Shoulder Exercises – How to Military Press Correctly For Wide Shoulders and a Strong Upperbody
28 Dec
The secret is to use your whole body. Just like in the hollow position, you have to tuck your pelvis forward and squeeze your glutes hard. The harder you can squeeze, the more force you can use from the ground, through your statically flexed quads, through the glutes and up towards the upper body and the bar itself. When your whole body is rock solid from flexing, no force dissipates and you are instantly stronger, without gaining an ounce of muscle.
[Note the tucked in pelvis and the torso shifting forward once the bar gets above head level. The key to the exercise is to keep the weight above your center of gravity - the middle of the foot.]
Here Is How to Military Press Correctly to Get a Strong Upper Body and Wide Shoulders
[Barbell Military Press - pressing a barbell from the standing position above your head. Check out after 0:47 how after the bar passes my head, I shift my torso forward. This is essential so that you can utilize the muscles of your upper back to help with the movement. ]
Another thing that you mustn’t forget is to always grip super hard, whenever you are doing pressing exercises. This ensures that no force is lost throughout your body when trying to lift the bar.
Military Press Checklist
- Flex the legs hard.
- Press the ground through the heels.
- Tuck your plevis in.
- Squeeze the glutes.
- Flex your abs like in the hollow position.
- Keep your forearms vertical.
- Grip super hard.
- Press the bar up.
- Once it passes above your head, shift your torso forward a bit.
Initial Milestones for the Military Press
As I mentioned in the Strength and Size Full Body Workout, shooting for 10 reps with 120lbs/55 kg is a good starting point. Once you hit that, you can say you’ve got some good initial strength.
[Notice how the forearms stay relatively vertical to better transfer force to the barbell.]
If You Are Able To Military Press More Than 200lbs/90 kg Overhead, You’ve Arrived In Mad Strong Land
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So when you say 55kg is a good starting point are you including the weight of the bar in that figure?
Ty,
yes the weight of the bar (20kg) is included.
Sounds like a lot of the wisdom Pavel talks about. I would love to get a big barbell to practise this with to work up to full RoM handstand presses.
Tyciol,
Pavel’s advice is spot on. But for full ROM handstands or any other feat, the best thing is to practice the movement itself.
Cheers,
Yavor
Hi Yavor, I have spent a lot of time on your site now and love the resources. I was having some trouble with the Military Press and your advice helped me! Thanks for the detailed descriptions and the video.
Cheers,
Jordan
p.s .I am nowhere near mad strong land! But it gives me something to shoot for.
Jordan,
i had a difficult time with the military press when I began training 8 years ago. So I’ve listed most of what I learned here. I still need to update the page though – it’s nearly 2 years old…
p.s. once again – your transformation is fantastic!