Pressing builds the strength of your shoulders and triceps while recruiting many muscles of your upper body to provide stability.(1) Back before the popularity of the bench press, the question of "how much do you press" was often the one asked to determine the strength of an athlete. While the press was first contested as the military press, where the athlete had to stand with their heels together, feet turned out at 45-degree angle, and raise the bar in time with the head referee's finger, standards have relaxed somewhat. Your stance can be whatever is comfortable and you press the bar at your own rate, assuming you do not use leg drive to kick the bar up into place.
Basic Technique Of the Press
Rack the bar firmly on your shoulders - do not let it rest on your collar bones. Your hands should be wider than your shoulders and your elbows elevated enough to maintain bar position. If the bar is too low, you need to push your elbows up. Grip the bar firmly and then press the bar smoothly from your shoulders up in a straight line. As the bar nears your chin, tilt your head back slightly to avoid hitting yourself, but do not lean back. Move your head out of the way of the bar, do not move the bar around your head. As you press the bar up past your head, drive your head forward so the bar is in line with your ears. At this point, you should be able to draw a straight line down from the bar, through your ears, through your hip joint ending in your heels. Push the bar to full-extension every time.
Function and Training
Like the bench, widening your grip shortens your range of motion, allowing you to use more weight. Moderation must be the key here, as an excessively wide grip can cause strain on your shoulders. Also, as your goal should be to train through a large range of motion, so cutting your range of motion short may cause you to lose some of the training effect. While the press works many muscles of your shoulder girdle, the external rotators receive very little stimulation. Implement this exercise as part of a balanced program where you do at least one set of chins or rows for every set of pressing exercises you perform. Extra work for the external rotors is always a good idea.
Behind the Neck Press
The BTN press requires more shoulder flexibility than the standard press, but gives you the advantage of pushing the bar straight up without moving your head. If you lack the flexibility to perform this exercise, do not attempt it until you have the ability to lower the bar through a full range of motion without pain. Anyone with a rotator cuff imbalance should avoid this exercise. This includes people who have spent most of their time performing bench presses and curls but who have done very little heavy back work. This exercise was a mainstay of weightlifters when the press was still contested. Grip the bar wherever you can to achieve the greatest range of motion but least amount of shoulder distress. Push the bar up off of your trapezius and fully extend your arms. Lower the bar to your upper trapezius, not to your neck. Unlike the press, your forearms should start out vertical before pushing the bar off of your trapezius.
Snatch Grip Press Behind the Neck
Done just like a press BTN, the snatch grip press is used by weightlifters to train the shoulders and build stability in the receiving position of the snatch. Your hands should be at least half-again as wide as your shoulders when gripping the bar. If you are a weightlifter, grip the bar using the same hand-spacing as your barbell snatch. Like the standard BTN press, lower and raise the bar through a full range of motion.
Dumbbell Shoulder Press
This exercise does not directly replicate any form of barbell pressing, but can help develop your shoulders in a similar manner. It can be used as an adjunct exercise or to provide training variety. While you must use less weight than when using a barbell, you can achieve a greater range of motion. Dumbbells may also allow you to train around an injury more effectively, or with less pain, than a barbell. Regardless of what grip you use or which way your palms face, the recruitment of the muscles of your shoulders and triceps remains unchanged.
Push Press
The push press is a method that is not usually taught to beginners, because it can lead to over-reliance on leg-drive and not learning proper pressing technique. To push press, you start out with the bar held in the same position as the press. You then bend your legs into a quarter-squat, rapidly change directions, and use as much leg-drive as possible to propel the bar upward. You must have good pressing technique because the speed of the bar requires you to move your head out of the way and back in line with the bar much faster. The push press allows you to handle more weight than the press, and also teaches you the dip and drive, which is critical for mastering the jerk.
Push Jerk
The push jerk is performed in the same manner as the push press, but you replant your feet. This is to teach basic repositioning for the jerk. As the bar leaves your shoulders, your feet move out slightly, no more than an inch or two and are firmly re-planted on the ground in the same plane. Do not spread your feet wide or allow them to move forward or backward. Like the push press, the push jerk can be performed from in front or behind the neck.
Jerk
The jerk is the final step of the clean and jerk, and combines elements of both the push jerk and split squat. Instead of replanting your feet in the same plane, one foot moves forward and the other moves back. The degree to which your feet move will be determined by the speed and power you generate on the dip and drive, your strength and the length of your arms. Do not lock your knees when you land. Allow them to flex and let the larger muscles of your legs and hips take the strain of catching the bar. Like the push press, success on the jerk is often determined by how quickly you change directions on the dip-and-drive and your bar path, which should be as close to a straight line as possible.
This is a very advanced motion, and requires skill, timing and flexibility. Like the press behind the neck, you can move the bar in a straight line. This exercise is a simple combination of the press behind the neck and the jerk, and is sometimes used as an assistance exercise to teach correct bar path.
