Standing Barbell Press Behind Neck
Trains the Shoulders.
- Equipment
- A barbell and a rack
- Mechanic
- Compound
- Force
- Push
- Level
- Intermediate
How to do it
- Set a barbell in a rack at shoulder height and step under it so it rests across your upper back.
- Take an overhand grip a little wider than your shoulders and unrack it.
- Stand with your feet under your hips, stomach braced, ribs down.
- Press the bar straight up until the arms are almost straight.
- Lower it back to the upper back under control.
- Go only as low as the shoulders allow with the torso upright.
Common mistakes
- Lowering the bar to the neck. It rests on the traps — the muscle, not the vertebrae — and how far down that is varies between people.
- Doing it when overhead range is limited. Behind the neck asks for full external rotation and abduction at the same time, and forcing it is how the shoulder is put where it cannot brace.
- Loading it from a front press. The behind-the-neck position is less strong for almost everybody, and the bar comes down to match.
- Craning the head forward to make room for the bar. If the head has to move, the bar is travelling further back than the shoulders can follow.