Basic exercise to increase shoulder mass and strength. Standing barbell press affects mainly the anterior and medium bunches deltoid muscle, and also loads the triceps, pectoral muscles, trapezius and back. Analogous to the seated barbell press and dumbbell presses.
Initial position
Place your feet parallel, shoulder-width apart, and bend your knees slightly. Grab the barbell with an overhand grip slightly wider than shoulder-width apart. Raise the barbell to your chest so that the bar touches its top, with your palms facing up. The back should be slightly arched in the lower back, shoulders straightened.
Trajectory of movement
From the starting point, press the bar straight up. Fix the bar at the top point, then slowly lower it to the starting position. Front load deltoid muscles it will be greater if you move your elbows slightly forward. For targeted training of the middle deltoid muscles, on the contrary, spread your elbows to the sides.
Body position
When pressing the barbell, do not lean back, thereby you will make the exercise easier by removing some of the load from your shoulders that they should receive. Do not raise your head, look only forward. Also, you should not put one leg forward and the other back; your legs should be parallel to each other.
Execution options
A medium grip (hands shoulder-width apart) is considered optimal when performing barbell chest presses to train the deltoid muscles. When too narrow grip part of the load will shift to the triceps. If the grip is very wide, part of the load will shift to pectoral muscles. With a wide grip, the effectiveness of the exercise will also decrease, as the amplitude of movement will decrease.
Note
During the exercise, breathe evenly, without holding your breath, exhale as you rise, inhale as you lower the barbell. Do not relax your abs and back muscles, otherwise there is a risk of injury.
Execution technique
- Grasp the bar shoulder-width apart with an overhand grip and lift the barbell to your chest.
- Press the bar straight up until your arms are fully extended so that the bar is above your head.
- Slowly lower the barbell to the starting position.
Army press(also called the standing barbell press from the chest or the classic shoulder press) – great exercise, aimed at developing the muscles of the arms and shoulders. At the same time, the athlete improves the support and shock-absorbing qualities of his body.
Muscle work in exercise
The military style barbell chest press (military, soldier) is a basic exercise. That is, when it is executed, several work at once muscle groups. The main load falls on the deltoids - the muscles covering the shoulder joint. The work involves the posterior, anterior and middle bundles. The front is used as much as possible, the rear is minimally used.
Regular training of the deltoids makes the shoulders visually wider and more voluminous.
In addition to the shoulders, the movement engages the triceps (you extend your arms when you lift the barbell in front of you) and top part large pectoral muscles.
The muscles of the abs, back, legs and buttocks are responsible for stabilizing the body while performing the exercise while standing. If you do a barbell bench press while sitting on a bench with support on a vertical backrest, the load on your legs is completely removed and the load on your back is significantly reduced. In general, the seated press is a slightly simpler and safer option for the exercise.
The delights of the military press
As the name suggests, the military press is a traditional exercise. physical training military personnel. The name came from in English, but was completely adapted among Russian-speaking athletes.
Functionality of exercises in case military training comes first. The standing press (lifting the barbell overhead) allows you to increase the force of the vertical push from the shoulders, allowing you to effectively set up fighters when needed. For example, to overcome high obstacles, or when you need to get into a high window.
The exercise is performed while standing (the seated barbell press is a simplified version), and the weight of the barbell rests on the entire body. You need to maintain balance throughout the entire exercise. This allows you to develop muscles that stabilize the position of the human body in an upright position. As a result, the muscles of the legs, back, and lower back are strengthened.
Since the standing barbell press engages the triceps (this was mentioned above), this will also be useful during wrestling, when you need to push your opponent away from you.
Thus, the military press (aka vertical press) - basic exercise for a fighter.
Civilian athletes are interested in more than just muscle strength and increased performance own body, but also in the harmony of the figure, which is achieved through the development shoulder girdle.
In fitness clubs, athletes perform overhead presses both standing and sitting. Both options develop the shoulders well. The first is suitable for experienced athletes, and the second is good for beginners or people with spinal problems.
If we consider the front chest press as an element strength training, then there is a push, a jerk, and braking due to the depreciation of the legs. More about this in the execution technique.
The big advantage of the exercise is that it develops the whole body (not just the shoulder muscles), overall coordination and stability. This is good for both the soldier and the civilian athlete.
