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injured rotator cuffs. Rehabbing this way works for the same reason that it is safe to press, and for the same reason that pressing actually strengthens the rotator cuff muscles. Physical Therapy usually addresses shoulder rehab with direct exercises on the rotator cuff involving rubber bands and 2-pound dumbbells, an interesting approach considering that these isolation movements do not occur as a normal part of typical human movement patterns. But when you press overhead and finish the lockout correctly, all of the muscles of the shoulder are tight and contracted. As the weight goes up over time, the strength of the finish must increase and the force produced by all of the contracting muscles must therefore increase as well. Since the press uses the rotator cuff muscles isometrically to stabilize the lockout position at the top, and since proper form ensures that they are active in this capacity as well as safe relative to a position of impingement, it seems as though the logical way to strengthen the cuff muscles – even cuff muscles weakened by injury and surgical repair – is to press correctly. In the correct press lockout, the weaker muscles are supported by the healthy ones, and as the injured muscles heal, they are able to resume an increasing amount of their normal functional load if correct technique is utilized with weights light enough to permit it. In this way, the injured muscles can be brought back to normal function while performing their normal function, in effect given no choice but to heal by doing what they normally do.

Since the press strengthens the shoulders, the key to shoulder health for your whole athletic career and your life as an active adult is to press correctly as an integral part of your training. Most lifters who have shoulder problems have failed to take this advice and have paid for ignoring this most important upper-body exercise. In fact, before the bench press became the sole focus of upper-body training in the gym, shoulder injuries were uncommon. Rotator cuff problems can be addressed in training, before they ever start, by making sure that bench press work is balanced by an equivalent amount of overhead work. For every bench press workout, there should be a press workout.

The surprising thing about the press is that it is very technically demanding. It is a very hard lift to do with a lot of weight, and most people work for many years to develop their ability to do it well. We’d better get started.

Learning to Press

The press starts at the rack with the empty bar. It should be set at the same height as for the squat, at about the middle of the sternum. If you are a female, a younger trainee, or an older or injured person, be aware that a 45-pound bar may be too heavy to start with on this exercise. Take steps to ensure that the proper equipment is available, or you will never have a chance to learn the exercise properly.

The grip for the press is determined by the simple mechanics we already know. The width is such that it places the forearms in a vertical position as seen from the back or front ( Figure 3-8). This grip places your index fingers somewhere between the edge of the knurl and a half-inch out from the knurl.

Figure 3-8. Grip width, just outside the shoulders, to produce vertical forearms.

There are exceptionally large people who need a wider grip to keep the forearms vertical, but not many. Too wide a grip creates moment arms between the grip position on the bar and the elbows, between the elbows and the shoulders, and between the grip and the shoulders; and these moment arms are leverage you will have to overcome that need not be there at all (Figure 3-9). The choice of equipment may not be up to you here, and most people will need to work with what they have, so note that a standard Olympic weightlifting bar has about 16.5 inches (42 cm) of space between the knurls (there is no standard center marking for a powerlifting bar, but most are close to this). It might make things easier if you mark your oddball bar to this standard so that you can use