Overhead Press: Bad or Good?

Bigger Stronger Leaner Competitive Bodybuilding
21

[quote]BONEZ217 wrote:

[quote]SteelyD wrote:

[quote]BONEZ217 wrote:

When I used to train my shoulder directly …[/quote]

Curious-- do you not train them directly any more? Injury?[/quote]

Na, no injury. They just grow quickly compared to my arms and such, and Im still trying to fill in my upper chest more. I usually do some stuff for the medial delt but I havent for 4 months because of baseball and my delts are still my best body part.

I do lateral raises every now and again but I dont do any shoulder pressing anymore. Id rather save the wear and tear for stuff that focuses more on pecs. [/quote]

Bastard, shoulders growing quickly compared to my arms is definitely a problem i could live with…

I also agree with bonez that if you’re going to do them seated, whether with BB or DB, a slightly more relaxed angle than 90 degrees is a good idea. Most people who go heavy on them at 90 degrees tend to arch the fuck out of their back when they do anyway.

I personally love any overhead pressing that is not from behind the neck or on a cable machine. I love HS shoulder press machines but BTN presses and cable machine presses have always agitated my shoulders.

Another tip; i also find that warming up my rear delts well with band pull aparts or bent over cable lateral raises help me feel much more stable during my pressing. Before i started doing this, i would actually get pain in my rear delts sometimes when doing heavy pressing (like 205 or higher.

22

[quote]BONEZ217 wrote:

[quote]SteelyD wrote:

[quote]BONEZ217 wrote:

When I used to train my shoulder directly …[/quote]

Curious-- do you not train them directly any more? Injury?[/quote]

Na, no injury. They just grow quickly compared to my arms and such, and Im still trying to fill in my upper chest more. I usually do some stuff for the medial delt but I havent for 4 months because of baseball and my delts are still my best body part.

I do lateral raises every now and again but I dont do any shoulder pressing anymore. Id rather save the wear and tear for stuff that focuses more on pecs. [/quote]

Doesn’t increasing your Shoulder press help increase your Incline bench though?

23

[quote]bwhitwell wrote:
As I have gotten older and have slowly stopped doing the exercises that HURT, presses from the clavicles to arms length over the back of my head are still in my routine.[/quote]

^^^THIS I had to stop benching years ago, but I can still OHP.

24

[quote]heavythrower wrote:

[quote]bwhitwell wrote:
As I have gotten older and have slowly stopped doing the exercises that HURT, presses from the clavicles to arms length over the back of my head are still in my routine.[/quote]

^^^THIS I had to stop benching years ago, but I can still OHP.[/quote]

interesting…

through a full range of motion still?

25

[quote]heavythrower wrote:

[quote]bwhitwell wrote:
As I have gotten older and have slowly stopped doing the exercises that HURT, presses from the clavicles to arms length over the back of my head are still in my routine.[/quote]

^^^THIS I had to stop benching years ago, but I can still OHP.[/quote]

Avatar…who…must know…loss for words…

26

[quote]McMusclesNHam wrote:

[quote]BONEZ217 wrote:

[quote]SteelyD wrote:

[quote]BONEZ217 wrote:

When I used to train my shoulder directly …[/quote]

Curious-- do you not train them directly any more? Injury?[/quote]

Na, no injury. They just grow quickly compared to my arms and such, and Im still trying to fill in my upper chest more. I usually do some stuff for the medial delt but I havent for 4 months because of baseball and my delts are still my best body part.

I do lateral raises every now and again but I dont do any shoulder pressing anymore. Id rather save the wear and tear for stuff that focuses more on pecs. [/quote]

Doesn’t increasing your Shoulder press help increase your Incline bench though?
[/quote]

Maybe?

But Ive found that increasing my incline bench works best for increasing my incline bench. Seriously. Ive found that I progress faster if I limit the amount of pressing I do. So I focus the pressing on something that focuses more on the pecs instead of the delts.

There is no way to do any sort of pressing movement without using both the anterior delts and the pecs.

And to be perfectly honest, I dont actually care how much I can lift.

27

[quote]heavythrower wrote:

[quote]bwhitwell wrote:
As I have gotten older and have slowly stopped doing the exercises that HURT, presses from the clavicles to arms length over the back of my head are still in my routine.[/quote]

^^^THIS I had to stop benching years ago, but I can still OHP.[/quote]

Same for me.