In civilian life, it is unlikely that you will need to lift someone over your head, sit them down, and so on. But very useful exercise will be for opening hatches, ceiling windows, lifting something high up. So pump up your shoulders.
Now let's talk about the cons
The military bench press combines two serious disadvantages:
- Danger of injury (muscles and joints can be damaged).
- Risk of falling and dropping the barbell (especially when the technique is incorrect).
The fact is that the overhead press involves movement to dampen the inertia of the descending projectile. This occurs by bending the knees and slightly tilting the pelvis from its original position.
If you perform a standing press with straight legs, there will be no shock absorption, and the shock will be absorbed due to the elasticity of the articular cartilage. This means that the joints of the knees, pelvis, spine, and ankles will receive a harmful load. All this can be easily achieved if you do the military press with straight legs (that is, with your knees “locked”).
Another risk is increased stress on the lower back. Therefore, it is recommended to perform the exercise with a special athletic belt. If for some reason you have osteochondrosis of the lumbar spine, and the doctor recommended an orthopedic belt, wear it during approaches. This will reduce the degree of compression of the spine.
The most ridiculous thing that can happen is the barbell falling or being thrown to the floor. This can happen for several reasons: you took heavy weight, you are not an experienced athlete. For athletes with little experience, we strongly recommend that you practice the technique of the exercise before increasing it.
Also at risk are the shoulder muscles and shoulder joints. Under no circumstances should you begin performing the military press without thorough pre-warming.
Exercise technique
Prepare the racks for the bar: set them to the desired height. You can use a power rack or regular squat racks. To warm up, do 10–12 repetitions with an empty bar.
An empty bar (Olympic) weighs about 20 kg, together with plugs - 25 kg. This is a hefty weight for beginners, so look around the gym for lighter bars.
Technique for performing the military press:
- The bar should be positioned just below your shoulders so that you can remove it by straightening your knees rather than lifting your body on your toes.
- The position of the hands should be shoulder width or slightly wider than shoulder width. Elbows point down, palms point up.
- Go under the bar until you touch the bar, place your feet shoulder-width apart, feet parallel, you can point your toes slightly apart.
- Grasp the bar as described in point 2. The bar should be located on your collarbones, and on the sides of them should be fixed on your palms.
- Bend your legs at the knees for shock absorption. Lift the barbell up in front of you, bringing it above your head. The bar should be on the same axis with your head, pelvis and heels. If the bar deviates anywhere, you are doing the overhead press incorrectly!
- Lower the barbell back onto your collarbones, squatting slightly when the barbell touches them. Movements are carried out at a moderate speed, not slow, but not fast. From the outside it looks like jerking, but it's not. Each movement must be completely under the control of the athlete.
- Do 10–12 repetitions in three sets.
Don’t forget that when lifting the bar (with effort), you need to exhale through your mouth, and when lowering, inhale through your nose.
Anyone who wants to completely protect themselves from injury can perform a barbell press while sitting on an incline bench, placing the back at 90 degrees to the floor and pressing your back tightly against it. In this case, you completely eliminate injuries to the lower back and back, since they are fixed on the back of the bench and receive only part of the load. However, the seated press will not allow you to improve your pushing skills, develop greater strength, or learn to maintain better balance. Therefore, think for yourself which option is best suited for you: standing barbell press, or still in a sitting position.
Monitoring equipment: common mistakes
Confused with other exercises
The overhead barbell press is often confused with the military press. In the second case, the barbell moves up and down behind the head, and the athlete’s hands grasp the bar wider than shoulder width. When the barbell is lowered, it goes to the top of the trapezius, or more often, it does not go below the athlete's ears. In the case of a military press, the barbell should be held on the chest-clavicles, supported by the palms, fingers facing the athlete.
Extra movements
We are talking about unnecessary pelvic vibrations, head movements, and jumps. If you move your pelvis too far back while lifting the barbell, you are doing the exercise incorrectly.
If you jump up to lift more weight, you are cheating; when lowering, there is a risk of injury. Before your sets, remember how to do the exercise using an empty bar.
Incorrect body position
Some thrill-seekers lift the barbell up in front of them, tilting their body back, thereby overloading the vertical stabilizers of the body. Firstly, you can fall, and secondly, you can injure your shoulders and lower back.
