Shoulder Press

darreneatschicken

When doing dumbbell shoulder press, should your shoulders sort of shrug back as you descend? I'm asking because when I do this exercise, on the descending part, sometimes, I really focus on squeezing my shoulders back hard against the bench, but other times, I just descend the dumbbells without having the feeling of the shoulders gripping the bench.

I just watched a Scott Herman Fitness video on this exercise, and he says that when you descend, your elbows should be a tiny bit forward as to relieve the stress on your rotator cuffs. If this is true, then your shoulders won't be able to squeeze against the bench because I only get this feeling if my elbows are directly parallel to the floor.

Sam_I_Am77

Hard for me to comment on the seated DB Shoulder Press because I don't do it frequently, I do standing BB shoulder pressing instead. Your elbows are definitely going to be out in front of you a little, even more if you use a neutral grip (palms facing inward). However, on either pressing movement standing BB, seated DB pronated or neutral, the lats should help support the eccentric portion of the lift. I think the better way to think of the eccentric is to squeeze your lats on the eccentric. If you're not doing any pull-ups, lat pulldowns, or rowing you should add in something to help improve upper back strength as those muscles pretty well support shoulder and bench pressing movements.

Sam_I_Am77

Checkout this article by Paul Carter, http://www.t-nation.com/training/nailing-the-overhead-press

He's kind of guru on shoulder pressing.