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Building muscle can make you feel strong and healthy if you are lifting weights the right way. A great way to get those shoulder muscles stronger is indeed the shoulder press. This functional movement can develop strength and stability in your upper body and help with everyday tasks like lifting a heavy box up on a shelf. However, there is a right and wrong way on how to do a shoulder press.
The shoulder press is a simple yet powerful exercise that is important to get right. To begin your shoulder press exercise, you are going to want some CanDo® dumbbells. Select the weights that you feel the most comfortable with, so that you do not go overboard and end up hurting yourself. Once you have the CanDo® dumbbell weights you desire, hold the dumbbells by your shoulders with your palms facing forwards. Make sure your elbows are out to the sides and bent at a 90° angle. Without leaning back, extend through your elbows to press the weights above your head. Then slowly return to the starting position and repeat this for about 15 reps.
Though this seems like a simple exercise, there are some exercise mistakes you can make. One mistake you can make is not fully extending your arms over your head. This can happen due to poor posture or that you are simply unaware that you are not fully extending your arms. The biggest and most common mistake you can do with a shoulder press is arching your back. This mistake is so common that many people think it is normal to have a hurt back after doing some shoulder presses. This is because if you have weak core muscles, your body will compensate by pushing the hips forward thus lifting your tailbone and hyperextending your spine in order to get the dumbbell weights above your head. To prevent both mistakes from happening, practice in increasing your body awareness with a mirror and strengthening your core.
Shoulder presses can be done either siting down or standing up. They are great to master and get right so that you can lift that heavy suitcase and put it in the overhead bin when you get on a plane again. That airplane steward will thank you for it.
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Article written by William Graves.