The bar should be held above your head (with your gaze directed forward), and your body vertical.
Weight too heavy
The most common mistake newbies make is the desire to impress. Remember, you will not make any impression on the long-time inhabitants of the gym, except to make them laugh. And it’s not even worth showing off for the sake of other newcomers. The price is too high.
For example, you take a barbell weighing 50 kg and try to lift it upward in the clean and jerk. You will succeed once, and then you will not be able to keep it. You need to choose the weight wisely. To begin with, ensure that the execution technique is close to ideal, do the exercise correctly. Then you can increase the weights. Technique is everything. If there is a technique, there will be a result. Without it, there will be injury.
No warm-up
A very risky and common mistake is to immediately take on working weights. The shoulders and their muscles are very vulnerable to injury. Many of you know perfectly well how all this happens - first there is a sharp pain, then for six months it is difficult (or even impossible) to raise your arm in any direction. This is exactly how the process of tearing the deltoids occurs.
All of this takes a long time to cure and requires compliance with restrictions and additional warming up in the future.
Do you need this? Warm up your muscles well before exercise. After cardio, work on your shoulder joint, then do this exercise with light weights. If in your gym All the bars are 20 kg, try warming up with dumbbells. This is very convenient - because the weight is much less than that of the bar. Do 10–15 warm-up reps. Then grab the bar and gradually approach the working weight.
It’s better to do 2-3 intermediate sets of 4-5 reps than to strain your shoulder. And remember - the correct execution technique is no less important than warming up.
For example, if your working weight is 55 kg, start your warm-up with empty neck(this is 20 kg). Do 15 reps. Add 10 kg, do 4-5 repetitions. Hang another 10 kg, perform the exercise 5 times. Now you can hang the working weight (55 kg) and perform the required number of repetitions and approaches.
Possible problems and their solutions
It hurts to lift the barbell
The pain is most often observed in the shoulders, triceps and wrists. If you work without a special belt, your lower back may also hurt.
- If your shoulders hurt, one of the deltoids is pulled (your choice: middle or anterior). You need to wait a while without training - let your muscles recover for at least a month.
- If your lower back hurts, always wear an orthopedic belt (not an athletic belt, mind you).
- For wrist pain, you can use elastic bandages.
Can't keep my balance
There is another way to place your legs - one in front, the other slightly behind. However, it is more likely to be used by weightlifters. Thus, a person stands more stable on his feet, but a traumatic load is created on the spine. Therefore, place your legs straight (feet parallel) and take as much weight as you can support in this position. For convenience, practice in front of a mirror.
Insufficient joint flexibility
If your joints do not allow you to perform the barbell chest press correctly, don’t. We'll have to limit ourselves to other options for pumping up the shoulders. Don't worry, there are plenty of other exercises.
If your back hurts
The seated barbell press is an option for people with weak backs. Lean against the back incline bench. This will reduce the stress on your lower back. Also, the seated barbell press will reduce the risk of falling or dropping the barbell.
Overtraining
Don’t forget which muscle groups work when you do a standing or seated barbell press, and plan your workouts correctly. Don't overload the deltoids.
Many athletes and bodybuilders only do the bench press because it is a compound exercise that allows you to lift heavier weights than the bench press. However, you should not cross this exercise out of your program. Here are a few reasons why you should mix up your base with the standing barbell press:
- Pumps up the shoulders evenly. During the standing barbell press, all bundles of the deltoid muscles are worked out, while in the bench press the main load falls on the front part. This does not mean that you need to replace the bench press with the standing press. These exercises complement each other perfectly and help your shoulders get faster.
- Uses many muscle groups. The standing barbell press targets the triceps, deltoids, pectoralis, trapezius and serratus anterior muscles. Also, due to the lack of support, they are well loaded, which keep the body in balance during the press.
- More stress on the muscles. As part of the study, scientists compared the load on muscles during bench presses of barbells and dumbbells while standing and sitting. It turned out that during a standing barbell press, the rear deltoids are loaded by 25%, and the triceps - 20% more than during a seated barbell press. Also, the standing barbell press is more effective for pumping up the biceps and triceps than the standing dumbbell press. In an exercise with a barbell, the biceps are loaded 16% more, and the triceps - 39% more than in a standing press with dumbbells.
