Shoulder Press – A Guide and Tips You Should Know Before Doing It!

If you’re really looking to build a symmetrical and powerful looking muscular physique, you’ll need to work all of your major muscle groups as intensely and intelligently as possible.

Take the shoulders for instance. Many people often neglect their shoulders as they think they get enough of a workout when they train back and arms when in actual fact the shoulders can help to really add the finishing touches to a great looking body.

As far as shoulder exercises go, you simply cannot beat shoulder pressing when it comes to building muscle and shaping and toning at the same time.

Shoulder pressing (also known as military press) is great because it can be performed seated, or standing (as demonstrated in this video), and it can be done with a barbell or a set of dumbbells.

The shoulder press is a fantastic exercise for really hitting the front and rear deltoids, and for that reason, here’s a look at how to perform seated dumbbell shoulder presses:

• Start off by taking a dumbbell in each hand and sitting in bench that has a back support, or one that can be adjusted to have a back support.
• Place both of the dumbbells on both of your thighs in an upright position and make sure that your back is rested against the support, and your feet are placed firmly on the ground.
• Next, using your thighs to help lift them into position, lift the dumbbells up to shoulder height one at a time, making sure that you rotate your wrists so that the palms of your hands are now facing forwards and inhale. Your elbows should now be in a 90 degree angle.
• Breathe out and push the dumbbells up into the air over your head, until they lightly bump against each other once your arms are almost fully extended.
• Hold at the top for a second or two, making sure to really squeeze the shoulders, and then slowly lower the dumbbells back down so that they’re once again at a 90 degree angle just above shoulder height.
• Repeat for the necessary required amount of repetitions.
• The exercise can also be performed using a barbell in a squat rack in place of the dumbbells, or standing, either with a barbell or a set of dumbbells.