Comments on: Overhead Dumbbell Press

By: Mark McManus

Mark McManus — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 13:49:57 +0000

@mickey. Yes generally you don’t lock out. However, towards the end of a set if I think it will help me squeeze out an extra rep or 2, I’ll lock out for a second and take a breather and go again.
@Sam. No it doesn’t. It’s a myth. In fact the growth hormone secretions will help if anything.

By: John A Davis

John A Davis — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 04:12:19 +0000

@JaSoN
One must “adduct” their shoulder blades (down and back) on anything the shoulders are involved. in

By: Sam

Sam — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 02:11:25 +0000

Hey Mark,
does doing this type of exercise stunts your growth of height…???
i am 18 years old and i don’t want my height to be affected by this….
please reply….:^)

By: Sean Brown

Sean Brown — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 22:12:57 +0000

I have shoulders on Friday, so I shall put this to good use!!! 🙂 Thanks for the tip!!!!

By: mikey

mikey — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 19:57:57 +0000

Mark.. i was taught that during a shoulder press that you dont lock out at the top..motion should stop just before to keep the tension on the shoulder..let me know what u think..

By: Josefina

Josefina — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 19:53:47 +0000

Great timing! Doing shoulders tomorrow and will definately give this a try!

By: Mark McManus

Mark McManus — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 19:35:06 +0000

Thanks, everyone 🙂
@Lourcey – This would be in addition to a barbell overhead press.
@John. Good points, bud.
@Jason. ONLY if you lower the weight right down to your chest while keeping your wrists fully pronated. The form I’m demonstrating is absolutely fine 🙂
@stickupkid. Yes but I’m not a fan of free barbell seated overhead press. Try sitting at smith machine for that and use this form, it’s MUCH better!

By: stickupkid

stickupkid — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 17:12:03 +0000

Would you use the same style for seated barbell overhead press as well Mark?

By: JaSoN

JaSoN — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 16:55:47 +0000

They don’t allow these shoulder exercise’s at the gym I go to cause to many people are getting injured with shoulder impingement. I still do them though with the hands facing in through the movement. they say the problem is when you have your hands facing forward with your elbows out, that external rotation of the humerus and a heavy load is puts the rotator cuff muscles in a vulnerable position. I say it’s because of bad form. what say you mark?

By: John A Davis

John A Davis — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 16:12:18 +0000

Ha! I’ve been doing that for the last year or more. I use a seated cable contraption for 3 reasons:
1–no one else uses it and I don’t have to fight for weights
2–I can change the weight with a pin, and I don’t have to fight for weights.
3–Because the pulleys on the ground are a couple feet out from the peak of my shoulders my bones don’t stack at the top of the movement. Continued tension at the top, where dumbells rest on stacked bones, not muscles.

By: Pedro

Pedro — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 14:03:42 +0000

Hi, Mark thank you so much for this. Saludos desde Panama

By: Lourcey

Lourcey — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 13:35:10 +0000

Gettin a shoulder like a boulder! I hbababe a question for you though, would you recommend this to replace the military press or simply follow it? Shoulders are a weak point of mine, and I’ve been trying to get them to keep up with the rest of my body. It’s no good when you stop short on the bech because of muscle failure in the shoulders.

By: Adi Cutts

Adi Cutts — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 12:52:01 +0000

wow, talk about timing. I’ve been doing seated overhead dumbbell press for a few weeks now and was just talking yesterday to my brother, who I train with, about looking round the net to see if we were doing them correctly to achieve max results, and while I’ve been getting the range of motion spot on as you describe, I’ve been lifting with my palms in facing each other. While my shoulders are one of the most noticeable areas of muscle gains over the last 20 weeks, I will defo be altering my hand positioning this week on this exercise to continue getting max results from my time in the gym. I also love the stability you feel when doing these seated which certainly encourages me to lift a lot more weight. Cheers Mark.

By: Zac

Zac — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 12:20:30 +0000

Looks good and it makes sense and I will be doing this on my next shoulder workout. I’ve been lowering the weight til the dumbbell is level with my shoulder so the video is hugely helpful for describing good form. Thanks a lot Mark. You look in awesome shape at the moment.

By: Andi

Andi — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 12:17:30 +0000

Thank you so much, Mark! Shoulders is the most difficult part of exercising for me. Tomorrow is Shoulders-day again so I can try out your form! Very looking forward to that! 🙂

Cheers
Andi