The press can be trained seated or standing, but for the most carry-over to other overhead lifts, you should train the press standing. Seated versions can be done using either the convetional press or any sort of pressing from behind the neck. If you have any sort of back pain or injury, play it safe and perform the exercise seated. Obviously any sort of push or jerk exercise must be executed standing. Seated pressing can also be done from pins of various heights, including close to the end of the repetition to develop triceps and lockout power.
Here Kenny Patterson is shown using a board to hold his torso in place as he shoves a heavy overhead lockout. Pressing from the pins through such a short range of motion allows him to use far more weight and overload both his triceps and various CNS-related factors. Kenny was the first junior to hold a world record bench press in the open category, pushing 728.5 at a bodyweight of 308. You can use the same set up as Kenny, or use a heavy bench with an actual back support.
Specific Shoulder Exercises
No matter how much pressing you do for your shoulders, pressing alone is not enough to develop strong, well-balanced shoulders. Balanced shoulder development helps maintain not only your strength, but protect you from injury. Train all aspects of your shoulders to provide this balance.
Lateral Raise: The lateral raise is performed by holding dumbbells down at your sides with your palms facing in. Maintain a slight bend in your elbows and raise the dumbbells until your arms are parallel to the ground. Turn your wrist downward slightly as you do so, as if you were pouring water out of a cup. Pause at the top for a count of one then lower under control. This exercise can be performed seated or standing. You can also use kettlebells or cables.
Bent Laterals: This exercise is the same as the lateral raise, except you incline your torso forward between 60 and 90-degrees. This works your posterior deltoids.
Front Raise: This exercise is like a lateral raise, except you raise your arms to the front. There is no need to rotate your hands. You can also use a barbell for this exercise.
Incline Lateral Raise: This is a lateral raise performed while lying face down on an incline bench. When performing this exercise, ensure that you do not just pull the dumbbells back, pull them up and keep them moving at a 90 degree angle to the bench you are lying on. This exercise works the lateral and posterior deltoids, but the more you lean forward, the less it works the lateral and the more it works the posterior deltoids.
Lying Lateral Raise: This exercise works your posterior deltoid, with some recruitment of your lower trapezius and external rotators. To perform this exercise, lie on one side on a bench. If you are lying on your left side, hold a dumbbell in your right hand, and for stability you may wish to hook one foot under the bench. Lower the dumbbell across your body while keeping your arm in line with your shoulders, then raise the dumbbell until your arm is pointing at the ceiling. Lower under control and repeat.
Face Pulls: A favorite of many powerlifters, face pulls work the posterior deltoids with some stimulation of the external rotators. To perform this exercise, grip a triceps rope that is attached to a cable stack. Pull your elbows back and out, keeping them at approximately ear-level throughout the exercise. Do not crank the weight into position with your lower back - if you feel yourself doing this, you need to lower the weight. Good technique gives you results, sloppy technique gives you a featured role in an "Idiots in the Gym" thread on your local message board. This exercise may be done seated or standing. This exercise can also be done with resistance bands, but even light bands provide quite a bit of resistance.
Band Pull-Aparts: Band pull-aparts strengthen the posterior deltoids and lower trapezius. This exercise can be done anywhere you have space to stretch out a band, and may be done seated or standing. Grip a band with your hands in front of you and your arms extended parallel to the groun. Pull the band apart until your arms are extended to the sides without allowing your arms to drop or bending your torso. Allow your hands to return to the starting position under control. You will have to experiment to find the proper band tension, but you should be able to achieve full extension, and there should be tension on the band at all times.
Upright Rows: Upright rows are the weak sister of the clean pull, but still work your lateral and posterior deltoids while providing some stimulation of your upper trapezius. To perform an upright row, grip a barbell with your hands between 12 and 24 inches apart with your arms straight down. Row the bar up to your chin by pulling your elbows up and out, pause at the top, and lower under control. Do not throw the weight up using your upper body, use the power of your shoulders and trapezius. This exercise can also be performed with dumbbells or kettlebells. This exercise can also be performed with a cable stack and a barbell or rope attachment.
One-Arm Dumbbell Snatch: Stand with your feet slightly wider than your shoulders and hold a dumbbell in one hand directly between your legs. Bend your knees slightly - no more than a quarter-squat - then extend quickly, as if you were trying to jump without leaving the ground. Then pull your elbow up and out while rowing the dumbbell up in a straight line. As your upper arm passes parallel to the ground, your forearm needs to rotate until your hand is pointing at the ceiling. You must catch the dumbbell with your arm fully-extended overhead. Bend your knees slightly when receiving the weight to avoid strain on your shoulder. This exercise should be performed for no more than eight to ten repetitions per set. One-arm dumbbell snatches work your trapezius, lateral and posterior deltoids. This exercise can also be done with a kettlebell.
References
JSCR; Effects of Variations of the Bench Press Exercise on the EMG Activity of Five Shoulder Muscles; C Barnett, et al.; Nov 1995.
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