28

Read the T-Nation article: Shoulder Savers Part 1,2 and 3…

29

[quote]BONEZ217 wrote:
For me, sitting down, either hurt my back or I would slide off the chair. In general, I dont think doing seated presses with a 90 degree chair is a good idea at all, 75 degrees is a good angle IMO[/quote]

This exactly mirrors my experiences.

30

[quote]brian12 wrote:
Secondly, I hold my thumb under the bar, not wrapped around the bar. If you dont do both of these when OHP, give it a try and hopefully you will feel reduced strain on the shoulder joint. If this doesn’t work for you, then try out different grips and hand positions until you find what feels the best for your shoulders.
[/quote]

Suicide grip feels a million times better than any other grip I have done, don’t feel confident enough using it on chest day mind you…

31

[quote]WestCoast7 wrote:

[quote]heavythrower wrote:

[quote]bwhitwell wrote:
As I have gotten older and have slowly stopped doing the exercises that HURT, presses from the clavicles to arms length over the back of my head are still in my routine.[/quote]

^^^THIS I had to stop benching years ago, but I can still OHP.[/quote]

Same for me.[/quote]

Strange. I can bench just fine, but OHP kills my shoulders. Seems like you’re impinging it more in the OHP.

32

[quote]plateau wrote:

[quote]brian12 wrote:
Secondly, I hold my thumb under the bar, not wrapped around the bar. If you dont do both of these when OHP, give it a try and hopefully you will feel reduced strain on the shoulder joint. If this doesn’t work for you, then try out different grips and hand positions until you find what feels the best for your shoulders.
[/quote]

Suicide grip feels a million times better than any other grip I have done, don’t feel confident enough using it on chest day mind you…[/quote]

I will x2 the false grip. I chalk up my palms before anything heavier than the bar though.

False grip just… feels right. I know you’re “Not supposed to do it” but I like it.

I started using it on a smith to build “confidence” in it, for lack of a better term.

It adds to the nerves of a heavy ass set, but feels 10x better than wrapping my thumb.

33

I’ve always heard BTN presses are hell on your shoulders so I never did them…until recently. Now Im trying to rehab my RC after only doing them for a few work outs. Never again. My RC isnt torn i dont believe but it hurts like hell through certain ranges. So now Im using thera-bands trying to rehab them before it gets worse.

34

[quote]countingbeans wrote:

[quote]plateau wrote:

[quote]brian12 wrote:
Secondly, I hold my thumb under the bar, not wrapped around the bar. If you dont do both of these when OHP, give it a try and hopefully you will feel reduced strain on the shoulder joint. If this doesn’t work for you, then try out different grips and hand positions until you find what feels the best for your shoulders.
[/quote]

Suicide grip feels a million times better than any other grip I have done, don’t feel confident enough using it on chest day mind you…[/quote]

I will x2 the false grip. I chalk up my palms before anything heavier than the bar though.

False grip just… feels right. I know you’re “Not supposed to do it” but I like it.

I started using it on a smith to build “confidence” in it, for lack of a better term.

It adds to the nerves of a heavy ass set, but feels 10x better than wrapping my thumb.[/quote]

Samesies, although I haven’t used chalk.

I first start doing it on all of my warm-up sets, right until I got to the work set. Or as you mentioned, in the Smith machine. After a while it just feels great.

35

[quote]countingbeans wrote:

[quote]heavythrower wrote:

[quote]bwhitwell wrote:
As I have gotten older and have slowly stopped doing the exercises that HURT, presses from the clavicles to arms length over the back of my head are still in my routine.[/quote]

^^^THIS I had to stop benching years ago, but I can still OHP.[/quote]

interesting…

through a full range of motion still?[/quote]

yes. I do more push presses, but I can still do full rom strict ohp without pain.

