Thread: Seated Dumbell Overhead Press - Starting position

So the biggest struggle I have is getting the dumbells into the starting position.

I typically put them on a knee and just kick them up, but all the bench's with the backs are about a foot off the floor at our gym and that leaves me very little room to be able to kick the dumbbell into position.

So I thought I'd see if anybody has a better process as I'm getting to the weight that I'm wasting so much energy before I even start, and I'm worried I'm going to screw up my shoulder swinging the weights into position.

You could try cleaning the DBs up. Though, that does expend a fair bit of energy. I can DB Shoulder Press 65s for 10 reps, whereas my hang clean is 135 for 4 or 5. So, cleaning a combined 130 lbs to do an additional 10 reps of a shoulder-dominant exercise might not be the wisest use of energy.

This is where the logistics of DB shoulder press can become tricky. With BBs you can go very heavy because the weight is pre-hoisted in the air. With DBs I won't press it if I can't set up the lift myself.

You can also stand up in a half-squatted position (so, leaning forward) and situate the DBs on your knees, and one at a time jerk back to get them on your shoulders. That's how I get into position for DB Chest Presses. I don't like kicking from the seated position.