10 Best Ez-bar Close-grip Bench Press Alternatives for Triceps Size

The Ez-bar Close-grip Bench Press has you lying on a bench with your elbows tucked, lowering the bar to your chest and pressing it back up. If a second EZ-bar is free, the Close-grip Ez-bar Press uses the same bar and the same narrow grip, so nothing about your setup has to change. Without an EZ-bar at all, the Barbell Close-grip Bench Press keeps the same tucked-elbow press on a straight bar.

Original Exercise: Ez-bar Close-grip Bench Press

Ez-bar Close-grip Bench Press
Primary Muscle
Triceps
Equipment
Ez-barbell
Difficulty
Intermediate
Type
Compound
Secondary Muscles: Chest, Shoulders
How to Perform Ez-bar Close-grip Bench Press
  1. Lie flat on a bench with your feet flat on the ground and your back pressed against the bench.
  2. Grasp the ez barbell with a close grip, hands shoulder-width apart, palms facing forward.
  3. Lift the barbell off the rack and hold it directly above your chest with your arms fully extended.
  4. Slowly lower the barbell towards your chest, keeping your elbows close to your body.
  5. Pause for a moment when the barbell touches your chest.
  6. Push the barbell back up to the starting position, fully extending your arms.
  7. Repeat for the desired number of repetitions.

Ranked Ez-bar Close-grip Bench Press Alternatives

Best Match
Close-Grip EZ-Bar Press

1. Close-Grip EZ-Bar Press

99.9% Match
Triceps Ez-barbell Intermediate Isolation
How to perform this exercise
  1. Lie on a flat bench with an EZ bar loaded to an appropriate weight.
  2. Using a narrow grip lift the bar and hold it straight over your torso with your elbows in. The arms should be perpendicular to the floor. This will be your starting position.
  3. Now lower the bar down to your lower chest as you breathe in. Keep the elbows in as you perform this movement.
  4. Using the triceps to push the bar back up, press it back to the starting position by extending the elbows as you exhale.
  5. Repeat.
Barbell Close-grip Bench Press

2. Barbell Close-grip Bench Press

99.9% Match
Triceps Barbell Intermediate Isolation
How to perform this exercise
  1. Lie flat on a bench with your feet flat on the ground and your back pressed against the bench.
  2. Grasp the barbell with a close grip, slightly narrower than shoulder-width apart.
  3. Unrack the barbell and lower it slowly towards your chest, keeping your elbows close to your body.
  4. Pause for a moment when the barbell touches your chest.
  5. Push the barbell back up to the starting position, fully extending your arms.
Barbell Lying Close-grip Press

3. Barbell Lying Close-grip Press

99.2% Match
Triceps Barbell Intermediate Isolation
How to perform this exercise
  1. Lie flat on a bench with your feet flat on the ground and your back pressed against the bench.
  2. Grasp the barbell with a close grip, hands shoulder-width apart, palms facing towards your feet.
  3. Lift the barbell off the rack and hold it directly above your chest with your arms fully extended.
  4. Slowly lower the barbell towards your chest, keeping your elbows close to your body.
  5. Pause for a moment when the barbell touches your chest, then push it back up to the starting position.
Ez Barbell Jm Bench Press

4. Ez Barbell Jm Bench Press

98.7% Match
Triceps Ez-barbell Advanced Isolation
How to perform this exercise
  1. Lie flat on a bench with your feet flat on the ground and your back pressed against the bench.
  2. Grasp the ez barbell with an overhand grip, slightly wider than shoulder-width apart.
  3. Lower the barbell to your chest, keeping your elbows tucked in close to your body.
  4. Push the barbell back up to the starting position, fully extending your arms.
  5. Repeat for the desired number of repetitions.
JM Press

5. JM Press

97.9% Match
Triceps Barbell Advanced Isolation
How to perform this exercise
  1. Start the exercise the same way you would a close grip bench press. You will lie on a flat bench while holding a barbell at arms length (fully extended) with the elbows in. However, instead of having the arms perpendicular to the torso, make sure the bar is set in a direct line above the upper chest. This will be your starting position.
  2. Now beginning from a fully extended position lower the bar down as if performing a lying triceps extension. Inhale as you perform this movement. When you reach the half way point, let the bar roll back about one inch by moving the upper arms towards your legs until they are perpendicular to the torso. Tip: Keep the bend at the elbows constant as you bring the upper arms forward.
  3. As you exhale, press the bar back up by using the triceps to perform a close grip bench press.
  4. Now go back to the starting position and start over.
  5. Repeat for the recommended amount of repetitions.
Reverse Triceps Bench Press

6. Reverse Triceps Bench Press

97.2% Match
Triceps Barbell Advanced Isolation
How to perform this exercise
  1. Lie back on a flat bench. Using a close, supinated grip (around shoulder width), lift the bar from the rack and hold it straight over you with your arms locked extended in front of you and perpendicular to the floor. This will be your starting position.
  2. As you breathe in, come down slowly until you feel the bar on your middle chest. Tip: Make sure that as opposed to a regular bench press, you keep the elbows close to the torso at all times in order to maximize triceps involvement.
  3. After a second pause, bring the bar back to the starting position as you breathe out and push the bar using your triceps muscles. Lock your arms in the contracted position, hold for a second and then start coming down slowly again. Tip: It should take at least twice as long to go down than to come up.
  4. Repeat the movement for the prescribed amount of repetitions.
  5. When you are done, place the bar back in the rack.
Barbell Reverse Close-grip Bench Press

