One thing I notice at my gym is that a lot of people when either doing military press with a bar or doing shoulder presses with DBs use the backrest. Heck I do sometimes. It means you can do higher weights usually.

However one thing I notice is that people's form goes out of the window since they can use the backrest to push against and move to a slightly "inclined" position and not really isolating the shoulders.

Personally I like to do shoulder exercises without the backrest - sure with the backrest I can military press over 90kg, but without it drops significantly, however I get a MUCH better work out IMO. Similarly with arnies, I just make sure I tuck my legs under the bench for support, lock my core and lift in a slow controlled manner - I get so much more of a pump doing that.

I also do standing shoulder press (I'm not sure of it's official name) which obviously means you can't use a back rest. :p

Lastly, I see some guys bring the bar behind the neck without a spotter :/ I seriously worry about some people sometimes. I tend to keep away from the back of the neck with the bar tend to go to the front - I bruised a vertebra (playing rugby) really badly on my lower neck, and I'd rather not do it again! :p

Thoughts?

I think you need a slight incline when shoulder pressing to avoid spinal compression so I always go with an 80 degree angle.

Using DB's you can place the weight directly over the top of the shoulders so still hit them spot on.

With a bar seated this is more difficult as the weight is pushed further forward so you have to try and get under the bar more. The danger of that is arching the bar too much.

Standing Bar Press (Military Press) is good but again the same back issue can arise and you can cheat slightly going into a Push Press.

Ultimately for complete strictness a Standing DB Press rules in my opinion.

It's all about form though surely - even with the back rest up you have to be careful not to over-compensate by arching the lower back which I see a lot of people doing. I would have thought for core strength/stability building using no backrest would be worthwhile no?

I agree about the standing DB press - I love 'em. One I quite like to do is using relatively light weights on an exercise ball - it really doesn't half work out your core keeping your form in check! I am talking of manageable weights here, not stupidly heavy weights. Any powerlifting exercises or heavy heavy sets then I would use the back rest. However I just like to minimise the use of any excuses for losing form.

I'm not perfect in my techniques in all my exercises, I sometimes swing abit, compensate or something similar, but all in all I try so hard to keep my form perfect and it narks me off when I see people doing weights they can't handle whilst using awful form, then waddle over saying yeah man I'm ****ing hardcore. :rolleyes:

Useful info and fair enough. It was more of an observation on awful technique I see using backrests - as I said I do use the backrest from time to time, however I do like the workout I get from not using one - but again I tend to use pretty light weights in this instance.

I do a lot of core work so maybe you're right I shouldn't worry so much about it.

Always useful to hear the opinion of experts.

As Rab says I also mix between the 2.

If I'm stuck on a weight or rep count on Seated DB Press I'll swap to Standing with a lower weight and gain on this for a few weeks. This then will usually translate to a gain on the Seated version.

In terms of form I tend to rep higher on Shoulder Press anyway so I guess this isn't such an issue for me.

lol!

Yeah I like doing arnies standing - doesn't half cane though!

Freefaller wrote:Lastly, I see some guys bring the bar behind the neck without a spotter :/ I seriously worry about some people sometimes. I tend to keep away from the back of the neck with the bar tend to go to the front - I bruised a vertebra (playing rugby) really badly on my lower neck, and I'd rather not do it again! :p

Thoughts?

imo behind neck pressing is fine as long as you have good shoulder health to start with. And if someone hurts their vertebrae by hitting it with the bar, then they were lifting too much weight to start with. The eccentric (negative / lowering) part should be done under control.

agreed - and certainly with a spotter in my opinion.

Barbell or dumbell standing does it for me. Providing you are strict it's excellent for your shoulders and core. I believe that the core is your powerhouse and thrives upon work.