Why the sudden hate for overhead pressing?

[comedycentral]

I have always believed that overhead pressing be it bar or dumbell is responsible for the majority of shoulder mass.

If you look back to the 50's all they did was military press in various forms and were all barn door wide.

It seems lately people just now see it as a shoulder wrecker and the only safe movement is lateral raises

Can you guys really say that your getting cannonball delta from laterals alone??

Thoughts??

 

[ThinkTank]

Destroyer of shoulders. Too much stress on the rotator cuff and shoulders joints.

 

[jm425]

It's fine IMO when you're younger, but it will eventually wear down on your joints to the point where there is too much damage and doing them is not feasible. I still do them but also rotate with incline bench which still hits the delts, yet it's easier on my shoulders. Also, you get a lot of front delt work with pressing movements on chest day, so high volume/work for overhead pressing is not necessary IMO. I usually only do 5 working sets of overhead pressing on shoulder day and it's plenty for me. Then again I'm very shoulder dominant and they are far bigger than my chest.

 

[Ehren]

Experience made the decision in my case. Shoulders are way rounder now doing various laterals.

I think it may be down to arm length from some people? It just doesn't work my shoulders, except in the last few inches to lockout. I even tried reps in that short range to maximize the stress on just shoulders. But still, nada. I've got long arms, so maybe it's the problem, all Triceps and even Lats more than Shoulders.

Overhead pressed over 300 lbs for a few reps at one point during my Oly days. If shoulder pressing were gonna do it, it woulda been then.

Aside from not working for some people, I think some folks just don't like lifting heavy weight in uncomfortable positions. I do though. And if it worked for me, I'd damned sure still be doing it.

 

[Sir Anabolic]

I attribute most of my shoulder mass to overhead presses. Would never do a shoulder workout wihout them.

 

[Ehren]

I attribute most of my shoulder mass to overhead presses. Would never do a shoulder workout wihout them.

Man, wish I could get them to grow with presses. How tall are ya?

 

[MegatronsMuscle]

They are still my main mass builder but I go about it a little smarter nowadays. I usually never go with free weights and primarily use the Hammer Strength should press machine or some other machine with a similar range of motion. I still go a tad heavy but I utilize more drop sets, etc. And I don't go as heavy. My rotator cuffs have thanked me so far. Also I use a shorter range of motion not going to deep.

 

[Sdmonster]

Two reasons I think most people don't do it:
1. It's friggin hard
2. People can't do a ton of weight (humbling)

If you want to be strong and have good looking shoulders, suck it the fuck up and put weights over your head in what ever fashion you can. It should be as much of a staple in your routine as squats, deadlifts, or benching. Quite literally I bet if you did nothing but squats, deads, ohp, bench, and rows you would be strong as fuck and look awesome.

 

[GRAVESY]

I just recently stopped to due shoulder pain with a question of a labrum year from last year re aggravated last month. I enjoyed dB overheads. Going to stay away as it is the only pressing movemt that causes pain at the moment and try the lateral raises game. Shoulders aren't massive by any means. So see if this changes does anything for me.

Height wise long armed at 6'4"

 

[audix2359]

I've got some wide shoulders and I'm sure that's due to a lot of heavy overhead pressing. I had two injuries last year while overhead pressing. After my first one I stopped doing heavy presses and (after recovery) went lighter with higher reps. After I was healed I started back pressing with just the bar and added weight weekly. It didn't take too long for me to re injure myself; I think I was doing 5 sets of 15 reps with 145 at the time. So, though I love overhead pressing I'm not going to do them again.

 

[Chode Logan]

Some people love them, and also it is a pretty fun exercise. But to be honest, I haven't really shoulder pressed in 1.5 years (with the exception of burn out sets on a hammer strength after all pumped up to finish a workout), and my shoulders are by far my best body part. I probably could have grown them well with the presses too, but I used to have nagging shoulder pains, of which I now have zero.

 

[shaboz]

This is the widest my shoulders have ever been. I do standing overhead presses religiously. I have less problems now with my shoulders. In fact, I think most of my shoulder pain has been because of flat or incline presses. The added stabilization from the bench doesn't help my shoulder girdle. FWIW.

 

[grizz007]

A year ago I stopped doing free weight over head presses. My workout now consists of a ton of laterals, mainly just using DB's. At the very end of the workout ill load a shoulder press machine with 2 plates and try and do 2 sets of 25. After those 2 sets Im at the point when I cant lift my arms. My delts have never been wider or fuller then they are now. Joints feel awesome as well.

 

[Moose85]

I think it's easy to do these with too much arch in the back or going too heavy. They are a staple in my shoulder routine but I keep the weight relatively low and use it more to warm up the whole shoulder before starting with heavy laterals. Also enjoy using the smith machine for them if I don't have a spotter.

I don't really see too much of an issue in using a machine shoulder press over a barbell/deem bells. I def feel it either way.

 

[animal eater]

I believe that presses are still exercise number one for delts. Bill Star made an interesting point years back mentioning that quite some time ago that pressing was the shoulder exercise when it came to upper body pushing movements. There were far fewer rotator cuff injuries. Fast forward to the modern age where benching had become the main upper body pushing exercise and what is noticed is there are more shoulder injuries than ever before :lightbulb:

The key is understanding what is an acceptable range of motion for your shoulders. We are all different and have different ranges and limitations. Personally I really like pressing on a smith machine going no deeper than eye level.

To anyone who thinks lateral raises are better, I am going to have to disagree because one I believe compound movements hit a much larger amount of muscle and two you can handle more overload from this position which stimulates more fibers.

 

[Scout Sniper]

Good thread. I am seeing a doctor for a tear I actually heard two years ago. Funny thing is, the first question the doctor asked is if I was taking AAS or have in the past. I asked why and he said that many bodybuilders (as he called them) have the same issue with their shoulders and history of AAS. I told him no of course and pulled my shirt off to show off my acne and stretch marks:headbang:. He did inject near my AC joint since I got to the point I could not even bench press 225lbs! He works on my shoulder still and constantly reminds me not to do any over head pressing movements. I do them anyway but stay humble with the weight now. I was suffering really bad tendonitis in both elbows so he shot them both up too!

 

[infinity1]

I think it has alot to do with your build and arm length...im 6'5" and used to do overhead presses religously until I injured my shoulder and have done some light overhead pressing with heavy laterals since that injury and have found that my shoulders actually look rounder since stopping the heavy overheads...being tall and having long arms-my shoulders get quite a workout on chest day and ive found that it isnt necessary for me...

Also have given up flat benching for the same reason but still do heavy inclines, declines and dips which dont aggravate my wonky shoulder.

 

[OneMoreRep610]

My shoulders are shot, only time i can lift smooth with no pain is when im on cycle it seems.. I used to to do arnold presses super setted with reg shoulder presses.. Thinking maybe that killed them but boy does it suck.. Used to be my strongest muscle.. Im going to be running a test and tren cycle was thinking of running a low dose (150mg) of decca to lube up my shoulder joints, any insight on that?

 

[pieguy]

I think EQ and peptides/hgh would help you more in the long run to help shoulder recovery. You can hop on npp to help them stay lubricated but often times npp is just a band aid on a bullet hole.

 

[jm425]

My shoulders are shot, only time i can lift smooth with no pain is when im on cycle it seems.. I used to to do arnold presses super setted with reg shoulder presses.. Thinking maybe that killed them but boy does it suck.. Used to be my strongest muscle.. Im going to be running a test and tren cycle was thinking of running a low dose (150mg) of decca to lube up my shoulder joints, any insight on that?

Deca plus hgh equals better feeling joints.