Got
Bad Shoulders? Here's How You Can STILL Do Overhead Pressing
Pain-Free...
There are
a number of variations of the shoulder press...barbell,
dumbbell, machine, sitting, standing, etc. One of the
things that a lot of these have in common is that when
your shoulders are tweaked (i.e. injured, unstable or
just "not quite right") many of these pressing
variations can cause pain.
Now, in some
cases, you actually shouldn't try and push the issue.
Overhead pressing simply may not be a good movement pattern
for you.
In other cases,
you may just need an alternate exercise that doesn't put
the shoulder joint in positions that do cause pain...you
may be able to press overhead after all!
That's where
this exercise comes in...it's an overhead press done on
a standing calf raise machine.
(side note,
you may be able to also do this exercise on a normal standing
shoulder press machine if the handles are position in
close enough - you'll see what I mean when you see the
exercise in action).
Even though
I'm a big proponent of using free weight whenever possible,
this variation has a number of benefits over the normal
shoulder press with free weight, especially as relates
to "tweaked" shoulders.
1. The weight is stabilized but you can still move
your body relatively freely to find the best path of movement.
This is important because one of the main issues with
machine presses is that you're more "locked in"
to the movement. You have to follow the path that the
machine follows.
This exercise
(done standing), while stabilizing the load for you, allows
you to shift your body around under that load to still
find the right movement path for your shoulders. Granted,
it's not as free as free weight, but if your shoulders
aren't up for full stabilization duties, this is a good
option.
2. This exercise is performed with arms pointing
forward, which better "packs" the shoulder joint
than "elbows wide" pressing (i.e. normal pressing).
This helps better stabilize the joint and, I find, helps
reduce and eliminate pain and discomfort from the pressing
movement.
Granted, this
arm positioning does tend to throw more focus on the front
delts, so you will need to take that into account with
other exercises you're doing...basically, don't do any
front raises. You can also work with this by moving your
body under the weight as you come to the top, which helps
put tension onto the lateral and rear delts as well.
3. You'll be performing this exercise with an open
palm. I find this actually helps increase muscle activation
in the delts, similar to fat grip training and bodyweight
training.
How to do the Shoulder Press on the Standing
Calf Raise Machine:
Start with
a fairly light weight until you get an idea of how much
load the leverage of the calf machine will put on you.
Stand in front
of the machine with a staggered stance then put your palms
under the shoulder pads of the calf machine. If you have
a shoulder press machine with the handles close enough
in, you can mimic this position (hands 4 to 6 inches apart).
Now press up.
Your core and legs will work to stabilize the body. Shift
your body as needed during the movement.
As you press
up and the shoulder pads come up higher than your head,
push your body forward underneath the weight. This will
help activate the lateral and rear delts. This also gives
a straight line of support through your entire body (i.e.
you can draw a straight line from my hands down through
my back leg.)
Lower the weight
back down, shifting your body back then repeat.
One of the
other benefits of this one is that you can set the machine
down in between each rep and reset your shoulder position.
You can do continuous tension if you want to, but you
do have the option to reset on each rep.
You'll also
notice this elbows-forward version gives you a tremendous
range of motion in the shoulder press...it also involves
the triceps to a significant degree as well.
It's very quick
to set up and very straightforward to perform.
Bottom line,
if your shoulders give you trouble either through injury,
pain or discomfort and normal shoulder press with free
weights is not an option for you, this version might be
worth a try. It may allow you to do overhead pressing
again.
In addition,
if your shoulders are fine, this is a GREAT shoulder pressing
option to hit your delts with a different movement pattern.
