The Body Sculpting Bible for Women (88 page)

FAQ:

I saw someone perform this with five 45-pound plates on his lap. Is this safe?

ANSWER:

It may be safe for him, but if you’re not used to this exercise, you should start with your bodyweight first. This can be a very effective triceps exercise, but you’ll want to perfect your form before progressing too quickly. Just be careful not to strain your shoulders with this exercise. just like the chest and triceps dip, going too low can seriously damage your shoulders.

E-Z Curl Bar Close-Grip Press

This exercise can be done one of two ways. It can be done alone as a triceps and inner chest exercise or as a secondary superset exercise with the E-Z Bar Triceps Extension exercise. How you incorporate it will depend on the phase of training you have reached. The conventional way to do the close-grip bench press is with a barbell. It also calls for the arms to widen at the bottom, putting more emphasis on the inner chest muscles than the triceps. Our version of this exercise will be done with the E-Z curl bar and with a different arm position than the conventional version. This puts emphasis on the triceps with a secondary workload to the inner chest muscles, two of the areas women are most concerned with targeting.

PROPER ALIGNMENT

This exercise will incorporate many of the same alignment positions as the lying E-Z bar triceps extension exercise.

Set up the E-Z bar with some weight or get one that is pre-weighted. You can rest the bar on your thighs and bring it back overhead, set it in place so that it is at the base of your head while you lie down, or simply have someone hand it to you when you are already lying down.

Before lifting the bar or having it handed to you, lay back on the bench and place your feet flat onto the floor, pointing straight ahead.

As you are lying down lift the bar into place by pressing it up using your chest muscles (just like the chest press). Hold it above your head and stay there. You will begin the exercise in this position to avoid stressing the elbow joint.

Remember to make sure that your whole arm is in direct line with your front shoulder (anterior deltoid). Your arms must stay close to your body and follow in a straight line from shoulder, to elbow, to arm. This is what will create primary isolation on the triceps muscles and allow better control of the bar.

Take a position on the bar so that your hands are in the outer curved position of the bar. The inner curved position will create too much wrist strain. The proper width will be about 8-10 inches apart.

TECHNIQUE AND FORM

Once you are in the proper alignment with the E-Z curl bar overhead, slowly begin to lower the bar down as if you were lowering the bar during a bench press. But remember, your arms will now stay close to your body with your front shoulders and arms in a straight line.

As you lower the bar, keep your arms riding closely to the sides of your body. This technique is essential for proper triceps stimulation.

Remember to consciously focus all of your attention on proper form and intense stimulation of the triceps during the movement.

As you continue to lower the bar, do so in a controlled manner and bring the bar down to around mid-chest. Without resting, and without momentum, use your triceps muscles to push the bar off your chest and back to the start position. Remember to maintain your proper form with the arms riding close to the sides of your body.