Safest pressing exercise for shoulders

H

harmonmarie

New member
Read that dips are actually pretty rough on the shoulders, and to be straight-up avoided if you're into throwing sports - I'd like to get into some recreational throwing, from SCA thrown weapons to Highland Games-type stuff.

Fine, pushups. But isn't bench press notorious as a shoulder wrecker? And pushups are basically just the calisthenics version of a bench press, right? Throw that one out, too, I guess...

Ok, HSPU! ...I'm not strong enough yet. Ok, build up to it! But until then, I'll just be lagging in pressing. Huh.

I don't know, it just seems like a damned-if-you-do(n't) situation. Am I missing something? Am I overthinking this, and can just go ahead and bang out hundreds of reps of dips & pushups a day w/o worrying about it after all?
 
@harmonmarie regardless of what exercise you pick, jumping in with a ton of volume or intensity/weight will increase the risk of injury.

I don't think pushups are the same as bench press for shoulder injuries--one of the problems with benching is that your scapulae are pinned against the bench and can't move naturally, while they can in the pushup.
 
@harmonmarie Just a quick explanation about shoulders: they're almost exclusively muscle and tendon. Their job is to stabilise. You can't avoid them in your movements unless you wanna do bicep curls and bodyweight squats for the rest of your life. My advice? Embrace it. Utilise your early days where the weight is manageable to MAXIMISE loading on the shoulders with these lighter weights. Get all the angles going. Your shoulders will become bulletproof very quickly because they can handle a tonne of frequency.

The biggest mistake I ever see advanced people do is limiting range of motion to maximise gains. Nah, that ain't it. Your shoulders and your hips have insane range of motion in all 3 planes, you need to be utilising that if you want to keep those areas healthy. If you're trying to clean your house and you only clean one room, your house isn't clean is it? Same vibe.
 
@harmonmarie Sure thing! Here:
  • Lu raises
  • behind the back resistance band movements
  • wide grip pull ups if you can do them
  • lots of push up variations
  • dips
  • hand stands
These are most of the exercises I do to keep my shoulders healthy and strong, and they work super well. My shoulders used to be terribly weak, and these movements did wonders.
 
@harmonmarie So bench press and push ups CAN be hard on your shoulder to begin with because they are stuck in one position if that makes sense. Dips can also be hard on your shoulders, mostly because you need a fair bit of strength to not allow your shoulder to roll forward. A lot of beginners don't have strength for that.

The "safest exercise" is going to be an OH press but at an angle out instead of straight up. A landmine can be effective for this. To make benching more shoulder friendly, use dumbbells. This allows you to twist your hands in a more natural way that you can not do with a barbell.

Overall, all of these exercises are safe for your shoulders. If you're getting pain, your form may be off or you may not have the strength yet to perform them correctly (usually its the back of the shoulder that's lacking stability.) Find a good trainer or physiotherapist to teach you the correct form. If you still have pain, see a physiotherapist to find out what's going on.

If you don't have pain then just start slow and progress in a steady way. People can do bench pressing or push ups their entire life and never "wreck their shoulders". If they have injured their shoulders its likely due to poor form, improper load or pushing through pain.
 
@harmonmarie Dips can be rough on the shoulders for some people, but some people have no problems at all. In contrast to bench press, pushups allow the scapulae to protract and retract freely, which pretty much eliminates the risk that benching poses to the shoulders in some people.

It's all dependent on your anthopometry in the end - despite how dips and bench are 'dangerous', I've personally done both regularly for years with no shoulder issues at all. But, that doesn't mean it will be the same for you.
 
@harmonmarie Push-ups are a great foundation for any other pressing. If you do want to move towards headstand push-ups, they'd be the starting point. For all the years in karate with a crowd doing sometimes thousands of different push-ups a week, I don't recall anyone getting injured by them.

Adding to other comments about benching, doing it at a slight incline is a bit better on the shoulders, with a barbell or dumbbells.

Push presses would add the full-body power generation you might want in throwing.

And the suggestion on landmine pressing was excellent.
 
@esperanza20
Push presses would add the full-body power generation you might want in throwing.
Click to expand...

I was thinking of just being not too strict with it, in the sense that I'd start at a relatively easy weight in an OHP workout, and strict press it. Once I got to a weight I wasn't able to strict press for more than a couple weights, then it'd become a push press. Kinda two birds w/one stone, y'know?
 
@harmonmarie Look for the kneesovertoes guy on youtube. He has some goed shoulder routines. Depending on the load You can use them as workout or a warm up for other pressing movements.

Offcourse there are other YouTubers out there with similar routines. KOT is just one I personally like.
 
@harmonmarie His video's are pretty chaotic, but all the info is there. His paid material is just a pdf that's more structured. And depending on the subscription you get video calls with one of the coaches. If you need the coaching I would go to a physicial therapist. I went to one when I dislocated my shoulder and every exercise I had to do was something I saw in a KOT video at some point. It's good stuff.

Now I just do 3 sets @ RPE 5-6 of 3-4 exercises in circuit form. Just look at his video's and test the exercise. You'll feel where your weaknesses are. And you can always rotate exercises between workouts.
 
@harmonmarie High Incline Dumbell Press.

Anywhere from 60 to 80 degrees.

Why? Easier on the shoulder joint mobility wise + the upper chest will be engaged just enough to provide more stability to the movement
 
@harmonmarie I can only recommend Power Push Aways es conditioning or entry exercise to pike pushup or HSPU. It's a hybrid of a plank and pike push. Look it up on YouTube!

It's great if you lack the conditioning and should be doable for everybody.
 
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