Short answer
No. Overall chest muscle signals showed no difference across grip widths. A narrow grip only meant lifting about 7% less. Gripping wider than 1.5 times shoulder width loaded the shoulder more.
Bench press grip width: does it change how much your chest works?
'Wide = chest, narrow = triceps': is it true?
A common saying is that a wide bench press grip hits the chest and a narrow grip hits the back of the arm (triceps). We checked how hard the chest worked, how much weight people could lift, and how much the shoulder was loaded when grip width changed.
Chest muscle signals showed no difference
From armpit width to 81 cm, in all three studies
28 people lifted a weight they could manage only 6 times with a narrow grip (the distance between the armpits), a medium grip, and a wide grip (81 cm). Electrical signals from the chest muscle showed no difference among the three widths. Two other studies of 12 and 14 people also found no difference in chest muscle signals by grip width.
Regional differences appeared in only two studies
Narrow favored the upper chest, wide the lower chest
In a study where 35 people lifted a weight they could manage 6 to 8 times, a narrower grip raised signals from the upper chest, front shoulder and back of the arm. A wider grip raised signals from the lower chest. In a study of 12 people holding the bar still, lower chest signals also dropped as the grip got narrower. In the 28- and 14-person studies, upper and lower chest signals showed no difference, and in another 14-person study the split of work between chest and triceps barely changed.
The clear difference was in the weight
A narrow grip meant lifting about 7% less
For 14 people, the heaviest lift was 109.8 kg with a wide grip and 103.7 kg with a narrow grip. For 28 people, the 6-rep weight was 6.6 to 8.4% lower with a narrow grip than with a medium or wide grip. On a Smith machine, where the bar runs on rails, the heaviest lift of 54 people was not related to grip width.
But a wide grip loaded the shoulder more
Within 1.5 times shoulder width, the shoulder carried less
10 people did the bench press 21 different ways, and a computer model calculated the forces on the shoulder. Gripping narrower than 1.5 times shoulder width reduced the force pressing on the joint at the end of the collarbone and the force pushing the shoulder backward. The small muscles around the shoulder (the rotator cuff) also worked less.
Summary: the chest worked regardless of grip width
Weight dropped only with a narrow grip; within 1.5 times for the shoulder
Overall chest muscle signals showed no difference by grip width. With a barbell, a medium or wide grip let people lift about 7% more than a narrow one. If the shoulder feels uncomfortable, a grip within 1.5 times shoulder width is enough.
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