How to Hold the Bar For the Shoulder Press

 

The shoulder press is the most superior form of the press, despite the enduring popularity of the bench press. The bench press enjoys huge popularity due to it working on the chest/vanity muscles, but the use of a bench means that only a portion of your body is used. The shoulder press on the other hands requires that you use the entire body to stabilize the weight, and thus is the best all-round exercise for you. Many people however have difficulty raising large amounts of weight over their head, and this is often due to their gripping the bar incorrectly. In today's article we are going to take a look at the correct bar grip, and help you consequently break through plateau's.

When you begin the shoulder press you should ensure that the bar is racked at sternum level. You should grip the bar with both hands, and ensure that your grip is about an inch wider than the widest point of your shoulders. This will be narrower than both the squat and bench grip, but will ensure that your arms rise in as vertical a manner as possible. You should then lift the bar from the rack and step back.

Rack the bar on your own body by allowing it to rest on your deltoids. This is the round, fleshy part of your shoulders, and while at first with lighter weights this may seem to be an unnecessary habit, when you progress to heavier weights you will come to appreciate the ability to hold heavy loads on your shoulders. You will want to keep your elbows slightly before the bar, but not pointing too far forward, as this will lessen tension in your back due to its moving the scapula's.

Finally you will want the bar to rest correctly within your hands. You will not want the bar to rest directly over your wrists on the heel of your palm, but rather slightly farther back so that the back of your hand is parallel to the ground. Do not allow the bar to roll all the way back into your fingers, however, but rather try to keep the weight close to the wrists themselves.

When you have hit this position you are basically ready for the press. Raise your chest, look at a fixed point ahead of you, take a deep breath and lift!

 

 

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