Overhead Press and Shoulder Rotation

Bigger Stronger Leaner
1

Hi all.

Quick question: during the overhead press, we want to begin the movement with our shoulders externally rotated, correct? That’s back and down and squeezing the shoulder blades unless I’m mistaken. In any case, I find that when I propel my arms up from this position, my shoulders internally rotate (and my elbows flare out just a bit at the end).

I’m still breaking down the movement in my mind, so I need to understand it a little more. Are we supposed to keep the shoulders externally rotated throughout the entire movement? As of right now, I don’t think it’s possible for my shoulders until I increase mobility. It feels awkward to keep my shoulders externally rotated all the way up. . . like not natural.

Any suggestions and/or assistance? Thanks.

2

Post a video. The shoulder has lots of articulations. The shoulder press requires several simultaneous shoulder, scapular, and elbow articulations, so just talking about it in terms of rotation is somewhat myopic.

3

I can imagine so. I’ll try to post a video but I’m sure I just don’t know the correct terms to articulate myself well enough just yet.

4

I’m going to hijack my own thread because I have another question: is it a Crossfit thing to suggest shrugging at the top of the OHP movement? I’ve only seen this suggested in videos dedicated to Crossfit training, but then again I haven’t seen every video out there :slight_smile: so I don’t know for sure.