Safest pressing exercise for shoulders

[kalese]

@harmonmarie I can’t remember how, but I think push ups and dips are relatively safe for shoulders, especially compared to the bench press

 

[anatovar5037]

@kalese I would actually say dips are the hardest on your shoulders and the most difficult to progress on for beginner who are stuck under 5 reps.

Bench is easy on your shouldersz

 

[chrisb4]

@harmonmarie I have never had any issues with any variation of dips or puhh ups in shoulders. Had a bit of an issue with sternun pain on ring dips but I managed to minigate it with more consistent form. I avoid wide push ups or wide ring dips for now though, those can be rough on the shoulders.

If you want to try them but arent sure just do shoulder mobility exercises as a warm up and do both dips and push ups or whichever your prefer

 

[destinyrealized]

@chrisb4 How’d you manage to mitigate the sternum pain with ring dips? Currently experiencing this

 

[katiejean]

@destinyrealized you basically need to reboot and start over with costochondritis. Steven Low has talked about this so many times.

i got stupid with dips once (max test strict, then frog kip and swinging dip on rings with ample rest to compare) i think i logged this on the CF forum back then.

and basically had to take it back to pushup support work and shrugs, then pushups, dip support-shrugs then dips. early 2009.

then to rings and so on on.

bowed out of CF Regionals a month or two out but was fine by the time it came around and i judged. fine enough to do the last workout for funsies

 

[stormvetprime]

@katiejean

costochondritis

I fixed costochondritis pretty quickly by incorporating a certain type of neck stretch

 

[b5268]

@stormvetprime

I fixed costochondritis pretty quickly by incorporating a certain type of neck stretch

any specific neck stretches you can recommend

 

[stormvetprime]

@b5268 Put your hands on collarbone (a little toward one side, central) and then lean your neck away from that hand/collarbone (diagonally) kind of hard to explain but it worked for me, I had it bad and this stretch cleared it up.

 

[chrisb4]

@destinyrealized Took a step back and improved my rto support hold. Then i went back to do dips without rto at the top with good form shoulders touching rings every rep then did them with rto at the top 45º degrees. Also I lowered the volume from 4 sets in 2 sessions per week to 3 sets in 2 sessions.

 

[hailsatan420]

@harmonmarie Proper push up form should help strengthen shoulders, especially if you progress to diamonds or other variants.

Improper form puts your shoulders in a compromised position.

Stretch your chest/shoulder, maybe add in some mobility exercises.

I'd argue push ups and pull ups with proper form would be great preparatory exercises for bench and such. It strengthens a lot of the same muscles needed to stabilize your press while getting you like 80% of the way to proper bench form.

 

[harmonmarie]

@hailsatan420 Frankly, I'm not interested in the bench at all. For weights, it's overhead or nothing for me. Not gonna be competing in powerlifting, so it's less about the big 3 for me.

Pushups are kinda having a renaissance for me, here - for years I've mentally tucked them away as being too close to the bench, and just not worth it. Didn't hurt that I wasn't working out regularly either, so I could afford to. Always thought dips would be the way, but then this came up in my browsing, and here we are.

 

[hailsatan420]

@harmonmarie The top comment from @malachi88 pretty much sums it up well.

Proper form and progression are key. It's fine if you take it slow, build up strength and mobility.

 

[harmonmarie]

@hailsatan420 So basically, bang out tons of pushups for now, and work on supporting yourself in a variety of positions in the dip before going through and actually dipping.

 

[hailsatan420]

@harmonmarie

bang out tons of pushups for now,

Only if you can do them with proper form. I've personally found focusing on time under tension with proper form more beneficial to my progression than worrying about how many reps I can do.

There are dip progression guides out there. Read/watch through some of them, figure out an approach you feel comfortable with and try it. If it doesn't feel right, adjust it.

 

[harmonmarie]

@hailsatan420 On the "bang out" bit - I ofc meant, "progess into them properly, working up in volume, etc." Just not to look at dips too hard right now, and make pushups my main pushing movement for a while. But I appreciate you looking out for me!

 

[hailsatan420]

@harmonmarie Np man. It's the Internet so I tend to go on the side of caution, wasn't meant to offend so I'm glad you didn't take it that way.

Best of luck to you!

 

[john0733]

@harmonmarie In terms of absolute safety- barbell overhead press.

But honestly all those exercises you mentioned are relatively safe exercises. The danger is usually with doing too much too soon. Also a potential issue when people train a lot of chest but don't train their back

 

[harmonmarie]

@john0733

people train a lot of chest but don't train their back

Lucky me, the guy whose whole workout is just pullups throughout the day, and walking/biking as my commute.

 

[farpl]

@harmonmarie It all depends on your current conditioning, form, weighted or not, # of reps and the range of motion you're using.

 

[kr1983]

@harmonmarie Insufficient support in the rest of the body/core etc leads to poor balance, bad technique and unnecessary strain. Nothing works in pure isolation.