Barbell vs Dumbell Military Press for shoulder width?

[needsize]

Okay, time for a new debate. I'm curious what exercise people have found more effective for increasing the size of their medial/side delt. I'd prefer to narrow the debate to dumbells or barbell presses to the front, as pressing behind the neck puts the shoulders in an ackward and injury prone position.

Over the years I've tried both with good results, but this year I decided I wanted to see if I could dispel a popular myth, that pressing to the front is mostly front delts and will do nothing to increase shoulder width. Well, I've been doing only pressing to the front (as well as side laterals) for the past 6 months, and have noticed an incredible amount of growth in my side delts, so at this point I'm giving my nod to the military press.

 

[Screwball]

An exercise that will totally annihilate the medial and rear delts is the wide-grip upright row. Hands are placed about shoulder width apart on the barbell. It also hits the delt/bicep tie-in. No more secrets this month!

 

[needsize]

An exercise that will totally annihilate the medial and rear delts is the wide-grip upright row. Hands are placed about shoulder width apart on the barbell. It also hits the delt/bicep tie-in. No more secrets this month!

The problem there is that it's another exercise that puts your rotator cuffs in a really injury prone position, some guys can do upright rows forever without problems, I so much as look at them and my shoulders hurt.

 

[Ingram]

I like to do barbell military in front, I think they work the posterior just as well as doing them behind your head. The only thing is you have to use very strict form or you'll end up working more front than side. When you lean back while you're pressing in front of your head the workload starts stressing your Anteriors. I try to sit as strait as possible and keep my head from tilting back.

Dumbell millitary is a good exercise too, but I feel a bigger burn from using a barbell.

 

[needsize]

I like to do barbell military in front, I think they work the posterior just as well as doing them behind your head. The only thing is you have to use very strict form or you'll end up working more front than side. When you lean back while you're pressing in front of your head the workload starts stressing your Anteriors. I try to sit as strait as possible and keep my head from tilting back.

Dumbell millitary is a good exercise too, but I feel a bigger burn from using a barbell.

I also found with dumbells it was getting too hard to get them up to press, I got up to the 110's for reps, and it didn't feel safe swinging them up and I don't always have a spotter to pass them to me. On the other hand, on military I've been able to do sets of 5 on 235lbs, right to the upper chest, and it feels a lot safer.

 

[FitnessFrk]

any over head pressing movement targets the anterior head and uses the medial as a synergist.

lateral raises are the ONLY exercise that specifically targets only the medial head. use a long TUT and you will see results, don't worry about increasing weight.

 

[Ingram]

I also found with dumbells it was getting too hard to get them up to press, I got up to the 110's for reps, and it didn't feel safe swinging them up and I don't always have a spotter to pass them to me. On the other hand, on military I've been able to do sets of 5 on 235lbs, right to the upper chest, and it feels a lot safer.

Getting them up for me isn't as bad as bringing them down I just kick'em up with my knee and it's all good. Now bringing them down is the hard party, I bang up my knee's/leg pretty bad everytime I hit the 100's.

 

[strong island]

Either pre-exhaust by doing laterals first OR

Lateral/Press superset.

 

[revexrevex]

Do all of you use back support for overhead pressing? I can usually do 75x6 with dumbells, but when sitting on the bench without back support i barely got 55 x 8, yet I felt it in the shoulders for a week. With backsupport there is a tendency to arch the back and therefore pushing up more weight

 

[onemind]

I don't do behind the neck barbell presses because of shoulder injury. So I use the hammer strength behind neck press and have gotten greta results. I am up to three plates on each side for a set of 6.

 

[Haz]

Yeah rev, if you are seated with back support, you can push up more weight. I've recently tried doing standing barbell presses. Much tougher then the seated version. Alot of energy is spent balancing the bar as you raise it. Probably a better exercise for real world strength.

 

[BlkWS6]

How do you guys keep your back from not arching on military barbell!? Everytime I do that exercise I turn it into a freaking incline press. I just can't see to keep my back from arching a lot. Any suggestions? And I still do it w/ a moderate weight, so going down in weight I don't think will help me a whole lot.

 

[b fold the truth]

When I trained in a commercial gym I always did behind the neck press. Now I do clean and jerk's for my shoulders.

B True

 

[bigdelt69]

do not pre exust your shoulders by doing laterals, you need all your power for those pressing movements. try doing 3 sets of behind the neck bb press 7 reps each. then do 3 sets of front military press with 7 reps each. then do 3 sets of db military press 7 reps each. then do all the laterals you can stand.

 

[strong island]

do not pre exust your shoulders by doing laterals, you need all your power for those pressing movements. try doing 3 sets of behind the neck bb press 7 reps each. then do 3 sets of front military press with 7 reps each. then do 3 sets of db military press 7 reps each. then do all the laterals you can stand.

Listen if you've never done them I recommend trying them. If you don't like them..then don't do them.

I use pre-exhaust every other delt day.

Bodybuilding is not always about weight its about hypertrophy.

You want to work the deltoids not the triceps. And if you do 9 sets of presses you might as well do tris after shoulders.

 

[bigdelt69]

you are correct, everyone is different.

 

[coolcolj]

One vote for Clean pulls!

 

[Deciever]

i like arnold presses.. and regular dumbell presses. Swinging them up is no problem considering im using 40's

 

[revexrevex]

It does look impressive when instead of setting up upright bench and having your partner hand you the barbell, you clean a barbell off the floor and press it overhead a few times (hardcore style). Do it in the middle of the gym, screaming "LOU" on top of your lungs on top of each lockout. If you want to be even more hardcore, slam it on the ground and kick it couple of times...

 

[strong island]

"I'm not thatisfied...I want more weight...I wanna beat im"

"what are you crazy?"

 

[revexrevex]

LOUUUUUUU IM COMIN FOR YOU LOU

 

[Vortexx]

I do front and behind neck presses but lately I have decided to always start with the front presses as I hope that my gains in strenth will transfer to my incline benchpress wich I am very much working on.....

I feel that grip spacing determines how much the medial heads are worked. I think just slightly wider than shoulder width gives a good balnce for most people between anterior / medial exposure. But strangely enough for me, my side delts are bigger than the front delts, so i have decided to take a smaller than shoulderwidth grip and lower the bar to my nipples and not to my clavicle. This way the anterior delts get more work and a longer range of motion. I begin to see the first signs of front delts catching up now....

 

[louden_swain]

I built my delts using seated dumbbell presses. However, I like to use seated barbell presses as well. I believe the dumbbells are effective for building stabilizer strength, roundess, and mass. The seated barbell press is excellent for building mass because you can use more weight that the dumbbell. I think for width, the seated barbell press is the way to go. Of course, I would add in a few sets of laterals .