How many of you still 'Overhead press' and see a benefit?

[aHarness]

My garage doesn’t have a machine overhead press…..

Definitely fair choices given your restrictions

 

[headtrainer]

What is the reason some prefer the behind the neck to standard oh press? I've heard it hit the side delts a little bit better, true?

When I was younger and had healthy shoulders the only over head press I did was the press behind the neck. Doing shoulder press behind the neck allows for a little better stimulus to the front and middle portions of the delts than standard shoulder presses because the force of the bar is more directly on the delts instead of a portion of the force being placed across your chest.

 

[A50#]

One of my best body parts is my shoulders. Over head presses have always been a staple in my shoulder training. I feel like over Head presses indirectly have helped improve my upper chest and upper back as well. My shoulder training is basic but always worked. I start out with over head presses of some variety, then side laterals then something for rear delts

 

[MackCoach]

The old nautilus machine with palms parallel is phenomenal and it really hits the triceps in a very unique way

At first it seems like the angle and hand positioning would be painful and awkward but for me the exact opposite

I keep forgetting to try to duplicate it with DB’s

Outside of that I usually only HS or machine overhead press no DBs or BB’s not in my 50’s ha ha

 

[juiceball44]

One version of the ohp I never saw before but was in one of Justin Harris workouts was a single arm overhead smith machine press. You set up like a normal smith press with both hands at normal position out wide and when you unrack the bar you just take one hand off it and press it with one arm as you normally would. Its sounds weird but it’s really smooth and controlled. I thought it was pretty unique and a good way to isolate each shoulder.

 

[BLKGUY2006]

The old nautilus machine with palms parallel is phenomenal and it really hits the triceps in a very unique way

At first it seems like the angle and hand positioning would be painful and awkward but for me the exact opposite

I keep forgetting to try to duplicate it with DB’s

Outside of that I usually only HS or machine overhead press no DBs or BB’s not in my 50’s ha ha

I remember that machine from HS too. It did work great

 

[EnhancedFatGrappler]

I love Pressing. Seated, with Dumbbells, 10-12 rep range, 3 nice hard sets. Delts are pumped!

I also like the Push Press with a Barbell (standing obviously), it works Delts, Triceps, Upper Pecs. A bit more of a dynamic movement. 8-10 Rep Range.

And for "shoulder health", I love seated or standing behind the neck press on the smith machine or BB. Not much weight, like just 1 plate each side. Nice slow controlled reps.

 

[SABAGOY]

My shoulders are bigger and look better when I am pressing (smith or machine) but feel better when doing only lateral work. So it usually depends on what my priorities are at the moment on what my shoulder routine looks like. I do find moving a press to the end of my shoulder workout helps alleviate some of the issues, but doesn’t provide the same benefit as heavier pressing at the beginning.

 

[Biggerp73]

I wonder if a factor involved here is the difference between results in terms of shoulder width and roundness when looking straight on in a mirror and seeing more 3d thickness from all angles.

Perhaps the guys saying they don't get anything out of pressing are assessing their shoulders primarily in terms of width when looking straight in the mirror rather than 3d thickness from all angles

 

[buck]

I wonder if a factor involved here is the difference between results in terms of shoulder width and roundness when looking straight on in a mirror and seeing more 3d thickness from all angles.

Perhaps the guys saying they don't get anything out of pressing are assessing their shoulders primarily in terms of width when looking straight in the mirror rather than 3d thickness from all angles

Possibly. But chest presses will stimulate the front delts as many guys have bigger front delts then laterals. And rear delt get hit doing back especially a high row.

 

[Biggerp73]

Possibly. But chest presses will stimulate the front delts as many guys have bigger front delts then laterals. And rear delt get hit doing back especially a high row.

I've generally laid off front delts because otherwise they take over chest movements, but I've NEVER developed rear delts through back movements alone, not even super high rows. The rear delts take on a completely different shape when targeted directly. Sort of like how you can get lean abs through diet without training them but need to hit them directly to get them to pop.

 

[buck]

I've generally laid off front delts because otherwise they take over chest movements, but I've NEVER developed rear delts through back movements alone, not even super high rows. The rear delts take on a completely different shape when targeted directly. Sort of like how you can get lean abs through diet without training them but need to hit them directly to get them to pop.

I hit posterior delts directly as well. Which overhead presses really don't do at least for me. I was just pointing out that they get a fair amount of volume. Years after i quit doing overheads i didn't notice any loss of size. I have to wonder how much longer my shoulders would have lasted if i had not ben doing things like overhead presses or any straight bar work really.

 

[fisther69]

Only single arms with heavy bands in between sets of squats..