Behind-the-neck Military Press......What does it work?

[natedog]

Behind the neck presses are bad bad bad, IMO. Dumbell shoulder presses put your arms in a very similar position, but don't require you to bend your neck forward at the bottom of the movement.

Also for volleyball i would say these are almost a must becuase of serving and spiking movements. In these you come from the posterior anyway i think by not diong them you are setting yourself up for injury.

I couldn't disagree more. All hitting power in volleyball is in front of the body. Watch the best hitters and you'll see that their arm never goes behind their head. Even if it looks like they're swinging from behind, they're just arching their back so they can get more of their abs into it.

If you want weight exercises to help you hit harder, try pullovers (especially machine pullovers), tricep extensions, forearm/wrist curls, and ab work. I won't get into jumping exercises, other than to say that the higher you jump, the further in front of you you can hit (i.e., make contact with) the ball.

 

[JollyRogers]

Behind the neck presses are great, they made my shoulders grow decent, but I stopped using them because they started to make my shoulders hurt bad, they got so bad, I had to stop all shoulder type movements for 3-4 weeks.

Good gains with lots of pains

 

[Dirty Workout]

Just wondering if everyone brings the bar to neck touching or to ear level

Ear level is much safer

I am thinking about ditching them but cant think of anything as good for rear delts

 

[gymtime]

Just wondering if everyone brings the bar to neck touching or to ear level

Ear level is much safer

I am thinking about ditching them but cant think of anything as good for rear delts

Anything below ear level is tempting fate IMO.

Another great rear delt excercise is that thing where you're on a bench, leaning forward, doing db lat raises, going from under your thighs to shoulder level. I forget what they're called exactly.

 

[sk*]

Behind back military press might be dangerous for rotator cuffs, but it is bar none the best shoulder development exercise (specially for taller people).

It's my favorite exercise and feels very natural to me, I don't know how it isn't natural to you guys ... maybe you don't do it as often.

I do it every week, I love it ... my shoulders are my best bodypart because of this exercise alone (and my genetics hehe).

For a while I dropped front military pressed and just did these for 2months and when I went back to front military pressed I put on 50lbs more. It is the best god damn shoulder exercise and I am gonna do it tomorrow in the morning and can't wait!!!

-sk

 

[collegiateLifter]

BTN presses are known for making a lot of huge shoulders but also a lot of fucked up shoulders.

If you do them I suggest you stop part way down, like mid upper ear as per DC

 

[Hannibal]

I couldn't disagree more. All hitting power in volleyball is in front of the body. Watch the best hitters and you'll see that their arm never goes behind their head. Even if it looks like they're swinging from behind, they're just arching their back so they can get more of their abs into it.

I would have to disagree to some extent. Hitting a volleyball is relative to throwing a baseball. And yes it is true that the front part of your body is the primary source of accleration...it is the posterior that is resposible for the deceleration. Your body will not allow you to accelerate faster than you can decelerate...hence your posterior should be stronger. If not...you will have muscle imbalance which can lead to injury....or you will be limiting your potential acceleration ability.

 

[Prime Rib]

Thanks for the heads up guys. I'll DEFINATELY be staying away from this lift if it's bad for cuffs. I tore my left cuff real bad about 4 yrs back, and it's never been the same since....

Just trying to find some good lifts to built up around my shoulders, and upper back area....


Josh

 

[sk*]

BTN presses are known for making a lot of huge shoulders but also a lot of fucked up shoulders.

If you do them I suggest you stop part way down, like mid upper ear as per DC

Yea, I don't bring it lower than my ear as it isn't comfortable below that point.

Prime Rib,

Yea, if you have rotator cuff problems then it's best to stay away from this exercise.

-sk

 

[Ivan Danko]

I had more pain in my shoulders before doing these. They have helped get rid of some pain for me. It also could be that i haven't been doing 100 pushes to 1 pull. Man why do we all do that at some point. So stupid!

And I guess i see it both ways in volleyball. I would have to look into that before training a volleyball player though. But in some sports i feel that these are a good addition to a program. I wrestle and we have to be able to work in all planes.