Fitness

Fitness

Mastering the Shoulder Press

When a guy says he’s going to the gym it’s usually to work abs, or chest, maybe legs. Do you hear many guys saying that they plan on working their shoulders? Sure, the shoulders aren’t a part of your body that most find essential to attractiveness but compare a guy with a ripped torso with boulder-like shoulders to one that has nice abs and unimpressive shoulders and you’ll suddenly realize that shoulders should be a main part of your workout regimen.

What’s the best shoulder exercise? The shrug? Row? Perhaps the lateral raise? Sure, these are all good exercises that will have their share of benefits but to build your shoulders you should be doing one move in particular: the overhead press.

Doing this move has more benefits than you’d imagine. The overhead press is a total-body move. It works the shoulders, arms, upper chest, upper back and performing the move correctly will even work your core and abs. An additional benefit to this move is the strength you will develop. Doing the overhead press will boost your upper body and lockout strength. If you’re looking to improve your bench press, the shoulder press can help with that as well as it trains the muscles needed to bench, the shoulders and triceps.

Here are some tips on how to do the overhead press correctly for maximum benefits:

Tip 1: Not sitting allowed

I know, you can press sitting, and that’s fine on occasion but if you really want to perform this move correctly you’ll do it while standing. What happens when you sit when you aren’t trying to lift weights? Yes, your posture is compromised and isn’t as spectacular as it could be. You lean a certain way, your back is arched, you slouch. Imagine adding heavy weight to your bad posture and you’re setting yourself up for trouble.

Standing will not only work on your posture but it will help you engage your core and torso, stabilizing you more so than if you were to do the move while seated.

Tip 2: Not about your legs

It seems strange but though you’re doing the press standing up, thereby using your legs for stability, you shouldn’t put too much emphasis on them. The emphasis should be in your traps and lats instead.

Tip 3: Breathe and exhale appropriately

Breathing is key to any exercise but so is breathing at the right time. Take a deep breath and hold it before doing any pressing at all. At the top of the move when you’ve successfully hoisted the weight overhead, exhale. Gradually inhale as you lower the weight down. The air you’re breathing in will help prevent injury by stabilizing your core.

Tip 4: Get your footing right

Your stance is key to this move. Keep your feet shoulder-width apart. This will give you good balance and prevent you from arching your lower back too much. For even more stability stagger your footing feet heel-to-toe.

Tip 5: Lock out

You should finish the overhead press with your arms locked out and the barbell positioned over, or slightly behind, the center of your head. This will prevent straining your shoulder joints.

4 Tips for Bigger Arms

Winter is quickly approaching and you’re likely finding yourself covering and layering to stay warm but regardless of the temperature outside, your arms are likely one of your main areas of concern in terms of your training. You may not be able to show off your abs, or your pecs or other, ahem, attributes out in public but regardless of the season other guys will notice and judge the size of your arms. In a recent issue of Men’s Fitness Sean Hyson, C.S.C.S. offered a few tips that can help transform your arms from little string beans into pythons. Start incorporating these tips into your training routine now and by the time spring comes back around you’ll have earned the right to bare your arms out in public.

1. Train till you’re pooped. You’ve likely heard the phrase “train till exhaustion.” Well, do you do that when working out your arms? Probably not or if you do, not enough. If you want your arms to grow, train them to the point of fatigue and exhaustion. The muscle fibers in your arms respond better when they’re fatigued. If you work them to the point of exhaustion you’ll be training your muscles more, forcing them to grow, leading to bigger arms. Do this safely; work your arms until you can’t perform another rep with good form.

2. Change your grip. When you’re doing the bench press or working with free weights, do you pay much attention to your grip? Many do not and these guys are missing out on the potential to really work their arms and grow bigger. Changing your grip can turn ordinary exercises into completely new and challenging moves. Changing your grip, hand positions and the intensity of your grip can all activate different muscles and give you a more complete workout. For long-term change, try something new during your usual routine and you may be surprised at how much your arms will grow.

3. Don’t overwork your arms. Trainers will caution you not to overwork any muscle, your arms included. On days when you’re focusing on your back, chest, abs, don’t forget that some of the moves you’re doing are actually indirectly working your arms as well. Moves like the pushup, pull-up, rows are not necessarily viewed as arm workouts but you’re still using your arms to perform the moves. Be mindful to give your arms a rest. Overtraining them to will lead to fewer gains and unremarkable growth.

4. Mind your form. Another piece of advice trainers and fitness gurus dish out that you may not pay much attention to is to always watch your form. Instead, you watch the weight your lifting or the guy on the other side of the gym that you’re trying to impress. Slow your roll, fella. Having poor form can lead to injury and limit your range of motion, meaning you’re not really getting the best workout you could be. Whenever you’re working with weights, every curl should begin with the arm fully extended. Do not bend forward, do not use your hips to get the weight up. If you have to do either, you’re working with too much weight and need to reduce the load.

Chest Workout with FST-7

Regardless of one’s gender, the chest is always an area of great interest. For men, there is the desire to go from undefined, small pecs, flatness to rippling muscles from the pecs down to the abs. What are you doing to workout your chest? Some dumbbell flys, perhaps the bench press, maybe a few pushups. Have you heard of FST-7 method? Probably not. Men’s Fitness recently covered this hidden gem of bodybuilding that could help you build a chest that’ll turn heads (both the one above the shoulders and below, for that matter).

