What does "Shoulder Width Apart" mean to you?

[johnnylucifer]

To me, this means having your palms in-line with your delt. In other words, in a curl, my index finger would align with the outside of my shoulder and my pinky would line up with my armpit.

When bench pressing, shoulder width apart results in my forearms being very perpendicular to the floor at the bottom of the movement.

When squatting with feet shoulder width apart, I seem to stand more narrow than anyone else at the gym that squats.

I see and hear this term a lot when describing stances, but when I look at reference photos, I don't really see the alignment I would expect to see when I think of exactly where the palms and feet should be relative to the shoulders. It seems that others interpret shoulder width apart as you fist or foot "starting" where your should "ends".

Am I thinking too hard here? Your thoughts on this?

[MickeyKnox]

shoulder width apart to ME means your stance should be wide enough that you don;'t feel "tippy" on either side.

[Far from massive]

Yeah don't sweat the details, taken literally I would say its the width where if your palms are the same width apart as your shoulders. Of course in general it means neither a wide grip or a narrow grip. Many times you will see the instructions grip the bar shoulders width apart, where the bar will meet the chest. In these situations they actually mean grip it where your thumbs would be at the outside of the delts, think about it if you grip a bar at true shoulder width and bring it to the chest then your elbows will be forced out to each side like a damn lizard LOL

[baseline_9]

Put your arms out straight in front of you...

When your arms are parrallel to each other, this is shoulder width appart