db presses...all kinds....
 

saw a few vids lately...and it raised a question for me.

in these videos it looks like they aren't using full range of motion...on flat presses and shoulder pressing....when i do them i let the db's go down as far as my arms will go...which means for shoulder presses the db's are reaching my shoulders and flat presses they are coming down pretty much level with my chest.

am i doing it wrong...and could this be causing shoulder problems? is it like going past parallel with dips?

just curious :)

Youtube vids?

Yes, I think it is similar to the dips issue. If your shoulders will do it pain free, then I wouldn't worry about it much. I can get a pretty good/deep stretch with DB's flat, but on shoulder pressing I bring the weight down so it sits on my shoulder. It is a circus dumbbell pressing habit.

yeah. and talo's db press vid.

I'd ask Talo, then. He did have shoulder problems. Some people just do partial reps a lot, also. This has nothing to do with Talo, but I usually don't assume people have a good reason for the things they do other than they've seen someone do it or been told to do it by someone they think of as an authority figure.

Partials for the pump? :)

Curls for the girls? hahaha

I've always come down as far as the weight allows me to on both types of presses.

I use to come down all the way , but like Eric said I have had shoulder problems and have been in the habit of only going to parellel. I have been doing this for the past two years and I find it works fine.

Same thing with Bench Presses (DB). The stretch ( with heavy weight) is just to much for my shoulders.

The philosophy I use with any sort of DB movement is how far down would I be able to take the weight if I was using a bar? So if I am doing DB bench press I basically go all the way down to my chest but not any further and carry this into exercises like shoulder presses and flys. I think on some exercises you could get away with going deeper but I am not sure what the benefit would be... all I see is putting needless stress on your body.

That being said I also suffer from shoulder impingements so I am much more cautious now.

good to know...thanks fellas :)

Hey, Talo, I'd recommend you bring your shoulders in to a more "neutral" angle. To around 30 degrees in. That is less stressful to the shoulder and stronger, also. That's sort of one of the benefits to db's in itself. Also the ability to take a more neutral grip.

Thanks for the tip E , this is why I will be putting up more vids so that you guys can give me pointers.

I'm trying to picture this in my head .So when I'm sitting holding the DB's up and everything is parallel.Should I move everything (shoulders ,arms) holding the db's forward ? or up ? 30 deg.

Just having a hard time picturing .

Just think about having your elbows in round about 30 degrees. So I guess if you considered where your elbows are now 0 degrees... See if I can get a vid of someone doing that. It's called the "scapular plane".

This is actually, given a choice, the way many would naturally place the dumbells. You can think about it in day to day function. If you were going to put a heavy box up on an overhead shelf, would you bring your arms out to to the side..90 degrees?

No I wouldn't . I see what your saying now. Next time I do them I will tape it to see if it's ok.