I’ve been on Team Brignole for awhile, bashing the overhead press as a shoulder-joint killer…
Driving a bar overhead—and even dumbbells—can impinge the joint, causing cumulative damage.
And besides, it’s mostly front deltoid, which get lots of work training chest. We want to focus on the delts’ side heads for more width…
But some of the above is only half true—half because it only applies to the top half of the overhead press…
Check out this post from hypertrophy researcher Chris Beardsley, who credits coach Jake Doleschal for the photos…
Science says that the bottom half of the press targets the middle-delt heads. Then from halfway up to arms locked you train more front heads…
And that top half also is where the shoulder-joint damage can occur, especially the top one-fourth to lockout…
Two big takeaways from this:
1) If you do overhead presses, don’t go much past halfway up.
2) Use dumbbells for independent movement, to prevent restriction and minimize the bilateral deficit.
Your Efficient Mass-Building Handbook: For complete mass workouts that include Speed Sets, the ideal exercise for each muscle, and the best stretch and contracted add-on moves, get your copy of Old Man, Young Muscle.
And you still get The Muscle-On, Belly-Gone “Diet” ebook FREE for a limited time when you add Old Man, Young Muscle to your mass-building library. Go HERE.
Till next time, train hard—and smart—for BIG results.
—Steve Holman
Former Editor in Chief, Iron Man Magazine
www.X-Rep.com
Recommended:
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