What a wonderful video. ‘Go on, Daddy.’!  His form is very good.

He holds an arch in his upper back and holds his torso steady – except at the very top of the movement, where he firms up into a nice straight line.  Then, as the bar descends, his chest lifts again.  His abs will be working very well.  Essentially, the top of the movement is like the top of an Olympic lift.  And, yes, the elbows do lock out.

He keeps his elbows forwards, under his wrists.

The tops of his shoulders are stable – not going up and down with his arms.  If this happens, this exercise will cause the wrong sort of pain very soon.

The bar moves in a straight line up and down.

He takes the bar through a full range of movement, from the upper chest to straight arms at the top.  As said in a previous exercise of the week, only moving the bar from the bottom of the ears to the top is a very good tricep exercise, but will not do anything to develop the delts.

To do this exercise well requires a good degree of bendiness in the upper back.

Next week, I’ll show the standing version of the military press.  Because there is less stabilisation issues when sitting, more weight can be pushed and there is less to think about.    But the standing Military Press has great carry over to real life.

He racks and unracks the bar from in front.  It is more normal to do this from behind, but if working alone, then this may be a safer option.  However, speaking from experience, you can suddenly tip backwards when pushing upwards, which would leave this man in a rather dangerous position.  It is definitely best to do this exercise in a power cage.

If this exercise does cause the wrong sort of pain, so has to be dropped in favour of using dumbbells, for example, this is a sure sign that all is not well in the shoulder girdle and remedial action should be taken sooner rather than later.  Just substituting the exercise for a different shoulder exercise will not cure the problem – even though this has to be a short term answer.  And, no, the problem will not just clear up by itself, as is so fondly hoped for.

Seated military press: works the delts and triceps – but also the back and abs as strong stabilisers.

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