Thread: Critique my Dumbbell Shoulder Press

your wrists are unstable, they go from pointing in and downwards to being straight, and back in again.

use weight you actually can control and dont arch your back so much

NEXT...

If those dumbbells are 95lbs you should be using 75lbs.

It is not always about the weight. If you want to be doing this shit in 10 years use less weight and do more reps. I myself never go up on weight unless I can rep it 10-12. Dumbbell press are great, but it takes allot to throw the weight up. I don’t care what you do, but I can tell you I have seen this 1000's of times in my place. You will be hurt next week/month/year it is just a matter of time.

Originally Posted by dgp

It is not always about the weight. If you want to be doing this shit in 10 years use less weight and do more reps. I myself never go up on weight unless I can rep it 10-12. Dumbbell press are great, but it takes allot to throw the weight up. I don’t care what you do, but I can tell you I have seen this 1000's of times in my place. You will be hurt next week/month/year it is just a matter of time.

Thanks for your reply.
I'll probably take your advice since you seem to have lots of experience.
But just curious, why do you think I'd get injured? Is it because of the fact that I'm using a weight I can only get 3 reps with? Or is it something to do with my form?

Originally Posted by GeorgeForemanRules

If those dumbbells are 95lbs you should be using 75lbs.

would you mind explaining why? I don't always use weight I can only get 3 reps, usually I've been doing 80s for sets of 8 reps, why do you think I should be using 75s?

Originally Posted by twotuff

use weight you actually can control and dont arch your back so much

NEXT...

I agree with the arching part, but after watching the video I was under the impression that (although it could have been better) my control of the weight was decent?

They're telling you to drop the weight because obviously the 95's make you cock your wrists like that. You need to use weights you can control. If you don't an injury will happen.

Originally Posted by SloppyJ

They're telling you to drop the weight because obviously the 95's make you cock your wrists like that. You need to use weights you can control. If you don't an injury will happen.

Oh ok. I appreciate your reply. Actually I cock my wrists on purpose with any weight I'm using, whether it be 30s or 95s; I do it because it just feels better to me that way, but I could just as easily keep them straight. I guess I'l stop tilting them inwards then if it can cause injury.

But apart from that are there any problems with my form/ROM?

Are you awnting size or streinth?If it size then you way under reps.Size ids about time under stress.Waht i mean is the longer you are stressing the muscle the more you will get it to grow.If streinth you are after then 3 reps are good.The forum and ROM look good to me.

Originally Posted by aminoman74

Are you awnting size or streinth?If it size then you way under reps.Size ids about time under stress.Waht i mean is the longer you are stressing the muscle the more you will get it to grow.If streinth you are after then 3 reps are good.The forum and ROM look good to me.

Thanks. When I first uploaded the video, I thought my form/rom were fine as well; I didn't understand why some were saying I had no control over the weight, apparently it was because of my wrist position which actually place my wrists in because I feel i can better control the DBs that way.

I'm lifting for mainly strength, but also hypertrophy; obviously I know all of the stuff about time under stress etc, which is why I mix in high rep sets with 80s and 75s as well as supersets (from time to time).

I usually try to avoid chiming in on this kind of thing, as I'm still learning form myself and you're like twice as strong as I am, but I thought you might find this useful and it's really just repeating something from Rippetoe's standing press portion of Starting Strength and not my own idea anyway:

At the top of the movement, make a final push upwards to fully activate the traps.

Again, it comes from Rippetoe's coaching of the standing press, but I don't see any reason why it would be different for seated pressing. If I'm wrong, maybe someone with more knowledge could explain why, because I try to apply his standing press concepts to my seated presses and would be keen to know if that's a bad idea.

your movement is not smooth and symmetrical, your back seems not to be straight and well against the bench...this is not an exercises where you try to max , this is an exercise where form is much more important than weight.

Originally Posted by bjg

your movement is not smooth and symmetrical, your back seems not to be straight and well against the bench...this is not an exercises where you try to max , this is an exercise where form is much more important than weight.

I agree that it could have been more smooth and symmetrical (one arms seems to have a greater ROM than the other), and it is true that my back might not have been completely straight, but the problem is with heavy DBs when you kick them up into position, your back "automatically" arches and goes off the bench a bit.

Originally Posted by TheJabroniLifter

I agree that it could have been more smooth and symmetrical (one arms seems to have a greater ROM than the other), and it is true that my back might not have been completely straight, but the problem is with heavy DBs when you kick them up into position, your back "automatically" arches and goes off the bench a bit.

its true that the way you started affected the whole movement during the set. try to have someone give you the weights. as for your wrists giving up is because the dumbells you are using are a bit long and not compact due to the fact that they carry many plates on each side , maybe if you use less plates but larger plates it would be better.