What do you think is the biggest lie in the fitness industry? Fake Natties giving natural advice or that “Half Reps” keep more tension on a muscle? Comment below!
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Today we’re going to talk about how to train the shoulders. Or more specifically, how NOT to train them, and this is actually something you see very often in the gym.
Whether seated or standing, using dumbbells or a barbell, everyone has their elbows flared out to the max. It’s usually the same people that flare their elbows out, that also proclaim that stopping at 90 degrees keeps tension on the shoulders. In reality, the people who are stopping at 90 degrees do so because their form is wrong, and when they go below 90 degrees their shoulders start to hurt. And they should! The form is WRONG! So no more excuses – it’s time to drop the ego, lower the weight, and we’re going to discuss how you can make MORE GAINS with proper form.
How did it come to this? How did we find ourselves shoulder pressing so wrong? It’s because when you’re new to training, you’ll actually feel stronger pressing with flared elbows. The correct way to press is with your elbows turned in toward your torso, but when you do this you have to flex your core much harder, because the center of gravity has now moved forward a bit. Also, if you’re new to lifting, your triceps are generally much weaker, and don’t have a lot of experience working in tandem with your shoulders to perform an overhead press. But why is pressing this way superior? It’s for a couple of reasons.
Reason #1
Pressing with your shoulders in front of your body places your shoulder joint in a mechanically advantageous position to press more weight, as we just discussed, with more tricep engagement.
When you press with your elbows flared out, this places your shoulders in an extremely externally rotated position, which will cause friction in the shoulder joint and lead to pain or an injury over time. That’s why it’s also not advised to press or pull behind the neck.
Reason #2
Pressing with your elbows in front of your body engages your triceps to the max, helping you to lift HEAVIER weights, just like with the bench press. We always talk about tucking the elbows in toward the torso to disengage the shoulders and activate the triceps more. That way you can bench more weight. So the same rule applies here with a shoulder press.
Remember that the triceps main function is elbow extension, and the wider you go, the less range of motion (ROM) you have when pressing overhead, which is usually why ego lifters press this way. Less ROM means you can move more weight.
But if your goal is MUSCLE GAIN, then your focus should be VOLUME, and maximizing the STRETCH AND FLEX of every single repetition. And you will be able to get a much DEEPER STRETCH on the shoulders with ZERO PAIN if your elbows are tucked in towards your torso. This is because you are attacking the delts without overstraining the shoulder joint.
Conclusion
Keep in mind that these tips also apply to the barbell press. If you have hit a plateau, try adjusting your form so that your elbows stay under your wrists as you press overhead, to engage the triceps as much as possible, and to really feel that deep stretch in your shoulders at the bottom of the movement. Also, if your gym happens to have a Safety/Swiss Bar available, maybe try using that because it basically allows you to use a barbell, but press overhead like a dumbbell because of the neutral grips on the bar.
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45 comments
What do you think is the biggest lie in the fitness industry? Fake Natties giving natural advice or that "Half Reps" keep more tension on a muscle? Comment below!
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Scott Herman – The Legend!!! Respect and love from India.
Are you gonna do any more versus series?
I was watching one of your older videos and I find my self paying more attention when you weren’t having fake energy/forcing the energy
Still one of the most informative channels in all these years.
Hey scott, i just reached 4-0 lol, can you share a program for guys my age?
Man how long till the app gets released on IOS i’m eager to download it; unless it’s out already and i have no clue where to find it.
I had taken your advice with standing dumbell pressing along with turning it into an Arnold. I also have incorporated Jeff's super setting with a lighter weight with 1.5 into my own program. It's worked wonders. You guys are by far the realest and best fitness channels. 💪🤘
I was making these mistakes! 😁. In the future I want to see a video on why not do exercises behind the neck for sure.
Ur chest cuts
smashed the liked button!
Thank you for the great advice. I'm a novice lifter and i worked out wrong.
This helps a lot at just the right time. I started having pain in my shoulder after focusing more on overhead press and military press. Being a newby, I new I was doing something wrong but I didn't wanna just stop with those exercises completely. Thanks for this dude. Always perfect timing. 👍👊
Hey Scott, I had a question about doing squats and deadlifts. I for some reason get really light headed when I do one of the two leg workouts. Do you have a video on what other leg exercises I can do or a way to stop it from happening? I don’t use a lot of weight and I use the proper form. Thanks so much!
But beforeee we get STARHHHTEDDD , i love it when he says that :d
Scott: What’s going on Nation!!!? 8D
Nation: we doin aight
Do a video on the best hamstring exercises pls.
Deff want to see the pressing behind the head vid
Thanks Scott…you the best!! Miss that accent. 🙂
The app IS sexy as hell.
Oh dude it's the fitness shamwow guy
Safety bahhyybehl
Hey i watched an old video of yours which tells the audience to do it the way which is marked "WRONG" in this video …wtf!?!?
Love Scott but man enough with the fake Boston accent..he didn’t have that a few years ago..major turn off and takes away from the vid.
Should I like a video before getting started with it
I thought that was Rocky Balboa talking…
Scott I've been following you and your channel since it was just you and that older guy at Answer is Fitness. You've helped me make so many tiny changes that I never would have made if not for your videos. Your early shoulder workouts and burn sets are still my go-to workouts when I need an insane burn and pump. Thanks so much man, and keep it up.
You are great Scott!! thanks for all the videos and all the tips you share with us!!!! Keep up the good work!!!!!!
Can’t find the app
Thanks, i'm gonna try that out.
Scott saves my fitness life
I was doing them with my elbows straight out and was getting shoulder pain years ago. I would why……. =)
Amazing tip that I have ignored for a long time. Thanks!
Doing the barbell press your collapsing in the bottom position and you're going behind the head in the lockout position… that equals bad form!
I love these videos, thanks Scott. I wish I found this sooner. When I was a newbie to lifting I utilized DB shoulder presses frequently, also with bad form and flared shoulders. The outcome? Torn rotator cuff that I'm still not healed from 6 months later :'(
No pain! Just gains!
I noticed your right chest line is more square than your left and also a little shorter
ShouldAss
I drop the ego every night hehehe
The goat
Here we have another video on someone telling u about something that they have no results to show. you're shoulders are shit why would I assumed you're correct Just because u said so.all the old schools bodybuilders apparently trained wrong then? Guess that's why they don't have huge shoulders… oh wait.
Is it just me or is Scott Herman a phsyop to reverse psychology out males to actually not get fit. The over enthusiasts, ah shit, The depression is ruening me…😜
why was this recommended right after my shoulder workout? 🙁
Just real-time fixed @ the gym. Thanks Scott!!
Yeh I’m