You should only do the overhead lifts if you have enough mobility. Exercises That Are Difficult to Do Correctly. Realistically you will expect to max out at a much lower number on your press than on other lifts. 5. Lateral raises just don't seem to cut it. Listen to your body during push-ups — it’ll tell you where your limitations lie. The problem: Your reps are too low The only two exercises in my routine like this are overhead tricep extensions and shoulder presses. The chest press machine is safer, but always use light weight and move slowly and smoothly. The technique is to tilt the dumbbells so that the dumbbell’s back is facing the ceiling. Don’t go overboard on the weight here, because this is an exercise that … When you train the delts (and chest for that matter) but skip your rotators, the ratio of the strength between the two muscle groups can become out of balance. To do the classic bench press, the elbows are at between 45° and 90°, dumbbell held horizontally in the hands and you press up. Well, the rotators (a group of four strap muscles) help stabilize the shoulder joint. The overhead or shoulder press is one of several exercises you can use to build and maintain shoulder strength. Don’t forget that the primary movers used in the overhead press are small muscles. (Obviously this is true for all lifts, but a larger fraction of people have issues with overhead mobility). The standing barbell shoulder press is an excellent exercise. Patients will say they can’t bench press or press overhead but pull-ups and other rowing exercises are generally well tolerated. You can’t change basic anatomy–your shoulders just aren’t as strong as your legs. Once you pinpoint your weaknesses, you can work on getting stronger. (BTW, I'm 22...juvenile arthritis sucksss) I have several other tricep exercises I like (ie, closed grip bench, pulldowns) but can't find a good replacement for the shoulder press. Assuming your gym doesn't have a Viking press machine, the rack Viking press is a great alternative. The bench press is a highly effective exercise that helps improve overall pec, shoulder, and tricep development. Now, when people are having shoulder pain (and more specifically subacromial impingement syndrome) you may have noticed that pressing exercises generally increase pain levels, where as rowing exercises won’t. Sit upright, lower the dumbbells until they are nearly touching your shoulders, and then raise the weight without clanging them at the top. It's a pain in the ass to set up, but if you're willing to go to the trouble, it can be an effective way to load the shoulders while still being relatively shoulder friendly. To calm the pain, we’ll change the position. Elbows back and in-line with your shoulders, slow and steady. Improving your strength on it will lead to better shoulder development and pressing strength.But, it is also a difficult exercise to master and strengthen.You go in, day after day, week after week and building strength feels like something impossible.And no matter how hard you try, the annoying plateau doesn’t … And why should they—you can't even see them! For example, don’t lean back so far that you turn a shoulder press into an incline chest press. How To Do The Dumbbell Shoulder Press First, select your dumbbells. Overhead press: If you can push two dumbbells straight above your shoulders without bending backward, you’re cleared to do this exercise.