Overhead pressing irrelevant?

[300kgdeadlift]

very often

i do nothing but lateral movement shoulder workouts
and very high rep and volume

yes, agree

 

[epoxy]

heavy DB presses have been the number #1 exercise for delt and trap growth for me, personally. I used to do military press with the BB but I found that I would continually get stuck, as well as I did not feel the burn quite as well as I did with DBs. Wide grip upright rows are my #2.

 

[Alex A]

Personally i have always grown from pressing. Especially seated dumbell presses.. In the past I took some time off to focus more on laterals and it seemed to show up when i was dieted down..

Training is pretty much a journey that you have to keep an open mind to find out what works best for you.. I only make suggestions to people,, there is plenty here on the forum to learn from.. Im by no means the know it all expert shoulder trainer... but had to throw this up there....

 

[Kaladryn]

If I do a press for shoulders, it's basically a high incline barbell press, at the end of my shoulder workout, after a lot of laterals. I agree with traditional military press being a bad exercise, the body was not designed to press directly overhead imo.

 

[SL1CED]

hey bro, who is your trainer? is he a big guy, compete? just wondering because alot if trainers you find in any gym are not up to par IMO.

also how are you performing your laterals?

presses never did anything for my shoulders either

He's legit. He's not a 24 hour fitness trainer that makes you do Bosu ball squats.

And yeah, he's big to say the least. Laterals are performed right now seated with the pinky higher than the thumb and sort of turned downwards and inwards, I stop right at about shoulder level.

Deltoids are worked during several chest and back exercises. Shoulder presses can be very valuable for athletes in particular sports. The big stipulation is whether the individual's structure can handle the movement. Some experience impingement while some do not. Those that do not experience joint pain can find pressing movements very valuable in building strength and size. Remember that the greater the overload, the greater the recruitment. One can definitely press more weight then they would use on lateral raises. That said, I have seen many lifters injure themselves as well. If you press, make sure your structure can handle it and work in a range that is suitable to you. If not, laterals can be helpful.

I have a 6'5 wingspan and am 5'10. A full range overhead press is rough for me, real rough. He saw that fast and made me go to laterals,and with a diet that isn't meant for me to grow too fast or grow really much at all, my shoulder width grew. I naturally have a wide clavicle(for a 150lber I wear XL's that fit), but the roundness has improved.

Bench presses for pecs are lame. Wide grip neck presses on the other hand are one of the best.

I'd say overhead press is redundant if you have plenty of press work for chest in your routine, but I still do them just because they're fun, don't cause me any problems and I continue to get results from them.

Wide grip upright rows are great too, but they tend to pinch the nerves in my wrists so I can't go heavy with them. :banghead:

Damn, my trainer has me doing them. He calles them Gironda presses though, I go wide grip presses on the smith machine to my neck and about 2/3 to 3/4 up cause the ROM is really far for me with such long arms.

I am by no means huge off of this but my chest gets a great pump, and I feel muscle musclarity in the upper chest region after incorporating these. I am not very strong at it at all(or in general).

WG Upright Rows he has me doing. I went from 65lbs x 5 to about 95lbs x 5 in this phase. The pump on it is insane.

 

[mslmn]

Many would say the bench press is irrelevant

I agree, atlest the flat bb version anyway.

 

[Equalizer]

When you guys say wide grip upright rows, how wide is that grip and how far up to you usually bring the bar?

I also heard of people using a version of what's called a high pull where you start with the bar at knee level and using a shoulder width grip, pull the bar up to about the upper ab/ lower pec area. Kind of similar to doing a barbell row while standing straight up.

 

[hellraiser27]

Good pic Alex! I would like to read that article.

I don't actually think I will ever stop doing dumbbell shoulder presses. I love this exercise way too much!
But I am going to start incorporating more laterals.

 

[Alex A]

Good pic Alex! I would like to read that article.

I don't actually think I will ever stop doing dumbbell shoulder presses. I love this exercise way too much!
But I am going to start incorporating more laterals.

I love pressing too man.. dumbell presses are a real tough exercise.. i have gotten some gnarly pain from them in the past so i stopped doing them and i seem to lose some size...

i still bomb the shit out of my shoulders with laterals too... When i suggest training shoulders to people i tell them to set aside an entire workout just for shoulders because they are such a big bodypart to train. And thanks man.. the magazine article is like 9 pages .. Im going to see if i have an extra copy i can send you man.. no prob.. It was the aug 09 issue

 

[kscowboy]

Guess im one of the few here that love pressing. But i also do front raises (Which most people preach against) and i do shrugs (Another exercise that most preach against. My shoulders are one of my best body parts.

 

[wardog50]

IMO behind the neck barbell presses done real heavy will make MASSIVE shoulders over and over.
You are forced to be very precise so you cant move the weight forward as in front presses or dumbell presses.
It hits your medial and rear delts HARD and makes em WIDE.

I pushed and pushed till I could get reps with 315 and people notice trust me. It stacks the width on right in the medial area where it makes the most dif. making your shoulders hella wide looking.

My friend hates em and wont do em but does militaries which I in turn hate and dont do.

To each his own.

War

 

[jack98]

well, i couldnt imagine devoting a whole day to shoulders and not doing presses just because it seems like the workout would take 20 minutes haha.

 

[Gravyv]

I used to love doing heavy db shoulder presses, but stopped because of lower back problems. I usually kept the sets low, probably worked up to only 2 really heavy sets. Then I go on to finish my shoulders off with a few variations of side/front raises, upright rows, etc. I stayed away from behind the back though cause it always felt awkard and unsafe for me, but they do work really well for others.

 

[alphamale1]

bodybuilding is not an exact science there is no universally accepted approach to training. Experimentation is the key, you have to know your body and what stimulus it responds to best. As for me....I love dumbbell shoulder presses and behind the neck shoukder presses on the smith machine.

 

[BigSwole]

For years I tried to build my shoulders without any overhead pressing but it didn't work. Now that I do heavy standing presses my shoulders are finally growing.

 

[hellraiser27]

I love pressing too man.. dumbell presses are a real tough exercise.. i have gotten some gnarly pain from them in the past so i stopped doing them and i seem to lose some size...

i still bomb the shit out of my shoulders with laterals too... When i suggest training shoulders to people i tell them to set aside an entire workout just for shoulders because they are such a big bodypart to train. And thanks man.. the magazine article is like 9 pages .. Im going to see if i have an extra copy i can send you man.. no prob.. It was the aug 09 issue

Hey man I would really appreciate that!
And I also spend a day for shoulders by themselves.

 

[Newman]

Regardless of overhead presses pertinance to BBing, I think it's a great excercise for MMA.

Imagine a boxer who's moved through the more vertical opening contact stage of a fight & is crouched forward in toe-to-toe attack mode. As he's throwing jabs, crosses & hooks, he's involving the top of his shoulders, tris & upper pecs. Uppercuts are more related to curls & front raises...