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Overview
The dumbbell shoulder press is one of the best exercises for building massive front shoulder (anterior deltoid) muscles. Using the dumbbells requires the stabilizer muscles to work harder throughout the movement and does not require the hands to be a fixed width apart. Emphasis is placed on the anterior and medial (middle) portion of the deltoids and the triceps. Secondary emphasis is placed on the upper chest muscles and the trapezius.
Setup
Grip a dumbbell in each hand and sit on either an upright bench with a back rest or the end of a flat bench. As you sit down, allow the dumbbells to rest on your legs just above the knee. To bring the dumbbells up to your shoulders, give a slight kick upward with each knee to help move the weights one at a time so that you are holding each just above your shoulders.
Movement
Press the weights directly upward above the head until the arms are extended and the weights come close together. The weights do not need to touch at the top and your elbows to not need to lock at the end of the motion. Lower the weights back downward on each side to the starting position just above the shoulders.
Tips From the Trainer
Try experimenting with rotating your wrists so that the palms of your hands are facing each other throughout the movement. This will work the deltoid muscles in a slightly different way and help to add variation to your shoulder workout. This exercise can also be performed while in a standing position.
When finishing the exercise, the safest way to put the weights down is to raise up your knee toward your shoulder and lower the weight down onto your leg and let your stronger leg lower the weight the rest of the way down. Having a spotter take the weight out of your hands can be more dangerous (unless you have two spotters) because removing one weight at a time can throw you off balance and cause you to drop the other weight.
If you do use a spotter to help you pump out those last few repetitions in a set, have the spotter help you by pressing the weight upward at your elbows. Allowing the spotter to grab your wrists to assist you is much more likely to accidentally move the weight forward or backward and through you off balance. Spotting from the elbows also requires less effort from the spotter to help you move the weight upward.
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