Machine Shoulder Press
Trains the Shoulders.
- Equipment
- A machine
- Mechanic
- Compound
- Force
- Push
- Level
- Beginner
How to do it
- Set the seat so the handles start level with your shoulders rather than above them.
- Sit with your back flat against the pad and your feet flat on the floor.
- Take the handles with an overhand grip, or a neutral grip if the machine offers one.
- Press upward until the arms are almost straight.
- Stop just short of locking out and hold briefly.
- Lower under control until your hands are back level with your shoulders.
Common mistakes
- Setting the seat too high so the press starts above the shoulders, which cuts out the hardest part of the range and leaves only the lockout.
- Pushing the head forward under the handles. The bar path is fixed by the machine, so the only thing that moves out of position is you.
- Letting the lower back come away from the pad. The pad is doing the job the trunk does on a standing press, and arching off it gives that job back without meaning to.
- Assuming the fixed path makes the load safe at any weight. A machine removes the balance, not the force through the shoulder, and the joint does not know what is holding the weight.