Do you do overhead press exe of various kinds for delts or have u abandoned them ?

[devenidas]

Seen some info on the net that Overhead presses with dumbells /barbell /machines is unnessary for delts work and will potentially lead to overuse injuries down the road (as rotators gets involved in all overhead pressing movements). Not referring to behind the neck presses here, which is completely unnatural biomechanical position for body anyway & a complete no no. I stopped doing them a good 10 years ago after some rotator issues. Is it the case that all kind of variety exes for front and side lateral raises work plenty for delts in terms of optimal growth and injury/overuse prevention? I have done this many a times after chest and delts & do get a pretty good pump. However I do love front millitary presses (75 % elbow lockout)

Just curious to see what the community here thinks and may be I will get convinced and find reason/s enough in the process to totally abandon overhead press work. Please share your thoughts brothers. Will really appreciate it. Cheers

 

[ajdos]

Been doing them for 25 years dumbell, barbell, machines etc...
Chest flat press gave me more shoulder issues than anything else.

 

[TrinityD]

most people only need some raises.
the pressing will take care of the rest.

if you have delt dominant genetics like me, pressing will turn you into one giant deltoid while your chest lags. there are way too many people with lagging chests nowadays IMO.

the one thing I disagree with is the notion regarding onset of shoulder issues.
i get terrible shoulder problems from almost every single chest exercise.
chest exercises are far more dangerous IMO.
db shoulder press feels great for me. one of my favorite exercises.
it's much better on my delts, doesn't cause any pain

 

[nothuman]

No matter what I have read on here, I just couldn't bring myself to give up overhead presses

 

[TrinityD]

No matter what I have read on here, I just couldn't bring myself to give up overhead presses

They are so damn fun. One of my top 3 favorite exercises for sure.
Mmmmmmm

 

[titocnb13]

I still do em. I have to agree with some of the other guys on this thread, chest exercises bother my shoulders more. Flat bench with a bar and fly's depending on the angle and range of motion

 

[Ashop]

One of my best bodyparts is my delts and I have always used some type of over head pressing movement in my routine.

 

[rcorchid]

I still do behind the neck presses, but limit to no more than 5 sets, and only 1 pressing movement per delt workout. My ortho surgeon told me that most rotator tears come from a combo of chest pressing movements and pulldowns.

 

[concreter]

Most of my delt size came from overhead pressing, hit 385 seated behind the neck. Had to abandon them for 20 yrs now but with the free motion press I'm back.
Adding more size to my delts is needed to keep symmetry with my arm growth.
Hopefully my chest can keep up!!

 

[Jefe]

I had a 90% tear in my rotator cuff since senior year in high school. Athletic trainer told me it was just a sublux dislocation. I did 7 years in the Marines, and three more years training after that before it bothered me enough to get a second opinion. During this time, I could only do DB presses and they were excruciating. My shoulders were subpar.

I got it fixed and now I'm doing military press and my shoulders are responding well. I do rear delts, some raises then two sets of pressing and I'm done. I just go slow and strict. And get thoroughly warmed up.

Before I got my shoulder unfucked, I couldn't flat bench and 30 degrees on incline was too much, still had the pain. So I found that 20 degrees was my sweet spot. I'm happy with how my chest looks from that. Upper chest was nicely developed and the bottom wasn't lagging too much to notice. Now I'm mixing 20 degrees with flat.

Doc was blown away that I could incline 335 for 4 with a blown up shoulder. I know the weight isn't impressive but the scope pictures of my RC looked like torn up spaghetti. LOL. My shoulder was barely hanging in place all those years.

Blah, so yes. I over head press and I'm loving it. Just warmed up and strict on form.

 

[Sandpig]

Like others, chest pressing bothers me more.

I've built my delts with tons of laterals and wide grip uprights.

I do press though but these days I mostly use a machine type exercise.

 

[Pumped Up Ya]

Military barbell behind the head is one of the hardest exercises there is


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Dens228]

My shoulder joints are cashed...I use mainly laterals and face pulls.
If/when I do overhead pressing I to laterals first and go high reps with constant tension on the presses.

