How to Lift the Bar Correctly in the Shoulder Press

 

The shoulder press is the most beneficial press for a trainee to learn, much more so than the vaunted bench press. The reason is simple: the shoulder press requires the correct usage of your whole body, since the bar is being held directly and with no support, such that from your feet up your whole body is involved in the process. The bench however requires the use of a bench, and thus robs half of your body from being involved. However, despite the simple nature of the shoulder press, it is deceptively tricky; doing it correct requires that you lift the bar correctly, something that is counter-intuitive. In today's article we are going to look at this crucial aspect of the shoulder press and help you accomplish it successfully.

The lift must begin from the correct starting position. This entails taking the bar off the rack at sternum height with a grip that is slightly wider that shoulder width, such that your forearms are vertical with the ground. Rest the bar on the flesh of your deltoids, and point your elbows slightly forward. Lift your chest, fix your eyes on a point before you, and then press the weight up.

This is where it gets tricky. Most trainees will press the weight directly up from where it sits on their shoulders, and thus end up with it slightly before their foreheads, their arms at an oblique angle to hold it there. However, the best place for it is slightly behind your head, such that it is aligned with your mid-foot line, so that your scapula's, shoulders, hips and everything else are directly beneath the weight, allowing you to lock out beneath it.

However, the answer to how to get the weight behind your head is not to swing the weight back through the air; when lifting heavy weights you want to keep its path as vertical as possible. Instead, you must move your own body under the weight as it passes up. Wait for the weight to pass your face and then lean forward so that you pass beneath it. Doing so will allow the weight to become position correctly while still allowing it to follow a vertical path. Remember, you want the path of the weight to remain as vertical as possible to allow your movement to be as economical and concentrated as you can.

 

 

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