What exactly is FST-7? It stands for Fascia Stretch Training and is done for seven sets.  This training method devised by Hany Rambod came will leave you aching and in pain for some time afterwards but it’ll in return help you build a barrel chest like Arnold and countless other Olympian bodybuilders. Your muscles are wrapped by web-like tissue called fascia. By stretching, you manage to loosen the fascia and create space for muscles to grow. With FST-7 training, stretching between sets, you’re opening yourself up to grow bigger than if you skipped stretching in between lifting and doing other chest exercises.

Men’s Fitness has created a mini workout that you can split between two days using FST-7. You will want to performing each day’s workout once per week with a rest day in between the sessions. Expect the workout to last 45 minutes.

DAY 1:

FST-7 Method: Complete all the sets of each exercise below before moving onto the next exercise. Perform every set to or close to the point of failure. For the cable crossover, stretch your pecs after one set, and flex after the next. Spend 20 to 30 seconds flexing each time. To stretch, rest your forearms against a door frame or the frame of a power rack. Lean forward until you feel the stretch in your pecs.

Dumbbell Press (3 sets, 10-12 reps): Lie on a flat bench with a dumbbell in each hand. Hold the dumbbells at your sides, close to your chest and press straight up into the air.

Smith Machine Incline Press: (4 sets, 10-12 reps): Set an adjustable incline bench to 30- to 45- degrees. Roll it to the center of a Smith machine rack; grab the bar with an overhanded-grip, hands set shoulder-width apart. Unrack the bar, lower it to the upper part of your chest and press straight up.

Incline Dumbbell Fly (3 sets, 10-12 reps): Same as a dumbbell fly but do it on an adjustable incline bench set to 30- to 40-degrees. To work more muscles, flex your pecs as you lift the weights in an arcing motion from the start to finishing position.

Bench press (3 sets, 10-12 reps): While laying on a bench, grab a bar with an overhanded grip, hands set slightly outside shoulder-width. Squeeze your shoulder blades together and keep your back slightly arched. Lower the bar just below your sternum and push your feet firmly into the floor as you press the weight back into the air.

Cable Crossover (7 sets, 10 reps): While standing in between two cable stations, set both pulleys midway between the top of the station and the floor. Grab a cable in each hand; slightly bend your your elbows. Raise your arms from waist height to your chest, flexing your pecs as your bring your hands together. Alternate stretches and flex after each set. Rest only 30 to 45 seconds between each set.

DAY 2:

FST-7 Method: Unlike Day 1, hold back slightly. Do not use the heaviest weights and do not perform the exercises to the point of failure.

Incline Dumbbell Press (4 sets, 8 reps)

Dumbbell Fly (3 sets, 8 reps)

Hammer Strength Chess Pass (4 sets, 8 reps): Load both sides of a Hammer Strength flat press machine with plates. Adjust the seat so that both of your feet are flat on the floor. Grab the handles and press to a full lockout.

Low Cable Crossover (3 sets, 8 reps): Same as the cable crossover but lower the pulleys closer to the floor.

Dip (4 sets, 8 reps): Position yourself over the bars and raise yourself so that you’re suspended in the air. Lower your body until your upper arms are parallel to the floor. While engaging your triceps and pecs, return to the starting position. If this is too easy for you, add weight to make it more challenging but use caution.

 Exercises for Chest and Triceps

What does your chest workout look like? Is it all about the bench press or maybe it’s chest flys and dumbbell lifts. What moves do you to work your triceps? These are probably questions you’ve given little consideration to. That’s the purpose of this article, inspired by a feature in the April 2011 edition of Men’s Fitness by trainer Nick Tumminello, C.S.C.S.

The only piece of equipment you will need for this workout is a medicine ball or a small step/slightly raised platform. By using the medicine ball you will offset your balance slightly, working more muscle than by doing just a regular pushup. Some of the moves also require explosive power, another challenging move that will have you seeing gains in strength and mass in a quicker, and shorter, time period.

1) Lock Off: Get into push-up position and place one hand on either a medicine ball or a small box. Lower your body until your chest is just above the floor; push back up and reach up with your opposite hand and touch your chest.

2) Drop ‘n’ Pop: Get in position as if you’re about to perform a close-grip pushup, placing both hands on the side of a medicine ball. Drop, placing both hands on the floor to the sides of the medicine ball and lower your chest until it touches the ball. Explosively push yourself back up so that your hands leave the floor and are in the air briefly. Carefully place your hands back on the ball as you descend back toward the floor.

3) Close-grip Medicine Ball Pushup: Place both hands on the medicine ball, performing a regular pushup. To activate and work more muscle, squeeze your chest and arm muscles hard as you perform this move.

4) Crossover pushup using a Medicine Ball: Place one hand on a medicine ball with your other hand on the floor. Do a pushup with one hand on the ball; quickly switch hands and do a rep on the opposite side.

Turn these 4 moves into a workout: Want to create the ultimate chest and tricep workout? Combine all these moves together and do them back-to-back as quickly as you can. Eliminate rest periods and aim for at least five reps for each move. The idea is to create a circuit where you’re doing three, if not all four, of these moves for a total of 3 circuits over 10 minutes. Do this workout once a week, adding one rep to each move each week. After 6 weeks you should be doing 10 reps per move.