Shoulder DB Press Issue

OK, so I have always done shoulder DB press in the seat thing that goes halfway up your back… and is meant for shoulder press. I do 60’s for 12 reps. However… I did chest yesterday, and today I realized that when I arch my back a little bit… even though my ass is against the back of the seat, I can still arch my back on accident and it feels more like incline press.

I feel this might be because I’m somewhat tall (6’1) so I can get my back over the top of the back of the chair?

So, I realized this, and I started doing the presses from the adjustable bench that is used for decline/regular/incline DB bench… I put it all the way up at 90 degrees. Mind you the seated one was about 75-80 degrees.
The adjustable one goes all the way above my head too, so I can’t cheat.
I could only do 40’s for 12 with this position, but I felt like I was working my medial delts a lot more than my front delts and upper chest.

Opinions? Sorry if I rambled a bit.

Yeah, if you lean back/arch you can push more weight. That’s why I prefer to do the standing military press, impossible to “cheat”.

There’s a pretty linear overlap with angles like that. The higher you go, the more delts are involved and of course the lower, the less delts and more chest. Front delts get hit hard in most pressing though.

You know this already but it’s not as if one angle trains shoulders and one degree less and it his chest or anything…

Don’t be afraid of using several different angles. I learned about another trick on this site (came from another site as well) where you face the back support, angled only slightly back, press your forehead into the bench (which gives you a very slight FORWARD lean) and do your presses from that position. Keep the forhead in contact with the backrest at all times.

Very humbling.

THe smith is also a great way to lock yourself into a groove. While I’d never recommend it insetad of free weights, it might be a nice curve ball to throw your training for a couple of weeks so you can just focus on pressing heavy weights with your delts.

S