New Beginnings Health and Fitness

Yesterday we talked about setting your shoulders. Today we’re fixing your grip.

If the bar sits too high in your hand, your wrist is forced to support all that weight with very little structure behind it. A bulldog grip places the bar lower across the palm and directly over the forearm, creating a much stronger and more stable position.

This small adjustment helped take my bench from barely moving 250 pounds to pressing weights I once thought were impossible.

Stop just gripping and ripping. Set your shoulders, position your hands, break the bar and treat your bench setup with the same attention you give your squat and deadlift.

Try this on your next bench day and let me know if you feel the difference.

The bench press isn’t inherently dangerous. Poor ex*****on is.

One of the biggest mistakes I see when people start benching heavier is they never learn how to properly set their shoulders.

Your shoulder blades should be pulled back and down, creating a stable base before the bar ever starts moving. From there, gripping the bar hard and thinking about “bending” or “breaking” the bar creates even more upper body tension and helps keep the shoulders in a stronger position.

That setup also helps the bar naturally travel toward the lower to mid chest before pressing back up and slightly toward the rack. The bench press has a natural bar path. It shouldn’t just be straight down and straight up.

The problem usually isn’t the bench press.

It’s ego lifting, poor setup, poor ex*****on, and adding weight before learning how to actually perform the movement.

Learn the lift first. Then earn the weight.

Locking in isn’t one big decision.

It’s the small choices you make every day when nobody’s watching.

If you’re ready to stop starting over and finally build momentum, download my FREE Lifestyle Rebuild Packet through the link in my bio.

It’s packed with simple tools to help you build better habits, stay consistent, and create lasting change.

Now it’s your turn to lock in.

It was never about them. It was always about you.

The more you grow into your next chapter, the more you give the right people permission to grow with you.

Stop hoarding old habits, old excuses, and people who only belong in your past.

Not everything is meant to come with you.

Some chapters are meant to be closed so the next one can finally begin.

Choices are made through movement, grocery shopping, and fitness. Unfortunately, most of these choices are poor. No one is forcing anyone to overeat processed junk food. Instead of making lazy poor choices, take control of your health and watch it improve.