Shoulder Press

[erics44]

any advice on improving strength on my shoulder press

on all my other excersizes my strength gains have been good to great, on the shoulder press i havent seen any strength gains in the 5 months ive been lifting.

at the minute i am on 40 kilos, couple of months ago i did get to 44 but went back down because i didnt think my form was good, now i cant get back up

the weight is based on 3 sets of 5

[BergMuscle]

Your triceps are involved in any pressing motion, such as shoulder press and bench press. What are you doing to strengthen those muscles? And are you training triceps, or doing another press exercise (i.e. bench), the same day or the day before you hit your shoulders?

[mp9750]

Also, do you have any history of injury in the shoulders... an injury can obviously seriously impact your progress. Give us more details on your shoulders workout.

[bulldog71]

Like Berg said! lol Try putting shoulders on their own day or putting them in the first part of your routine. Make your shoulder presses the first exercise of the day. Try switching from BB to DB shoulder presses and do them standing, NOT sitting! Should help you push through the sticking point!

[rpaul11]

Like Berg said! lol Try putting shoulders on their own day or putting them in the first part of your routine. Make your shoulder presses the first exercise of the day. Try switching from BB to DB shoulder presses and do them standing, NOT sitting! Should help you push through the sticking point!

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

that would be my recomendation

[plmb1]

any advice on improving strength on my shoulder press

on all my other excersizes my strength gains have been good to great, on the shoulder press i havent seen any strength gains in the 5 months ive been lifting.

at the minute i am on 40 kilos, couple of months ago i did get to 44 but went back down because i didnt think my form was good, now i cant get back up

the weight is based on 3 sets of 5

Are you gaining size? If I was gaining size (lean muscle) I would not worry about how much weight I was pushing. Just keep trying to add reps to the current numbers and after you can do a certain # of reps then go up a little at a time. Unless of you are into power lifting. In that case you have been given some good advise from the others.

[BrotherWolf]

any advice on improving strength on my shoulder press

practice practice practice.... and microloading in 2-3lb increments, it will get you out of a stall

[Arlecchino]

Could be a technical issue.

Post a vid.

[boathead]

i personally would lower the weight a bit, and then work to get the reps up to 10 or 12, and then add a bit of weight. doing this might help some ancillary muscles a chance to catch up and support increasing weights.

sometimes we have to re-set.

[Whiskeyjack]

Like Berg said! lol Try putting shoulders on their own day or putting them in the first part of your routine. Make your shoulder presses the first exercise of the day. Try switching from BB to DB shoulder presses and do them standing, NOT sitting! Should help you push through the sticking point!

Exactly what I've just started doing.

[Minotaur]

Actually my input here...

I got this advice about my crappy ohp, on the Dave Draper 5x5 forum where I am also logging and seeking their wisdom...

Concerning weight on your OHP:

Don't let your ego/past performance get in the way. I was letting this happen at the beginning of the program that I am currently using and it led to overworking myself VERY quickly. It's tough, but as you said, listen to your gut and drop some iron to get the reps. Doing this got me to my rep count as well as weight increases much quicker than trying to work up to the reps with a heavier weight.

Also, as for standing OHP vs. sitting. Don't neglect your abs, not really out of vanity, but more out of function. I used to do loads of crunches, leg lifts, etc. Now I find that a few sets with the wheel or Hanging Knee Raises give me all I need, and consistency is the key. Not hard and fast advice, but I have found it to be very beneficial for anything where I put the weight above my head.

[ectoBgone]

Like Berg said! lol Try putting shoulders on their own day or putting them in the first part of your routine. Make your shoulder presses the first exercise of the day. Try switching from BB to DB shoulder presses and do them standing, NOT sitting! Should help you push through the sticking point!

Dang dude, where ya been?! Good points.

[Keltron]

If you're going seated w/a barbell, maybe you need to start engaging your stabilizer muscles a bit more. So try lowering the weight and going standing w/dumbells.... If you're already going dumbbell style, try changing the position of your hands. pinkies up, palms facing down, etc... you can also try javelin presses..

practice practice practice.... and microloading in 2-3lb increments, it will get you out of a stall

microloading works wonders...

[Kiknskreem]

http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/Video

[erics44]

cheers all for the input,

to try to answer all of your questions

i do a standing shoulder press in a push pull routine

my push day is - bench, inclined bench, shoulder, squat, crunches

pull day - deadlift, bent over row, caber row, upright row, curl

both days twice a week

I havent had any history of shoulder injuries and i have tried dumbells and i can lift less that way

i have worked out since starting this thread and i used the curl bar (dont know if that is reccomended) for my shoulder press and the weight felt a lot lighter

[tonester]

How are you at pull ups? I have found that those with strong pull up power have a solid upper back/scapular foundation which helps in getting the overhead press numbers up. After all, the muscles involved in all your presses are attached to your upper arm bone which is attached to your scaps.

I have had increases in my standing military presses after working on my pull up strength.

food for thought

[GuyJin]

Besides all the good info you've gotten here, I'd also add that you should be doing some rotator cuff work. Often the weak link in the chain. If you do standing and lying L-flyes for two sets each after your chest and shoulder workouts are over (should you decide to split them up) for about 10-12 reps then the rotators'll get a bit stronger, able to keep up with all the bench/incline press/military (or whatever) pressing you're doing. I'm not sure about the amount of weight; roughly 5-7% of what you can bench. I had shoulder troubles a number of years back and after I started with the L-flyes, the troubles soon vanished.

[kimm4]

I find that doing different exercises each workout helps. I might do DB arnold presses, the next time hammer strength behind the neck press, then reg DB presses...etc...The idea is to constantly shock that muscle and you'll break through the plateau. Also, focus on the entire shoulder to help with all around strength and build.

Here's a good article on wave loading. You'd be surprised how much strength and gains you will make doing this style training.


http://www.findarticles.com/p/articl...2/ai_n16676154 - 47k

Good luck!!

[Old_swole]

use the smith machine you can push youself without worring about the weight coming back on you. go heavy and push through your plateau.

[raybbaby]

My personal favorite for busting through strength plateaus is the "widowmaker" after all my regular sets. do your 3x5, or 4x6 or 3x 12 or whatever, when you're finished, lower the weight at least 20%, more like 30 or 40 if you want, then go back and do nice slow (3-4 Mississippi count negatives) to absolute failure. You may come back to a weight you warmed up with for a set of 12 and only be able to do 8 or 9 this way, but I'd be amazed if you don't get a jump of 10 pounds (probably 4 kilos) or at least 2 more reps per set. this has worked friggin' awesome for me for at least 3 different lifts. Try it, you'll like it.

[Bando]

I'd also add that you should be doing some rotator cuff work.

I would add wrist curls as well - it's not always the major muscle group that's failing.

[erics44]

http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/Video

nice site