 

[Jizzmo]

my delts have significantly grown since i stopped ALL shoulder pressing movements.
i still do incline db press but on a low angle, because it feels the most natural for me, but as chest exercise mainly...

i always loved dumbbell shoulder pressing and got up to pressing the 90lb dumbbells for reps within 3 years of working out, but some day i stopped because i read some posts from people who said the only thing to significantly grow their shoulders were side raise and my delts definitely needed more size. (i have a narrowish bone structure)

im glad i listened. now theyre my favorite body part

only thing i do for delts now is 1. compounds (i usually train chest delts and tris together so ill do 12-16 sets of compounds for all muscle groups together and then move to isolations), 2. tons of side raises, especially focusing on low weight with perfect form and 3. some rear delt work on back days.
no shoulder presses, no anterior delt work (maybe 2-3 sets every once in a while)... only thing shoulder presses seemed to do for me was giving me joint pain and cracking here and there lol

 

[ECB]

A large part of why certain movements get bad wraps is because of poor execution. With ohp you really need to be "locking" your shoulders in, by retracting the scapula, and pulling down. Issues can still arise as with any lift but the chances are dramatically reduced. I see very few people setup for over head presses correctly.

Similar issues on bench. Poor technique, in many cases too wide of a grip = shoulder issues.

I see this not only in the new lifters but some very advanced bodybuilders as well. They just don't know how to lift properly. Honestly most people would be well served to spend some time with some high level powerlifters to learn how to be more technically proficient.

 

[anarchocapitalist]

As a former strength athlete, powerlifter, oly lifter, etc I always did an over head press. I also kind of had some pride in considering myself hardcore sticking to the basics kind of guy. Days were centered around the squat, bench, deadlift, and overhead press.

This past 6 months, doing bodybuilding, I've stopped doing all over head pressing except a light set of seated behind the neck barbells at the end of my shoulder workout. I mean like 4 sets of 15-20 reps with 95lbs after doing some laterals, upright rows, etc.

Huge difference in my shoulder muscularity.

 

[TrinityD]

I had a 90% tear in my rotator cuff since senior year in high school. Athletic trainer told me it was just a sublux dislocation. I did 7 years in the Marines, and three more years training after that before it bothered me enough to get a second opinion. During this time, I could only do DB presses and they were excruciating. My shoulders were subpar.

I got it fixed and now I'm doing military press and my shoulders are responding well. I do rear delts, some raises then two sets of pressing and I'm done. I just go slow and strict. And get thoroughly warmed up.

Before I got my shoulder unfucked, I couldn't flat bench and 30 degrees on incline was too much, still had the pain. So I found that 20 degrees was my sweet spot. I'm happy with how my chest looks from that. Upper chest was nicely developed and the bottom wasn't lagging too much to notice. Now I'm mixing 20 degrees with flat.

Doc was blown away that I could incline 335 for 4 with a blown up shoulder. I know the weight isn't impressive but the scope pictures of my RC looked like torn up spaghetti. LOL. My shoulder was barely hanging in place all those years.

Blah, so yes. I over head press and I'm loving it. Just warmed up and strict on form.

Lol look at this guy.
"I could incline 335 x 4 ....I know it's not impressive".
Humility at it's finest

 

[concreteguy]

Standing side laterals is all I need. I'm trying to keep it simple. If your going to do presses that's just the front head of the delt and tri's. Still need to get to the rear and mid delts. Right? I get the rears doing bent over rows with back.

CG

 

[TrinityD]

100 percent agree

 

[little slice]

As a former strength athlete, powerlifter, oly lifter, etc I always did an over head press. I also kind of had some pride in considering myself hardcore sticking to the basics kind of guy. Days were centered around the squat, bench, deadlift, and overhead press.

This past 6 months, doing bodybuilding, I've stopped doing all over head pressing except a light set of seated behind the neck barbells at the end of my shoulder workout. I mean like 4 sets of 15-20 reps with 95lbs after doing some laterals, upright rows, etc.

Huge difference in my shoulder muscularity.

for better or worse?