Techniques on activating the delts during DB shoulder press?

[jc95148]

It feels more like an arm workout rather than a shoulder workout to me.

[mobikwa]

Lower the weight.
Keep your back flat against the seat, don't arch it and make it an incline bench press.

Main thing is reducing the weight and work the muscle rather than just moving the weight.

[v8hemi]

It feels more like an arm workout rather than a shoulder workout to me.

Stop when your elbows are parallel with your shoulders. Don't go below that, otherwise you're taking the tension off your delts and transferring it to your triceps. Like mentioned above you'll probably have to lower the weight to adjust to proper form.

[samsont]

if you're pressing, you're gonna activate your delts no matter what.. its the prime mover... just get strong

[NZninja101]

Stop when your elbows are parallel with your shoulders. Don't go below that, otherwise you're taking the tension off your delts and transferring it to your triceps.

I don't know about that. Personally I lower it to a point that if i used a barbell, it would be *just* under my chin and the movement still feels delt dominant in this portion of the movement.

if you're pressing, you're gonna activate your delts no matter what.. its the prime mover... just get strong

This. You probably just have relatively weak triceps. Keep focusing on working all your muscles and getting them stronger and things should work themselves out.

[Xuaxace]

Stop when your elbows are parallel with your shoulders. Don't go below that, otherwise you're taking the tension off your delts and transferring it to your triceps. Like mentioned above you'll probably have to lower the weight to adjust to proper form.

rofl, how does that even make sense to you... seriously, sometimes I wonder how many people post while high.

[Engineer_Guy]

Stop when your elbows are parallel with your shoulders. Don't go below that, otherwise you're taking the tension off your delts and transferring it to your triceps. Like mentioned above you'll probably have to lower the weight to adjust to proper form.

Triceps are activated at the top of pressing movements...

[v8hemi]

Triceps are activated at the top of pressing movements...

I won't argue that I could be wrong with the tension transferring to the triceps, however for me it personally feels like more of an arm workout whenever I go below parallel.

It's actually easier for me and I can press far more weight when I go below parallel versus stopping at parallel, which is significant enough to prove that tension is being taken off the delts and being transferred elsewhere... maybe more on the joints instead? Feel free to enlighten me without sarcasm.

[Xuaxace]

I won't argue that I could be wrong with the tension transferring to the triceps, however for me it personally feels like more of an arm workout whenever I go below parallel.

It's actually easier for me and I can press far more weight when I go below parallel versus stopping at parallel, which is significant enough to prove that tension is being taken off the delts and being transferred elsewhere... maybe more on the joints instead? Feel free to enlighten me without sarcasm.

Perharps you just don't know how to perform the movements properly

just a thought

[k9pit]

Make sure your elbows/forearms are lined up perpendicular from the floor and most importantly, push "through" your elbows.

This may sound a little off because it's an internal thing I think whenever I am doing DB presses but......mentally I try my best to stabilize my back against the bench then with that back stability in check I generate the power from my lats and push striaght up through the elbows. In doing so, I feel the "pushing up" focused in the delts. Triceps will get worked in the later stages of the move however, no doubt about it.

[MAXXv]

From Mike Mentzer's Heavy Duty Training guide:
"[...]Keep the elbows directed to the sides so that the resistance is directed onto the delts as much as possible."