set the bar low in your palms and keep your wrists stacked over your forearms.
Elbows flaring out
Fix: Keep your elbows tucked close to your sides as the bar comes down.
Touching too high on the chest
Fix: Bring the bar to the bottom of your breastbone or the top of your stomach.
Unracking alone
Fix: Take a hand-off from a spotter and set your shoulder blades before the first rep.
Bouncing the bar off the chest
Fix: Touch with control, hold tension, then press.
What the research says
StrengthMuscle growth
- Load by goal — Research comparing loads finds maximal strength favours heavier loads, while muscle growth is similar across a wide range of loads when sets are taken close to failure. Because the reverse grip is harder to handle, many lifters use it with moderate loads.
- Effort — Studies show sets that finish a few reps short of failure capture most of the size and strength benefit, and true failure adds only a small extra return. Lifters training close to failure on this lift commonly use a spotter.
- Volume — Research links more weekly sets for a muscle to more growth, with diminishing returns. Around 10 or more hard sets a week has been associated with more growth than fewer than 5, and those sets can be shared across pressing variations.
- Rest — In trained lifters, rests of about 3 minutes between sets have produced greater strength and size gains than 1-minute rests.
- Grip variation — EMG research finds a supinated grip shifts activity slightly towards the upper chest and biceps. There is no training study comparing reverse-grip and standard-grip benching for muscle growth.
Swap it mid-workout
With VALDA Pro, FLEX offers alternatives like these when you swap an exercise mid-workout.
Log the barbell reverse grip bench press in VALDA, with these cues one tap away while you train and your history for it in one place.
General information about exercise technique, not medical advice. If you have an injury or a health condition, your healthcare provider is the right person to ask.