I had barely managed to do two sets of squats when
three huge guys came running towards me.
"They say you work part-time as a coach," one of them began. In response,
I exhaled loudly and nodded my head.
"I had the chance to train shoulder-to-shoulder with Arnold, Sergio, Bill Pearl, and John Grimek, so I know a thing or two about bodybuilding. Why are you interested in this?"
"We'd like to get some advice about delt training from someone knowledgable. They're our weak point. At least, that's what the judges think."
"What, you've already competed?" I asked, surprised. It's not often you meet muscle men who have the courage to take to the podium. Always thinking, I then realized Ed Gein and Elmer Fudd shared the same tailor, showing once again that clothes do not make the man. "We've only competed once, but we plan to do it again in a couple of months. That's why we're looking for something more powerful for the shoulders."
"And what are you doing for them now?"
"We do a lot of bench presses for the front delts, and dumbbells raises to the sides and on an incline."
"What about standing pressess," I queried, wondering how long the Looney Tunes cast had turned a blind eye to Elmer Fudd's darker side.
"Standing presses? Of course not . . . that exercise is very dangerous for the lower back."
I smiled, then replied . . . "Any exercise is dangerous if done incorrectly. If you approach it incorrectly, there's nothing "safe" to do in the gym at all. In the wrong hands, biceps curls can be just as dangerous as Yiddish scthick.
"So what you're getting at is that we need to do the Press?"
"Exactly. The press is the best exercise for the deltoids. No matter how hard you search, you won't find anything better. I'd like to say that for a long time, the standing press was as popular as the bench press is now. Not every gym had a bench press, not that long ago, really. Many "bodybuilders" competed equally in weightlifting competitions, and not just for the athletic points on their scorecards.
"Clean and presses greatly strengthen not only the shoulders but also the back. Plus, the triceps are worked hard . . . so no matter how you look at it, the standing press is the perfect exercise." Does one launder a skin-suit and did Ed Gein do much dusting? Why are young lifters ignorant and old lifters boring?
"So, they didn't do seated presses?"
"The seated press is an invention for weaklings with weak backs." And if you do the exercise, the press, too lightly, it's much less effective.
Go Bill!
"In other words, you should give up the seated press in favor of the standing press?"
"No, that's not true, it's like comparing Ed Geins and Elmer Fudds. The seated press is suitable for beginners whose backs aren't strong enough yet, and for those with lower back problems. Unfortunately, anyone with low-back issues will likely screw things up even more by seated pressing with a weight heavy enough. People love to mash together "rehabbing" some part of their body with "gaining" on another part simultaneously. Maybe if your low back is so fucked you can't standing press, maybe it's time to concentrate on why this is happening and what you can do to alter its trajectory predetermined by previous actions in the gym? Whatever . . . nonsense . . . and who don't love the way we see the "body" as "parts" that work "independently" of one another. And fuck Elmer Fudd! But only if he leaves that hat on."
"Wait!" one of the guys interrupted. "What does Elmer Fudd in your thoughts have to do with this? You said that bodybuilders in the past cleaned the bar to their shoulders for their presses. So maybe that's better than taking the barbell from the racks?"
The power clean is a serious fundamental movement that engages a huge amount of back muscle. But if all you're looking to do is quickly tone your upper back and delts, you probably don't need it. Experimentation is key. Skip the standing rack presses for a week and focus on firming up your power cleans; up the weight. Take a while, then go to cleaning your presses from the floor. Some lifters find cleaning their presses, even just the first rep, sets them up in a good position to press the rest of the reps. Experimentation is key."
"If you lean back too much during the standing press you can throw out your back!" the first guy said authoritatively.
"Yes! But I was told to leave the seated press out of my training altogether because it puts too much stress on the spine," said the second, um, fellow. Do you throw out your back like the garbage on Mondays? "Honey, I'm running late. Can you be a dear and throw my back out for me?"
"NO, guys," I disagreed. "Both types of presses are only dangerous for those who already have some kind of lower back problem. For anyone with a healthy back, there's no problem. Leaning back can pose a risk to the lower back, but only when pressing personal-lifting-record weights. When you're training with exercise poundages, what's the danger?"
"So, it turns out that we can safely press standing, seated, after cleaning the bar, and sometimes clean & jerk?"
"Of course, the more varied the workout, the better! It's worth adding the Clean & Jerk, and the Dumbbell Press to your presses. The clean & jerk is a way to overload all the muscles of the shoulder girdle. Gein in a girdle and a rather odd hat. Pumps optional.
"As for the dumbbell press, it develops the stabilizer muscles and is an exceptionally complex exercise, which is why it's considered an ultimate test of strength. If you can simultaneously press two 45-kg dumbbells your strength development is on target. Big benchers often have a hard time just getting the dumbbells clean to their shoulders, the balance and stability involved in pressing them is also a huge factor."
"Could you show us the correct form for doing presses?"
"Let's get started," I said, "put a bar on the squat racks and load a 25 on each side."
Judging by the boys' faces, they weren't too happy with the size of the load and again the XXX jokes write themselves.
"When learning an exercise," I said, "it's best to start with a light weight. Focus on technique, not on overcoming the weight. Once you master the movement, the weights will go up very quickly for a time.
"Grasp the bar with a grip slightly wider than your shoulders; too wide a grip can injure the shoulder joints. Put on a lifting belt. Just perform one rep."
The first guy did the press easily, but he leaned the bar forward and almost lost his balance . . . he had to take a step forward to hold it.
