The dumbbell press is a great way to stimulate your front and middle shoulders heads. This is one of the most important multi-joint exercises that can be used for the shoulders. Beside working your shoulder muscles, the secondary muscles involved in this exercise are the triceps.
The dumbbell press is more difficult than the military press as you need to stabilize the dumbbells. As a result, it offers more stimulation than its bar counterpart since you need to activate more muscle fibers in order to stabilize the weights.
The dumbbell press is more difficult than the military press as you need to stabilize the dumbbells. As a result, it offers more stimulation than its bar counterpart since you need to activate more muscle fibers in order to stabilize the weights.
Difficulty: Hard
Time Required: 30-40 seconds depending on amount of repetitions performed and setup time.
Here's How:
- Grab a couple of dumbbells and sit on a military press bench (or a utility bench that has a back support on it) as you place the dumbbells upright on top of your thighs.
- Clean the dumbbells up one at a time by using your thighs to bring the dumbbells to shoulder height at each side.
- Rotate the wrists so that the palms of your hands are facing forward. This is your starting position.
- As you exhale, push the dumbbells up until they touch at the top and your arms are fully extended overhead.
- After a second pause, slowly come down back to the starting position as you inhale.
- Repeat for the recommended amount of repetitions.
Tips:
- You can also perform the shoulder press exercise standing or sitting on a regular flat bench. For people with lower back problems, the version described above is the recommended one.
- You can also perform the exercise as Arnold Schwarzenegger used to do it, which is to start holding the dumbbells with a supinated grip (palms facing you) in front of your shoulders and then, as you start pushing up, you align the dumbbells in the starting position described on step 3 by rotating your wrists and touch the dumbbells at the top. As you come down, then you would go back to the starting position by rotating the wrist throughout the lowering portion until the palms of your hands are facing you. This variation is called the Arnold Press. However, it is not recommended if you have rotator cuff problems.
What You Need:
- Dumbbells
- Bench with back support
