What makes this exercise different than standard bench press (aside from the obvious)? Are you hitting more muscle fibers with it?
Because of the grip, you're body is going to fire off the muscles in a different fashion. So you'll hit different areas more effectively than you would in a standard bench press or a different grip variation. What I mean is like, if you do flat bench, depending on how you grip and tuck everything, it will hit your chest differently and other muscles differently. If your back is flat and your elbows aren't as tucked in, you hit more chest and front delts, but this version of the bench press is more injury prone, especially for shoulders and rotator cuffs, so it's important to user a lighter weight than if you were trying like for strength gains. If you contract your traps, pull your shoulder blades together, and tuck your elbows in, you take much more off of the chest and delts, and put more pressure on the triceps, lats, traps, which is actually safer and a stronger lift, but doesn't target the chest as much. Or if you do a close grip bench, it moves more towards the triceps than the chest and everything else. So all different bench types and styles will generally hit the same muscle groups, but they will hit it differently depending on how you are lifting it, where you're gripping, and where you're tucking etc. The reverse grip kind of mixes what an incline and close grip would hit separately and mixes it into one. The reverse grip bench is a great chest shaper. It hits the upper pectorals really well. And I find it to be an extremely effective exercise in hitting the triceps for strength and size gains. This would also supplement your primary bench press gains.
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