Dumbbell Shoulder Press VS Barbell Shoulder Press | WHICH BUILDS BIGGER SHOULDERS FASTER? – ScottHermanFitness

ALL VERSUS SERIES VIDEOS:

*READ FULL ARTICLE WITH PHOTOS*

Welcome to another instalment in my VERSUS SERIES! Last time we compared the Incline Barbell Bench Press VS. the Reverse-Grip Bench Press. If you didn’t see the article, you can check it out HERE. Today we are going to be comparing the BARBELL SHOULDER PRESS VS the DUMBBELL SHOULDER PRESS.

To begin this comparison, let’s first discuss the muscles that are primarily involved in both movements which are the anterior, middle & posterior deltoids. These muscles are responsible for shoulder abduction, shoulder flexion and shoulder extension. You will also be activating your triceps brachii and biceps brachii during each movement as well. Remember that your triceps assist in the pressing motion during the movement and are active throughout the full range of motion. For your biceps brachii, especially the short head, these muscles will act more like dynamic stabilizers throughout the movement.

Some other muscles involved that will act as stabilizers during the movement are your rotator cuffs, traps, lats, teres major and minor and rhomboids. You will also be activating all the muscles in your core, but how much activation you will have will change when doing the exercise standing versus seated. With that being said, in this article we are going to primarily focus on the seated version of both exercises, but I will still briefly mention some of the differences in muscle activation in the standing versions of each exercise at the end of the article.

Seated Barbell Shoulder Press
For this exercise, all you need is a bench and a rack (if you have one, you can also use a seat that is already in an upright position with back support). To get started, you’re going to sit down and keep your feet flat on the ground. If the bench you’re using has an option where you can put your feet on the pegs, I’d recommend doing that because you want to make sure that your butt and your back stay against the back pad throughout the entire range of motion. Anything you can do to ensure that you don’t slide forward throughout the movement is going to help you out. What happens when you start to slide forward too much is that you start to turn the movement into an incline barbell bench press. If you start in an upright position, but slowly slide forward to the point where you’re arching your back excessively and pushing the weight up, there’s no support for your lower back and you can severely injure yourself.

The reason why most people will slide forward is because they want to lift heavier weight, so just drop the ego, use the correct amount of weight, and you won’t risk injuring yourself. With all that being said, you do want to have a SLIGHT arch in your back, just make sure that your glutes are touching the bench and your shoulders are touching the bench. Once in place, you’re going to grab the barbell about 2 inches outside of shoulder width. If you grab too close as you do the movement, you’re going to be recruiting a lot more triceps into the exercise, and you don’t want to do that. Once your grip is correct, you’re going to unrack the weight and then once you have the bar over your head, you’re going to have to turn your elbows forward slightly. The reason is because if you were to keep the barbell where it was previously and bring it straight down, the bar will hit your head. By turning your elbows forward slightly, you can bring the barbell down to the top of your chest and yes, you’re doing full range of motion. After touching the top of your chest, you’re going to press the barbell back up, and lockout back at the top of the movement with the barbell OVER your head, not out in front of it.

Another thing you can do to keep this movement nice and fluid is you can keep your head up a little bit. You can tilt it up slightly and that will help make sure that as you bring the barbell down it doesn’t hit you in the face and when you press it back up, it won’t hit you in the chin. Keep these things in mind when doing this exercise, and you’ll have proper form!

*CONTINUE READING HERE*

Program Selector – Get The Right Program For You! –
—————————————-
Subscribe To My Channel –
—————————————-
1 on 1 Online Coaching –
—————————————-
DOWNLOAD MY APP! – iPhone & Android!

—————————————-
MORE TIPS! –

source