There seems to be enough reason to occasionally include this exercise in your program. Now let's talk about how to improve the standing press and increase the weight in this exercise.
How to improve your standing barbell press
1. Don't use too wide a grip
When you grab a barbell with a wide grip, you shorten the range of motion, which should make the exercise easier. However wide grip takes your hands out of the s zone better conditions to show strength. In this zone, your shoulders are at the perfect angle so that you apply maximum force to the barbell when pressing.
Good grip
Also, a wide grip will not allow you to keep your elbows opposite chest and engage latissimus muscles back, which significantly reduces strength indicators.
To find the ideal grip, grip the barbell at a distance slightly wider than shoulder-width apart, with your forearms and elbows close to the serratus anterior muscle. Try to keep your elbows rigid during the movement.
2. Keep all muscles tense
You should tense not during the bench press, but even before it begins. Press into the floor of your foot, tighten calf muscles, quadriceps, buttocks, abdominal muscles and latissimus dorsi muscles.
Tensing your muscles throughout the exercise will make your press more powerful.
You can check how this works using a simple handshake as an example. First, squeeze your friend's hand, tensing only the muscles in your hand. Then try to tense all the muscles in your body mentioned above and squeeze your hand again. This time the friend will hardly be able to stop himself from screaming.
3. Keep your head down
If you're already familiar with barbell overhead raises, and especially variations like the press and jerk, you're probably accustomed to lifting your head and looking at the ceiling to avoid hitting your chin with the barbell.
By lifting your chin up, you protect your jaw from impact, but at the same time the bar moves slightly forward, deviating from the ideal trajectory.
Head position Instead of looking up, try pulling your head back to create a double chin. This way the bar will pass right in front of your face, and its trajectory will be optimal.
4. Shift your focus to your quads.
When it comes to the bench press, push press, or clean and jerk, most of the power comes from the quadriceps. If you try to perform the movement using your buttocks, you will have to move your hips back. As a result, the bar will move forward and deviate from the optimal trajectory.
Pull your hips back If you perform the movement using the quadriceps, the body will remain straight, and the bar will follow an ideal trajectory - strictly in the center.
Lifting through the quadriceps 5. Work on your weaknesses
To increase the weight in the standing press, you need to develop good technique, pump up the target muscle groups (front and middle deltoids and triceps), and also strengthen antagonist and synergist muscles.
Your program should include shoulder external rotation movements to strengthen the posterior deltoids. For example, you can use bent-over dumbbell flyes.
Bent-over dumbbell raises It's also worth working on your obliques. Incorporate exercises such as side plank and a farmer's walk with a weight in one hand.
Classic and side planks If you have tips and observations about the standing press, share your experience in the comments.
Video Standing chest press for women
Analysis of the exercise
The military standing press is the basis for building massive shoulders. The classic vertical version of its implementation gives a powerful impetus to the development of deltoids with an emphasis on their middle and anterior bundles.
Together with the target muscles, a large array of assistant muscles is connected to the mechanical work, which makes this exercise “fundamental” in shoulder girdle development programs:
The function of stabilizing the body during movement is assumed by the muscles of the core and legs.
Contraindications
Because the standing vertical press puts significant pressure on the spine, athletes with back injuries are advised to eliminate it from the program or replace it with a “lighter” alternative—the seated military press.
How to increase the effectiveness of the exercise
The optimal recoil effect is obtained by performing the military press in full amplitude, that is, the “span” of the movement goes from the chest at the lowest point to full extension of the arms with the apparatus at the top point.
How to adjust the focus of the load
The standing barbell press from the chest can be performed in two technical variations: from the chest or from behind the head. The difference in kinesiology allows you to load working muscle from different angles. In particular, the load in vertical press focuses on the anterior and middle delta bundles, with emphasis on the first.
Performing overhead presses shortens the range of motion and makes it possible to engage the posterior head more. It is worth noting that the position of the forearms in this case is less physiological, which significantly limits the work with weight.
However, by combining these two types of movements, you can achieve harmonious proportionality of the deltoids.
