military behind-the-neck press?????

[tatt2d]

I like this movement and have been using it as part of my delt routine, but I recently read an article which advised against it. A PHD from Florida Atlantic University stated, "Don't do the military behind-the-neck press.....this movement creates alot of stress on the rotator cuff inside your shoulder joint and can cause a tear." I would like some practical opinions, what do you guys think....Good or Bad?

[HHH]

I do them infront. Thou I have done them behind
the head,,low weight.

HHH

[Glock19]

I always do them behind the back. I make sure I wear a belt though...I have lower back probs. I then alternate to dumbells from the front...sometime supersets. Great exercise!

[Phreezer]

Too many rotator cuff problems doing them behind the neck... stick to the frount.. honestly there isn't any more improvement to muscle recruitment doing them behind the neck.

[Freddy]

Originally Posted by Phreezer

Too many rotator cuff problems doing them behind the neck... stick to the frount.. honestly there isn't any more improvement to muscle recruitment doing them behind the neck.

I really agree with this. I'm not totally against behind the neck...I mean, if you like it and you can tell yourself objectively that its working, than great. Keep doing them.

But I think most people just use it as an excuse to use less ROM and more weight. They tend to only go halfway down, and the shoulders are statically contracted for the whole movement, letting the triceps do all the work. Not "ideal" for a lot of you bodybuilders, I don't think. I could be wrong.

Doing them in the front so that the bar touches your chest and then goes all the way to lockout uses full ROM, which is great for weight gaining (which should make you BBers happy) and also prevents injuries...which should make everyone happy.

[armsports]

I used to do these heavy and loved them. After my shoulder injury, I stick to military's lowered just to chin level.

[eleven11]

Makes my shoulders hurt just thinking about them. There's more joint friendly ways to build your shoulders.....11

[Pablo34]

I do military presses to the front on a smith machine because at my gym, the 2 military press racks are set up to be used behind the neck, which is NOT good. To do them to the front, I would have to use my chest and shoulders at an awkward angle to get it off the rack (impossible). I stick to the smith machine and get good gains from it. Sometimes I follow up with a couple sets of DB shoulder presses.

[Ramstein II]

I'm considering eliminating military presses all together. It seems to me that behind the neck pressing is too tough on the rotator. Front pressing works the front delt and a little mid delt. Don't incline presses and even bench presses work the front delt just as well? And upright rows are the king of mid delt exercises. So why even do over the head pressing if your do inclines?

[Freddy]

Originally Posted by Ramstein II

I'm considering eliminating military presses all together. It seems to me that behind the neck pressing is too tough on the rotator. Front pressing works the front delt and a little mid delt. Don't incline presses and even bench presses work the front delt just as well? And upright rows are the king of mid delt exercises. So why even do over the head pressing if your do inclines?

You're correct...as long as you do a lot of other pressing, militaries are not necessary.

I caught a ton of flack a while ago for saying this, but its true. I still stand by this.

I'm not saying that militaries are bad, I think they're great. But they aren't necessary. In the same way that flat bench is great, but its not necessary. As long as you do a lot of pressing, it doesn't really matter all that much which pressing movements you do (to some extent). Just get a good variety, as you are already doing, to make sure the movements aren't redundant.