What is a Barbell Shoulder Press?

A barbell shoulder press is a strength exercise that targets your shoulder muscles. It’s especially good at hitting the deltoids— the muscles at the tops of your shoulders that help create the ‘3D shoulders’ look. It’s also beneficial for your triceps and if you have bad chest genetics, it can help you grow the upper chest. To do this exercise, you hold a barbell at shoulder height with an overhand grip, keeping your elbows bent, and press your bar straight overhead. This compound exercise is a great way to build shoulder strength, stability, and muscle definition. If you’ve got sloped shoulders or bad shoulder genetics, performing the barbell press for shoulder muscles is a great way to help even out imbalances. You can do this exercise either seated or standing for different emphasis and engagement on your stabilizing muscles.

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How-to

Sit in a shoulder press rack and grasp the barbell with a slightly wider than shoulder-width overhand grip.
Unrack the bar and lower it to your upper chest. For a lighter lift, you can also use a barbell or EZ bar racked at your collarbone sitting on a weight bench or from a standing position.
Press the barbell upwards until your arms are fully extended overhead. Squeeze your shoulders.
Slowly return the barbell to your upper chest.

Muscle Worked

Primary Muscle Groups

Traps

Lie on the floor and place a foam roller below your traps and above your shoulder blades.

Shoulders

Your shoulders are ball-and-socket joints which connect your arms to your torso

Triceps

The triceps are the muscles on the backs of your upper arms

Secondary Muscle Groups

Lats

Your latissimus dorsi, also called the "lats," help you to move your arms and keep your shoulders stable.

Forearms

The forearms help you grip objects and move your hands, wrists and fingers

Chest

Your chest helps you move your arms across your body and up and down while stabilizing the shoulders

Pro Tips

Engage Your Core: Before you press, tighten your core to stabilize your torso and protect your lower back. This helps prevent arching and helps you transfer force efficiently from the lower body to the upper body, giving you better control and reducing injury risk.
Use a Full Range of Motion: Lower the bar to just below chin level and fully extend your arms at the top. This maximizes your muscle activation, especially in the deltoids. You can get stronger and grow more muscle this way since you’re working through full reps with proper technique.
Keep Your Wrists Neutral: Keep your wrists straight and aligned with your forearms throughout your press. Too much bending or straining can lead to wrist pain or discomfort. It also reduces your overall pressing power. Having your wrists in neutral helps you with better force transfer to your bar.

Equipments

Barbell

A barbell is a long metal bar with space for weight plates on each end used for weightlifting

Vertical Bench

A vertical bench press machine is an assisted bench pressing exercise that targets the chest

Benefits

Builds Shoulder Strength: The barbell shoulder press targets your deltoids to increase strength and pushing power in your shoulders.
Upper Body Stability: In the standing version of a barbell shoulder press, you require significant balance. Not only are you building stronger shoulders, but this helps develop your enhancing overall shoulder and core stability.
Promotes Muscle Growth: Shoulder pressing with a barbell activates multiple upper body muscles, which supports hypertrophy (muscle growth) and muscle definition.

Warm Up & Cool Down

Warm Up

Arm Circles: Make small to large circles with your arms to wake up your shoulder joints and get them ready for your barbell press. Feel free to work from small to large or large to small circles at different speeds. Do this for at least 30 seconds.
Shoulder Rotations with Resistance Band: To activate your rotor cuffs (easy to injure, so they should be well warmed up), use a resistance band to do internal and external shoulder rotations. Try a band with at most medium resistance so you can focus on articulating your movement through every part of these delicate muscles.
Light Dumbbell Shoulder Press: Use very light weights for one or two high rep sets to get your shoulder muscles ready for the heavier load. A warm-up set gets you thinking about how to implement proper technique on heavier lifts and generates warmth in your body.

Cool Down

Overhead Shoulder Stretch: Stick one arm straight up overhead. Bend your elbow, and gently press down on it with your opposite hand to stretch your shoulder.
Cross-Body Shoulder Stretch: Pull one arm across your chest and hold it with the other hand. This brings the stretch into your deltoids.
Doorway Pec Stretch: Place your arm at a 90-degree angle on a doorway, and step forward to stretch the front shoulder and chest, helping release tension.

FAQ

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