- To perform the movement technically, maximum core stability should be achieved through static tension of the gluteal muscles, leg muscles and abdominal muscles.
- When performing an overhead press, it should be taken into account that the center of gravity shifts, due to which stability is lost - too much weight can cause loss of balance and a fall.
Execution nuances
Inclusion in the program
Military bench press with a barbell – universal exercise, which can be used to give the deltoid muscles massiveness, form their expressive and relief shape and develop the strength of the shoulder girdle. Depending on the target orientation of the training, the volume of approaches and the working weight of the projectile will be adjusted accordingly:
It is effective to combine the military press in one day with exercises to develop arm muscles, provided that the basic movement for the deltoids comes first.
On average, for a beginner athlete, 1 workout per week using this exercise is enough; an experienced strength athlete can, if necessary, increase the frequency of the load up to 3 times.
If you want to have big shoulders, do standing barbell presses and increase the working weights. Everything about the correct bench press technique, videos and analysis of the main mistakes are in the Soviet Sport manual.
BAR PRESS STANDING. WHAT MUSCLES WORK
Standing barbell press from the chest or “military press” - key exercise for the development of large shoulders. When performing it, the anterior and middle bundles of deltoid muscles work, the rear delta, triceps and trapezius muscles.
Shoulders respond well to growth serious weights. The standing barbell press is exactly the exercise where you can increase the weight of the projectile for a long time, in contrast to isolating exercises for the deltoids. Record holders of the “military bench press” are able to lift a barbell weighing up to two hundred kilograms or more. Until 1972, this exercise was one of the competitive movements in athletics– together with the jerk and push of the barbell. He was excluded because a number of athletes began to use “cheating”: instead of clean lifts, they pressed the barbell with a shvung - they pushed it out by slightly squatting and straightening their legs. It was difficult for the judges to determine a clean bench press by eye.
BAR PRESS STANDING. TECHNIQUE
Grab the barbell from the racks with a grip slightly wider than shoulder-width. Legs stand straight, toes slightly pointed to the sides. The back is tense, a slight arch in the lower back is acceptable. Place the barbell on your chest, and then begin to gently press it upward until your elbows are straight. At the top point, the bar should be above the crown.
Smoothly lower the barbell to the starting position. You did one rep of the standing press.
Correct technique You can watch the exercises in this training video:
BAR PRESS STANDING. COMMON ERRORS
Before performing a standing barbell press, you need to stretch your shoulders well. Without warming up, an exercise - especially if you do it with heavy weights - can lead to muscle injuries, sprains, and joint inflammation;
Do the movement in full amplitude: lower the barbell below the level of the chin - this will allow you to better work the front deltoids;
Avoid jerky movements. The bar should move smoothly and under control up and down. Do not lower the barbell to your chest suddenly;
The head looks forward all the time - this helps to maintain a straight body position;
Make sure your body is straight. A strong deflection in the lower back while performing a standing barbell press can lead to spinal injury. Lower the weight on the bar if you can't finish the set without arching your lower back on the last reps. Use a weightlifting belt to support your lower back.
BAR PRESS STANDING. EXERCISE VARIATIONS
Often, the standing barbell press from the chest is replaced with another exercise - the standing barbell press from behind the head. This type of press allows you to engage your rear deltoids more, but we do not recommend using it. The shoulder joint in the overhead bench press is in an unnatural position for itself and experiences overload - this can injure it.
An alternative to the classic standing barbell press is the dumbbell press (standing or seated). Dumbbells allow you to increase the range of motion.
BAR PRESS STANDING. TRAINING
The standing barbell press is a good way to start training your shoulders - while you are still full of strength and can handle heavy weights. After performing the basic press, move on to isolated exercises– for example, dumbbell flyes and lifting dumbbells in front of you. Between the bench press and isolation, you can do a few more sets of barbell rows to the chin - this will allow you to “break through” the middle deltoids.
Don't forget that when you press a barbell while standing, the posterior deltoid muscles work to a lesser extent. To achieve uniform development of the deltoid muscles, include exercises for the rear delts in your training - bent-over dumbbell flyes, cable machine rows. Exercises for building a bunch of deltoids can be done on the day when you train your back - if you decide that there are too many exercises for deltoids for one day.
ATTENTION! Before starting training, consult your doctor!