Benefits of Behind the Head Shoulder Press
behind the head presses target your shoulders and upper back.
it activates the deltoids, latissimus dorsi, and trapezius muscles in the upper body more intensely than standard shoulder presses, it also forces you to lift with a slight twist of your torso, which works your obliques as well. behind the head, pressing is advantageous for hitting the front, side, and rear delts.
as it is a relatively difficult movement for you to perform, behind the head presses can be used as an advanced power exercise to push your strength and mass gains to their limit.
it also puts slightly more stress on the shoulder joints than standard shoulder or military presses, so people with shoulder problems should probably avoid it.
if you have shoulder problems, try incline or front presses instead.
behind the head presses also develop the habit of good form and technique for other ways to lift weights; while seated on a bench, for example (the bench press, where you push the weight away from your chest), behind the neck presses force you to lift the weight with your elbows well back, which generates momentum through shoulder rotation rather than elbow flailing.
behind the head, presses are also very useful for hitting the side delts.
Form, Technique, and Execution:
1. set up at a smith machine or power rack by placing a loaded barbell behind your neck as if you were going to do a standing military press.
2. grab the bar with hands about shoulder-width apart and lift it off the rack.
3. brace your abs and keep your back straight as you bend at your hips and knees to lower yourself until your upper arms are parallel to the floor – imagine that you’re opening a door by pressing it away from you.
4. press the bar upward until your arms are almost locked out and return to the starting position.
5. keep your back straight and your abs braced during the entire movement.
6. avoid swinging your hips or legs; the only momentum involved should come from your shoulders rotating around your body, similar to a windmill.
Explosive benefits:
as with all powerlifting movements, your goal should be to lift the bar as fast as you can – this is known as “exploding” through the reps.
try to tense everything possible before you even touch the bar and explode it off your chest as fast as possible.
speed on the positive (lifting) portion of the rep is key to building maximal strength and size.
if you can’t lift it fast, then you’re lifting too much weight.
most people, however, find that they need to go lighter than normal because behind-the-head pressing shifts your focus away from your triceps to your shoulders – which are typically much weaker than your triceps.
avoid doing behind-the-neck presses until you’re strong enough to do them properly while keeping your back straight and avoiding the temptation to use too much weight.
Front delt benefits:
behind-the-head pressing is primarily an exercise for targeting front delts, but because of the way they shift your focus away from your upper back, behind-the-head presses also hit your side delts far better than other variations.
after you hit failure on an incline bench press, switch to behind-the-head presses to really fry your front delts.
Behind the neck shoulder press powerlifting dangerous:
do not do behind-the-neck shoulder presses if you have any shoulder problems or other issues that make overhead pressing dangerously for your shoulders.
doing behind the neck presses is a very advanced powerlifting movement, and it can be potentially dangerous if you don’t know what you’re doing – so take caution before attempting them.
it’s much easier to injure yourself during an attempt at a lift than it is during a normal set of repetitions with lighter weight.
Behind the neck press sets and reps:
do at least 4 sets of 8 to 10 reps.
you can do more sets if you feel like it, but remember that “more” does not equal “better.”
it’s the quality of your work that’s important, not the quantity.
Behind the neck press vs front shoulder raise:
both front delts and front delt heads are involved when doing front shoulder presses.
that’s why they’re effective for building the upper frontal delts, which is otherwise difficult to accomplish.
with behind-the-head presses, there’s little anterior delt involvement; in fact, it primarily targets the lateral delts and upper traps instead.
What about cable crossovers & side lateral raises?
side lateral raises are best used for building the medial delts, while cable crossovers target the lower head of the pectoralis major.
Behind the neck press sets and reps:
but cable crossovers and other forms of isolated chest movements are inferior to compound exercises like bench presses, front shoulder raises, dumbbell overhead presses, behind the neck shoulder presses, dips, pullups & pushups.
Behind the neck press benefits:
when done properly with perfect form, behind-the-head pressed can be an excellent source of strength and hypertrophy.
the best behind-the-neck exercises are the ones that mimic the bench press while shifting the focus to different muscles, which is why behind-the-head presses are superior to other variations like dumbbell presses or military presses.
Behind the neck shoulder press powerlifting benefits:
these are compound movements that allow you to target specific muscles, so they’re much more efficient.
for example, behind-the-neck shoulder presses are superior to front delt raises for building the upper frontal delts, and they could even be used as a replacement for bench presses.
Behind the neck press vs military press:
there’s little anterior delt involvement with behind-the-head presses, which primarily targets the lateral delts and upper traps instead.
with behind-the-neck presses, there’s little anterior delt involvement; in fact, it primarily targets the lateral delts and upper traps instead.
military press, on the other hand, is a standard compound movement that allows you to train both anterior and posterior deltoids.
Behind the head shoulder press:
avoid behind-the-neck pressing if you’ve got any shoulder problems or other issues that make overhead pressing dangerously for your shoulders.
doing behind the neck presses is a very advanced powerlifting movement, and it can be potentially dangerous if you don’t know what you’re doing – so take caution before attempting them.
it’s much easier to injure yourself during an attempt at a lift than it is during a normal set of repetitions with lighter weight.
behind-the-head shoulder presses are best done using the smith machine instead of behind-the-neck dumbbell presses.
if you can’t do them that way, then just stick to the conventional version where you hold the barbell with your palms facing forward. behind-the-head shoulder press training:-
for best results, use this exercise either for low reps (3 sets of 4-6) or high reps (4 sets of 10-12).
Behind the head shoulder press or upright rows:
the behind-neck presses will not only make your shoulders wider, but they’ll also thicken the back of your neck.
while you’re getting a challenging workout with this exercise, don’t go for a max out on each set if you fail to get at least 5 reps on all of them.
you should do it because the delts are being worked fairly hard, while no other muscles are being used to compensate for weak spots in your shoulders.
this means that you won’t have to worry about hitting a plateau and, as an added bonus – you’ll be able to build more strength and power by using bigger weights over time.
Behind the neck exercises:
always warm up your shoulders and traps before performing any kind of overhead pressing movement by doing a light set with just the barbell or smith machine, then move on to a few warm-up sets of 5 reps before going all out on your working set.
Behind the neck shoulder press myth:
you might hear some people claim that doing behind-the-neck presses is bad for your shoulders, but this is false! it only becomes an issue if you do them with too much weight or perform way too many sets.
don’t go crazy and start doing too much weight – if you do, you might risk hurting yourself.
there’s no science to support the idea that behind-the-neck presses contribute to shoulder injuries or shoulder problems – so don’t let someone tell you otherwise; it’s just another obsolete myth!