7. Barbell Reverse Close-grip Bench Press

95.9% Match
Triceps Barbell Intermediate Isolation
How to perform this exercise
  1. Lie flat on a bench with your feet flat on the ground and your back pressed against the bench.
  2. Grasp the barbell with a reverse grip, hands shoulder-width apart.
  3. Lift the barbell off the rack and hold it directly above your chest with your arms fully extended.
  4. Slowly lower the barbell down towards your chest, keeping your elbows close to your body.
  5. Pause for a moment when the barbell is just above your chest.
Dumbbell Neutral Grip Bench Press

8. Dumbbell Neutral Grip Bench Press

95.2% Match
Triceps Dumbbell Intermediate Isolation
How to perform this exercise
  1. Lie flat on a bench with your feet flat on the ground and your back pressed against the bench.
  2. Hold a dumbbell in each hand with a neutral grip (palms facing each other) and your arms extended straight up over your chest.
  3. Slowly lower the dumbbells down towards your chest, keeping your elbows close to your body.
  4. Pause for a moment at the bottom, then push the dumbbells back up to the starting position, fully extending your arms.
  5. Repeat for the desired number of repetitions.
Dumbbell Twisting Bench Press

9. Dumbbell Twisting Bench Press

94.7% Match
Triceps Dumbbell Intermediate Isolation
How to perform this exercise
  1. Lie flat on a bench with your feet flat on the ground and your back pressed against the bench.
  2. Hold a dumbbell in each hand with an overhand grip, palms facing away from you.
  3. Extend your arms straight up over your chest, keeping a slight bend in your elbows.
  4. Lower the dumbbells down towards your chest, keeping your elbows close to your body.
  5. As you lower the dumbbells, twist your wrists so that your palms face towards you at the bottom of the movement.
Close-Grip Dumbbell Press

10. Close-Grip Dumbbell Press

94.4% Match
Triceps Dumbbell Intermediate Isolation
How to perform this exercise
  1. Place a dumbbell standing up on a flat bench.
  2. Ensuring that the dumbbell stays securely placed at the top of the bench, lie perpendicular to the bench with only your shoulders lying on the surface. Hips should be below the bench and your legs bent with your feet firmly on the floor.
  3. Grasp the dumbbell with both hands and hold it straight over your chest at arm's length. Both palms should be pressing against the underside of the sides of the dumbbell. This will be your starting position.
  4. Initiate the movement by lowering the dumbbell to your chest.
  5. Return to the starting position by extending the elbows.

Why You Might Need a Ez-bar Close-grip Bench Press Alternative

The Ez-bar Close-grip Bench Press needs one bar that also gets used for curls, so a busy gym or a shared rack can leave it out of reach. The barbell and EZ-bar options keep you lying on a bench with your elbows tucked, lowering to your chest and pressing back up, and only change what you hold. A straight bar gives you the Barbell Close-grip Bench Press or the Barbell Lying Close-grip Press, pressed the same way. Dumbbells let each arm move on its own path instead of sharing one bar, which suits training at home with no rack at all. The EZ Barbell JM Bench Press stays on the same cambered bar but sets an overhand grip slightly wider than shoulder width, with the elbows still tucked.

How to Choose the Right Substitute

If an EZ-bar is free, the Close-grip Ez-bar Press uses the same bar and the same close grip. If the EZ-bar is taken, the Barbell Close-grip Bench Press keeps the same tucked elbows on a straight bar, as does the Barbell Lying Close-grip Press. Training at home or without a rack, the Dumbbell Neutral Grip Bench Press lets each arm press on its own path with your palms facing each other, and the Dumbbell Twisting Bench Press turns your palms toward you as you lower. With only one dumbbell, the Close-grip Dumbbell Press has you hold it in both hands with your shoulders across the bench. If you want to keep the cambered bar but change the grip, the EZ Barbell JM Bench Press moves your hands slightly wider than shoulder width with your elbows still tucked.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I do the Ez-bar Close-grip Bench Press at home?

Yes, with a bench and dumbbells. The Dumbbell Neutral Grip Bench Press has each arm press its own dumbbell with your palms facing each other, and it needs no barbell or rack. The Dumbbell Twisting Bench Press and the Close-grip Dumbbell Press also work at home on a flat bench.

What if my gym has no EZ-bar?

Use the Barbell Close-grip Bench Press or the Barbell Lying Close-grip Press. Both keep you lying on a bench with your elbows tucked, lowering a straight bar to your chest instead of a cambered one and pressing it back up. Either works if a rack and a flat bench are free.

How do I make the press harder once it feels easy?

Try the Jm Press. It starts like a close-grip bench press with the bar lined up over your upper chest, lowers the way a lying triceps extension does, lets the upper arms roll back about an inch at the halfway point, then presses back up with the triceps. That extension-and-press path asks more of you than a plain tucked press.

Which alternative uses the same bar and grip?

The Close-grip Ez-bar Press. It uses the same cambered bar and the same narrow grip, lowering to your lower chest with your elbows in before you press back up. Reach for it first when an EZ-bar is available somewhere else in the gym.

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