Winston Salem Fitness

The seated shoulder press, as it names suggests, is an over head shoulder press which is seated

during the execution of the exercise. Being seated makes cheating or unwanted body movement less

likely, hopefully with the net result of increasing the intensity of the work placed upon the

deltoid muscles.

The stricter seated shoulder press will successfully recruit the front and side deltoid heads,

but will have minimal effect on the rear deltoid head. Being seated also has two further benefits

for some trainers. Being seated may relieve some trainers who have back issues as it allows for

greater back support compared to a standing shoulder press. Being seated also means the barbell

is lower to the ground during the exercise, making spotting by a training partner a lot easier.

The rep range 6-12 is commonly said to be a suitable rep range for anybody whos goal is to

increase muscle size and mass. This of course is not universal and it would be wise to experiment

with different rep and set ranges to see which regime seems to be the most effective for you.

Instructions:

Load bar with a suitable weight. Put on safety collars.
Take an overhand shoulder width grip, and take bar off rack (or Clean off floor if you do not

have a rack).
Carefully place the barbell just in front of your neck, whilst keeping torso erect, and back

straight whilst seated in a sit that has good back support.
Whilst keeping torso erect and back straight, press the bar upwards until arms are extending

above.
Whilst keeping good body posture, slowly lower the weight back in front of the neck.
Repeat for desired amount of repetitions.