36

[quote]audiogarden1 wrote:

[quote]heavythrower wrote:

[quote]bwhitwell wrote:
As I have gotten older and have slowly stopped doing the exercises that HURT, presses from the clavicles to arms length over the back of my head are still in my routine.[/quote]

^^^THIS I had to stop benching years ago, but I can still OHP.[/quote]

Avatar…who…must know…loss for words…[/quote]

google image search “mulher melancia”

you will not be disappoint. :wink:

37

[quote]heavythrower wrote:

[quote]countingbeans wrote:

[quote]heavythrower wrote:

[quote]bwhitwell wrote:
As I have gotten older and have slowly stopped doing the exercises that HURT, presses from the clavicles to arms length over the back of my head are still in my routine.[/quote]

^^^THIS I had to stop benching years ago, but I can still OHP.[/quote]

interesting…

through a full range of motion still?[/quote]

yes. I do more push presses, but I can still do full rom strict ohp without pain.
[/quote]

You have mentioned you have had your fair share of injuries and put up some serious numbers, that is why I ask. I wonder if this is a common theme with you guys that have been doing this for decades, or if the situation is reversed for some. Maybe 50/50… Curious.

It’s nice to know my worst lift (any sort of pressing) will haunt me forever, whether it be bench or OHP… :wink:

38

[quote]countingbeans wrote:

[quote]heavythrower wrote:

[quote]countingbeans wrote:

[quote]heavythrower wrote:

[quote]bwhitwell wrote:
As I have gotten older and have slowly stopped doing the exercises that HURT, presses from the clavicles to arms length over the back of my head are still in my routine.[/quote]

^^^THIS I had to stop benching years ago, but I can still OHP.[/quote]

interesting…

through a full range of motion still?[/quote]

yes. I do more push presses, but I can still do full rom strict ohp without pain.
[/quote]

You have mentioned you have had your fair share of injuries and put up some serious numbers, that is why I ask. I wonder if this is a common theme with you guys that have been doing this for decades, or if the situation is reversed for some. Maybe 50/50… Curious.

It’s nice to know my worst lift (any sort of pressing) will haunt me forever, whether it be bench or OHP… ;)[/quote]

well beans, I never had a very good bench press, when was young, on a fair amount of chemical assistance, and over 250lbs, I my best bench was high 300’s.

I could incline bench as much as flat bench then, and jerk from a rack almost 400lbs, so i do not think I ever had the attachments to bench big.

As further evidence, I suffered my first pec tear at 19 years old, took an entire year for me to get back to where i was.

I have injured myself much much more doing flat pressing than incline or overhead pressing in my life.

IMHO, and it is just that, an OPINION, so if anybody does not agree, dont get bent about it:

the BEST pressing exercise for overall upper body mass and strength and performance, AND least destructive on your joints in the long run as far as training longevity, is the push-press.

39

< is glad he doesn’t have chronic shoulder issues

40

[quote]heavythrower wrote:

[quote]countingbeans wrote:

[quote]heavythrower wrote:

[quote]countingbeans wrote:

[quote]heavythrower wrote:

[quote]bwhitwell wrote:
As I have gotten older and have slowly stopped doing the exercises that HURT, presses from the clavicles to arms length over the back of my head are still in my routine.[/quote]

^^^THIS I had to stop benching years ago, but I can still OHP.[/quote]

interesting…

through a full range of motion still?[/quote]

yes. I do more push presses, but I can still do full rom strict ohp without pain.
[/quote]

You have mentioned you have had your fair share of injuries and put up some serious numbers, that is why I ask. I wonder if this is a common theme with you guys that have been doing this for decades, or if the situation is reversed for some. Maybe 50/50… Curious.

It’s nice to know my worst lift (any sort of pressing) will haunt me forever, whether it be bench or OHP… ;)[/quote]

well beans, I never had a very good bench press, when was young, on a fair amount of chemical assistance, and over 250lbs, I my best bench was high 300’s.

I could incline bench as much as flat bench then, and jerk from a rack almost 400lbs, so i do not think I ever had the attachments to bench big.

As further evidence, I suffered my first pec tear at 19 years old, took an entire year for me to get back to where i was.

I have injured myself much much more doing flat pressing than incline or overhead pressing in my life.

IMHO, and it is just that, an OPINION, so if anybody does not agree, dont get bent about it:

the BEST pressing exercise for overall upper body mass and strength and performance, AND least destructive on your joints in the long run as far as training longevity, is the push-press.

[/quote]

It is interesting. I wonder how many guys are the opposite and can flat but not over head press anymore.

Have you had as many shoulder issues as chect injuries?