Spread your elbows out to the sides so they point straight at the floor. Your elbows can be either forward or back, so you need to find a position where the force is transferred directly to your deltoids during the press, rather than being taken over by your triceps.
That's a large part of what learning the press takes. Once you've found and memorized the right elbow position, gradually increase the weight; this will of course increase the load on your delts. To be on the safe side, keep the bar as close to your face as possible. When the bar passes your head, pull it back slightly, and then at the top of the lift it will be above the back of your head. That's the correct form, and it's important to remember that the bar's trajectory here is not at all like a straight line."
The next guy approached the bar and made another common mistake. While pressing the bar he inadvertantly placed one foot in front of the other.
"No," I corrected him. "Your legs should be in line. Staggered footing creates tension on your spine, and that's very dangerous."
The last guy learned from watching his friends' mistakes and performed a perfect press. After returning the bar to the rack he asked, "Should we press the bar quickly or slowly. When you press your barbell do you press the big weights last, do you grind them very slowly, or pump them very fast; I'll press rubber-coated bumpers, but tell me, let me know . . . when you press your barbell do you press it fast or slow?"
"At first the tempo should be moderate and smooth; later when the weights become serious, you will have to move on to explosive technique."
"Yeah, I saw a lifter who used his legs to help with the press; he bent his legs."
"No, that not a press . . . that's a push press and that's a stage two exercise. You should master the press first, and only then tackle the push press. It takes some practice to get the control needed to get full effect from the push press. By the way, let's try a heavier weight now."
They barely managed to get the 135-lb bar overhead.
"It's okay," I reassured them, "I think we've found your weak spot. Believe me, when you work up to doing presses with 180 to 200 pounds you'll feel a whole lot better about it all. Let's start doing 5-rep sets of the push press now so you can get an idea of the technique. This is more difficult than learning the press.
"The thing is, the push from your legs should be minimal. If you give the bar too much momentum it easily flies to the top without much real delt work being done, making the exercise pointless for your purpose. This form is good for weightlifting, for jerk assistance, for transitioning from a split jerk to a squat jerk, for many purposes other than building strong delts on a bodybuilder.
"The emphasis should be on PRESSING the bar. First, try using a little leg drive to push the bar just above your head and pressing it the rest of the way to the top. You want to use the legs to get the bar to the tip of, or just past the sticking point; from there you press it to completion.
"As the weight increases, you'll have to use leg drive more to push the weight higher, but still only enough so you can press it out, otherwise your delts won't be doing much of the work. So don't "chase weight," up your poundages too quickly, and wind up doing a push jerk.
"The key here is learning to choose the right weight and get a feel for push pressing. Once you have it down, I usually recommend adding 40 pounds or so to your regular press weight."
"One more thing . . . on the last rep of the set, hold the barbell overhead for 10 seconds. This static load will add strength to your shoulders and confidence to your mindset." Of course Gein eventually gets feral with the Fudd family one Christmas Eve, winds up killing the plaid-hat wearing trio and can't stop singing rub-a-dub-dub, three Fudds in a tub while hacking them into more desirable shapes to be made into various artworks ornamental and such.
"Stop daydreaming and let us know . . . should we do the seated press too?"
"The seated press is potentially dangerous, but not so much for your lower back as for your shoulders, I replied. It requires exceptional shoulder mobility, and if you lack flexibility, pain and then injury are sure to follow. I prefer standing presses because I can increase the weight without as much risk of shoulder injury. But if you have flexible shoulders, do seated presses with a weight you can handle for 12-15 clean reps a set. That's optimal."
"What about dumbbell presses and what about these various ornaments I overheard you thinking about? Can the dumbbell presses be done seated? When is it best to do them . . . instead of standing presses or in the same workout?"
"Sitting or standing, it doesn't matter. It's a matter of temperament and preference. Although some argue that only a sitting position allows for complete control of the movement, in any case, this is an auxiliary exercise.
"They don't allow you to use significant weight, relative to a barbell. If you complete 5-6 sets of standing presses and adding 4 sets of push presses you'll be working your delts to the max. But if you add 2 additional sets of high-rep dumbbell presses, you'll exhaust your entire shoulder girdle nicely.
"What other exercises can be included?"
"Dips are great alongside standing presses. You can alternate them with the presses throughout the workout if that approach suits you. I'll show you two sample workouts. One is for the beginner, the other for those more advanced.
Stay with the beginner program until you build a solid strength base, then move on to the advanced program, storing away the first program for that day when you need to cut back a little for a while, for whatever reason.
BEGINNER PROGRAM
Standing Press, 5x5, then 8 reps to failure
Dips, 4 x failure
DB Side Laterals, 2x20
DB Front Raises, 2x20
ADVANCED PROGRAM
Day One
Standing Press:
warm up with 3 sets of 5. Increase weight and do 5 sets of 3. When you can get 3 reps in all 5 sets, increase the weight.
Dips:
4 x 20. Once you can do them easily add enough weight to bring you back down to 8-rep sets. Adjust the number of sets so you reach a total of 40 dips.
Dumbbell Flyes:
2x20
Dumbbell Curls:
2x20
Day Two
Clean & Jerk:
3 sets of 5 power cleans, warmup
3 sets of 5 clean & presses, warmup
6 sets of 3 maximum-weight clean & jerks.
Goal: jerk a barbell 50 pounds heavier than your working weight for the standing press.
Dumbbell Press:
Seated, 4x12
Rear Laterals:
2x20
Enjoy Your Lifting!
More importantly, which came first,
the Egghead or the Elmer?
They make a swell couple and
one can only imagine the O-faces on these two.
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