How to do a Proper Shoulder Press
Posted on April 7, 2015How to do a proper Shoulder Press?
Hold the dumbbells just above your shoulders. Squeeze your shoulder blades down and back so that your elbows are pointing out to the sides. Press the weights directly overhead and then slowly return them to the starting position.
What are the Benefits?
The shoulder press is a great compound exercise to work your deltoid muscles as well as your triceps. Your core, rotator cuff muscles, traps, lats and rhomboids are also activated in order to stabilize the weight through the movement. Using dumbbells in this overhead press gives the additional benefit of training your shoulders symmetrically since it prevents you from compensating with the stronger side.
What to Avoid?
Holding the weight too far behind you: Keep the dumbbells directly above your shoulders or slightly in front. Lifting too far behind can destabilize your shoulder joint and cause serious injury.
Lifting with bad posture: Keep your chest out and should blades down and back, just as you would stand with ideal posture. The muscles in your shoulder blades form the stabilizing platform to allow our deltoids to do the brunt of the work. Without keeping this platform strong, you can badly injure your shoulder.
