Does overhead pressing work medial delts

[Primo Max]

I have been debating whether or not to keep some sort of overhead press in my routine. I know that they are great for triceps size, and or course front delts, but is there really a significant contribution from the side delts. I was reading some stuff on other sites and I came across a few things. First of all, I have read that the medial delts are worked the most during the mid to top portion of the press, from about the top of the head up. Also, they are apparently worked more when the upper body is straight up and down, not tilted back. This makes sense. One site talked about doing presses in the top 2/3 of the movement, using any number of variations such as db's, front presses, or behind the neck (maybe arnold presses would be good too). Has anyone ever seen emg studies on this, or anything else that would suggest it is true. This would be fine with me if it worked because it would also be the portion of the movement that most heavily works the triceps. I really don't need my front delts to be bigger, as they are already disproportionate to the rest of my shoulders, as is the case with just about everyone that I've seen. So I guess the questions are these. How good are overhead presses for medial delts, and is the top 2/3 portion of the lift what I should focus on? As of now, I have basically dropped them out of my routine and made heavy upright rows my main shoulder movement, with one arm side laterals my other light movement for side delts (on another day). I can't be sure, but I think my triceps may have shrunk despite a lot of chest pressing, and always including some sort of close grip press.

[Hogg]

I have also found that leaving out militaries resulted in less than adequate tricep growth. The medials fire when your upper arms are parallel to the ground so you are right, the upper 2/3 of the lift is a medial delt exercise.

Upright rows are a major medial cap builder however, if you left military out of your routine in exchange for upright rows, no matter how much bench pressing and straight tricep work you do, I dont think your triceps will be as big. You have to press to have big triceps.

The arnold press is a shoulder capsule killer and I would avoid it. Dumbbell presses allow a far more natural range of motion since the dumbbells are in line through your neck/skull whereas with a bar, you are either forward or behind. Even with that said, I still find myself doing behind the neck with a smith now for a few reasons...one being, we do not have a good seated military bench at Gold's and the kids are always using the racks for curling and ab raises.

medial raises are good for the caps too but the upright row seems to deliver more in terms of overall shoulder girdle development. You can build a stellar set of traps and medials with upright rows.

Originally Posted by Primo Max

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[Primo Max]

I was hoping you would reply. So it seems pretty clear that I need them in the routine. Dumbells have always been my favorite for the reason that you mentioned. Do you think I should do full ROM presses or eliminate the bottom of the movement.

[Hogg]

Originally Posted by Primo Max

I was hoping you would reply. So it seems pretty clear that I need them in the routine. Dumbells have always been my favorite for the reason that you mentioned. Do you think I should do full ROM presses or eliminate the bottom of the movement.

i think just like everything else, it should be comfortable. It sounds like you already have a good anterior delt so perhaps you want to stop when your hands are in line with your ears - ie, there is no reason to try to touch the tops of your shoulders with the db's.....by going that low, you would have a pretty generous range of motion. Now, on the other hand, if you find that it is not comfortable stopping there, then I would just do them as you always have, follow what was comfortable. The key is that you keep a pressing movement in your routine.

One other idea - you can press in your first routine of the week and upright row in the second routine - assuming that you are on a 2x per week split.

[Primo Max]

What I'll do is go with upright rows on my heavy chest day and then do heavy overhead presses on my light chest day. That way I can still press good weight and won't be too tired from doing a lot of heavy chest work first. I'll experiment a bit with different types of presses to see what doesn't hurt and just stick with that. Thanks for the advice.

[Peace Division]

Originally Posted by Hogg

The arnold press is a shoulder capsule killer and I would avoid it.

I will totally agree with this from personal experience. I changed from doing Ahnuld's to regular OH presses and the impingement I had in my shoulder (forgot which muscle it was) went away after a few weeks. I did this on advice from my ART guy.

[rollinsband]

over head presses do not work the side delts its strictly front delt work..thats why when u read a body builder like jay or ronnie or lee haney or who evers workout they do these 3 exercises for shoulders ..presses , side latterals , rear latterals,...each exercise for each head ,presses for front,side latterals for side delts , rear for rear delts ..

[Hogg]

Forgive me but you are wrong.....instead of reading about a 'bodybuilder like jay or ronnie or lee haney', perhaps you should get a kinesiology text. The medial head fires when the arms are above the shoulder line in support of the girdle. The anterior does the majority of work in the bottom of the lift but the medial clearly fires. Granted, as I stated earlier, the military press is moreso associated with front delt than medial but it nevertheless taxes the medial to some extent.

Originally Posted by rollinsband

over head presses do not work the side delts its strictly front delt work..thats why when u read a body builder like jay or ronnie or lee haney or who evers workout they do these 3 exercises for shoulders ..presses , side latterals , rear latterals,...each exercise for each head ,presses for front,side latterals for side delts , rear for rear delts ..