My ‘close grip’ bench is inside the knurling. My ‘normal’ bench is about an inch outside.
Does this demonstrate any particular weaknesses?
Not really, no.
It’s not the usual thing, but it’s certainly not uncommon. For non-powerlifters, it might be something like 1 out of 4 people, though that’s pretty much just a guess. Bit rarer for powerlifters, since we tend to adapt to a wider grip over time, but still not unheard of.
I’ve noticed that with many of the barbell lifts when increasing stance (squat, dl) or grip (press, bench) width, it results in a reduction of ROM (and therefore allows for heavier weights to be used due to the shortened movement) but at the same time also results in a reduction of efficiency of the levers involved (so less power).
This means that depending on anthropometry going wider might result in a net increase in weight when the ROM is reduced greatly but the efficiency is not impacted to the same degree. Or it can be the other way around that the loss in efficiency becomes higher than the reduction of ROM, resulting in a net loss of strength. Apart from this depending on anthropometry (shoulder width, upper and forearm lengths and ratios) one man’s close grip bench might be another man’s regular bench grip as well.
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