I kept reading this thinking he was referring to behind-the-neck presses. Nope.
Despite his warnings of possible shoulder impingement and rotator cuff tearing, I'm not quite convinced. Rip's line of thought is that the press keeps your anterior and posterior shoulder strength in balance. The OHP is definitely better at this than the bench press, and few people are going to pass on benching despite the myriad of shoulder injuries connected to that movement.
Much of his argument short of injury is that the movement doesn't isolate the shoulders, so instead he recommends dumbbell side raises. With that he goes into strength v. bodybuilding territory, and I'll leave that aside as the benefits of compound movements have been espoused to great extent already. He plays a decent devil's advocate, and for that I thank him. As for the OHP I'll keep going at it until my monkey arms fight back and put a stop to my curiosity of pressing heavy things over my head.
Yeah, I gave up on upright row after one set.
I got the feeling that it was something that would most likely damage my shoulder joints.
The upright row is another shoulder exercise I've never felt the need to do. To test for shoulder impingement doctors intentionally rotate the shoulders in and raise your arms to check for impingement and pain at the top. It's a movement used to intentionally cause shoulder impingement. It's not a
possibility, as the author of the previous article noted, but the
goal of the movement! Given the risks I feel I'm better off without it.
Cooter said:
The day I cut OHP out of my routine will be the day I'll go to the Dr for Zoloft. I don't even want to think such a thought!
I'm with you on that. I can't press for shit but every rep or pound added over time still impresses me more than every rep or even ten pounds I add to my deadlift.
