Barbell Shoulder Press

Shoulders · Barbell

How to do it

Sit on a bench with a back support inside the rack, with the bar just above head height. Overhand grip slightly wider than your shoulders, shoulder blades pinched and abs braced. Lower the bar to your chin as you breathe in, brushing past your nose, and press up and slightly back until the bar is stacked over your head. The backrest stops you arching your lower back, which is the standing press's failure mode. You feel the whole delt and the triceps. The classic mistake is pressing forward and finishing with the bar ahead of your forehead.

Variants

The drawing shows one way of doing it, and the technique above describes that one. Almost every exercise has variants — standing or seated, the grip, the bench angle — and is still the same exercise: if you do it another way, write it in the exercise note and you will have it every time you train it.

Also works: Chest, Triceps

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