Shoulder Press?

deadhead13

Whats the best starting position for a shoulder press using a bar - behind the neck or resting it on the top of your chest? Would there be any benefit in alternating between the 2 methods. Cheers.

cardio,shoot me

behind the neck pressing does have more risks associated with it.

rubadub

If you use dumbbells you can in effect have the imaginary bar passing through your head. I prefer single dumbbell presses.

Inspector Coptoor

if you use a Barbell, I would be inclined to start with the bar in front of the neck, at chest level, using a clean grip and explode from there.

as already said, behind the neck presses have the potential to be dangerous.

there;s an exercise called the bradford press where you alernate between the two, behind the neck and in front of the neck presses.
I;d recommend it with a light weight for high reps
and the standard in front of the neck press for heavier weights.

kumate_champ07

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKEuWnMwkXY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbswrStK8cs

deadhead13

I don't know behind the neck was potentially dangerous. I think I'll give it a miss and go the other way... and used dumbells. Thanks.

Inspector Coptoor

its dangerous if you use big weight and the bar comes down on the back of your neck injuring your spine.
its not as big a deal if it comes down in front of you as you jump backwards out of the way.

i wouldnt be afraid of using the BB, but start off with light weights and build up.

deadhead13

I meant - I will use the barbell but not behind neck, aswell as dumbells.

kumate_champ07

the videos I posted are for the olympic style press. You can use your legs and hips for the push at the bottom if you want, it allows for more weight and its a practical movement.

make sure to get the form right with just the bar first. you dont want to fall over and have the bar collapse on you. your core gets a huge workout from the press, make sure your stomach is out and hold your breath in for the push.

kumate_champ07

kumate_champ07 wrote: »

the videos I posted are for the olympic style press. You can use your legs and hips for the push at the bottom if you want, it allows for more weight and its a practical movement.

make sure to get the form right with just the bar first. you dont want to fall over and have the bar collapse on you. your core gets a huge workout from the press, make sure your stomach is out and hold your breath in for the push.

sorry what I meant is thats the olympic style press without the push. the olympic press is not used in comps anymore and is usually reffered to as 'push press'

BobbyOLeary

sorry what I meant is thats the olympic style press without the push. the olympic press is not used in comps anymore and is usually reffered to as 'push press'

No. The olympic press was/is the strict shoulder press, the push press is a different movement involving the use of the dip drive to propel the bar up. Though if you look at some old-school oly photos you'll see that the shoulder press became pretty much a bench press.

You can use your legs and hips for the push at the bottom if you want, it allows for more weight and its a practical movement.

It allows for you to do a push press, not use more weight in the strict shoulder press.

I know I've just come off as an ass but I've seen so many people do push presses when they think they're doing strict presses and wonder why their shoulders don't get as strong.

kumate_champ07

BobbyOLeary wrote: »

No. The olympic press was/is the strict shoulder press, the push press is a different movement involving the use of the dip drive to propel the bar up. Though if you look at some old-school oly photos you'll see that the shoulder press became pretty much a bench press.



It allows for you to do a push press, not use more weight in the strict shoulder press.

I know I've just come off as an ass but I've seen so many people do push presses when they think they're doing strict presses and wonder why their shoulders don't get as strong.

i kinda confused myself, ye ive seen videos on youtube with some lad leaning back under the bar lifting a ****load of weight.

your shoulders will still get benifit from push press, you will be loading them with extra weight. I prefer a strict press myself. legs get enough already

narwog81

kumate_champ07 wrote: »

I prefer a strict press myself. legs get enough already

i'm the same, for some reason i always feel like im cheating when i push press!

again, i got good results by working up to 4 x 10 with 24kg DBs before i started with the barbell, was doing the DB presses seated though so found it took some time to switch to standing barbell presses with comfort

Hanley

Liam Henners257 wrote: »

its dangerous if you use big weight and the bar comes down on the back of your neck injuring your spine.
its not as big a deal if it comes down in front of you as you jump backwards out of the way.

i wouldnt be afraid of using the BB, but start off with light weights and build up.

That's not the reason why most people consider it dangerous...

rubadub

narwog81 wrote: »

i'm the same, for some reason i always feel like im cheating when i push press!

Well in the olympics they will "cheat", i.e. use momentum or whatever physical advantage they can in any competition as long as it is within the rules (cheat as in the term used by people swinging the likes of bicep curls). Many people will develop techniques around the rules, look at high jumping with fosbury flop, you will see lads here talking of doing box jumps, the most efficient way of doing something is not always the best for YOUR goals. I have never heard of bodybuilders etc doing the fosbury flop to train their legs. You might see guys in strongmen competitions using "bad form" too. I cycle a mountain bike with the knowledge it is inefficient, I want to burn more calories on my fixed commute, the lads in the cycling forum would think that very odd!

I have done what I call "competition chinups", i.e. in the "rules" your chin must pass the bar and you are not allowed to kip etc, I have done 20 before, but when I do chinups with MY goals in mind I can only do about 16.

The push press is good since you can in effect sort of do negatives, which I love to do. I could not concentrically press up the weight I can lower eccentrically, so I can use the push press to get it up, then lower it slow & controlled. If I do normal presses on the last few reps I can "cheat" and do push presses.

BossArky

The "continental press" was the version which was removed from competitions due to the difficulty involved in judging it the angle of lean back used.

People would lean back so far that they were doing something similar to a standing bench press.

Previously I found standing dumbbell pressing works well as a superset with deadlifting.

Edwardius

Liam Henners257 wrote: »

its dangerous if you use big weight and the bar comes down on the back of your neck injuring your spine.
its not as big a deal if it comes down in front of you as you jump backwards out of the way.

i wouldnt be afraid of using the BB, but start off with light weights and build up.

Uh? I thought the potential problem was due to the amount of external rotation needed to perform the exercise. Some people have no problem with this.

The bar coming down on the "back of your spine" shouldn't be an issue if you drop it on your traps and cushion the blow with your legs...

Sangre

The shoulder press has to be my least favourite exercise, never seem to make any gains.

How far back should a person lean or is it a matter of preference? I don't like the exercise as the difficulty of the weight can vary greatly depending on the bar's starting position and if I lean slightly back.

Should I just try and lift as much weight as possible above ahead and forget the tiny variables in the motion used?

Brian?

I know its not really an answer to your question, but I can't recommend the clean&press enough. Its a great exercise and for some reason I find it a lot of fun to do. Its also the only exercise I do 8 sets of 3 on.

itsallaboutheL

Dead Ed wrote: »

Uh? I thought the potential problem was due to the amount of external rotation needed to perform the exercise. Some people have no problem with this.

The bar coming down on the "back of your spine" shouldn't be an issue if you drop it on your traps and cushion the blow with your legs...

I think it's an amazing exercise, it seems to suit my personal physiology perfectly, but as has been said the risks can outweigh the benefits....

speaking of which, it's a good idea when introducing new exercises to perform some sort of objective evaluation..

i.e is this exercise going to give the best bang for my buck, could something else work better, am i suited to this exercise (can i achieve a good ROM in a painfree and comfortable manner etc), is its potential to cause worth th risk.

brianthebard

Sangre wrote: »

The shoulder press has to be my least favourite exercise, never seem to make any gains.

How far back should a person lean or is it a matter of preference? I don't like the exercise as the difficulty of the weight can vary greatly depending on the bar's starting position and if I lean slightly back.

Should I just try and lift as much weight as possible above ahead and forget the tiny variables in the motion used?

I feel the same way about it but think that in the last few months I have made some progress through 5/3/1 at last. The real test will be the next two months or so.