Why 99% Of Fitness Pros Are WRONG About Behind The Neck Presses
August 26, 2010 | Author Kevin Yates
Last night I was playing with my 3-year-old daughter Briana and she just loves when I bench press her. 
So, there I was lying on the floor on my back pressing away with my wife just laughing at us…
Actually, she was laughing at me because after about 30 ‘Briana presses’ I was getting a bit red-faced and out of breath; HEY she’s a big girl now!
The thing is that about 6 years ago I would never have been able to this because my shoulders were a mess back then.
They always hurt after I worked out.
Sure, I did various PULLING movements like rows but I never made any real progress until I discovered the exercises were only a part of the solution.
The answer wasn’t just doing the exercises but HOW I was doing them.
“Pull your shoulder blades down and back as if pinching your spine” wasn’t enough to actually make those muscles work when they were never taught how.
So, I developed my own special cues to literally FORCE the right muscles to engage and that’s when I got serious results.
I have ZERO shoulder pain these days and one of the exercises that not only helped me but have helped some athletes I trained over the years was…
Get ready to cringe…
Behind The Neck Presses
UH OH!
Yeah, I know you’re probably screaming at me “Don’t you know that exercise will DESTROY your shoulders!”
But, that’s the thing…behind the neck shoulder presses aren’t the shoulder wreckers that 99% of fitness pros think they are.
Check out the video below where I share my ‘odd-ball’ thinking like:
- A simple way to determine if your clients or athletes are appropriate for the behind the neck press
- 2 shoulder mobility assessments you can use to assess your clients and athletes
- The #1 mistake most personal trainers and strength coaches make when assessing posture related to the shoulders
- Little-known technique tips to look for when performing behind the neck presses
If you like the video do me a favor and click the share link below and tell your facebook friends about it. Also, be sure to check out my video on how you can eliminate nagging shoulder pain with another often ill-advised exercise.
11 Responses to “Why 99% Of Fitness Pros Are WRONG About Behind The Neck Presses”
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Great info as allways Kevin!
I have shoulder mobility issues with front side tightness and posterior shoulder weakness, which I deal right now.
I use one of yours exercise, supine arm exetending above the head on foam roller. Also doing various rowing exercise and more. But I am very tight around Pec minor region do you think that manual therapy would/should speed up this process?
Also what do you think about loud shoulder doing various exercises, like loud pop when moving around tha same angle in pressing motions. There is not too much pain but is very disturbing. What do you think?
I like your take on this exercise aka military press behind the head and your take on all exercises that are baned this days.
” it’s not about doing the exercise, but HOW the exercises are done!” very well written, like it.
Keep going we all learn a lot from you!
Have a great time
Thanks for the comment.
It’s hard to say what’s happening with your shoulder. Can you locate where the pain is coming from? It might be your biceps tendon although I can’t say for sure.
Keep me posted.
Kevin
Thanks for reply!
Don’t know for sure about pain, but is on frontal side of deltoid but deeper on the Coracoid process and down like where pec minor is runing.
Thanks and all the best
Robert
Is the behind the neck press a functional exercise that will transfer strength over to real world applications? Right now I am only doing weighted pull ups, dips, and pushups for upper body. And squats and deadlifts for lower body.
After hurting my shoulders at the posterior deltoid with the bench press, I did some research that told me that weight lifting is less functional compared to calasthenics which provide true stabilization and strength development for sports.
Behind the neck presses are two-fold in that they can help mobilize the shoulder by opening it up however if you do not have the appropriate mobility it can be an injury waiting to happen.
In terms of function it all depends on what you’re using it for. For the most part you can get the same functional benefits with military style presses using dumbbells.
I wouldn’t say the weight lifting in general is less functional vs calisthenics but bench pressing doesn’t have much carryover to sports. It’s a good general strength and size builder though. I believe most bench press injuries are due to ‘weak links’ in the body that aren’t prepared versus the exercise itself being bad for the shoulders. Just my opinion.
Your exercise selection is on the money but I would also take a look at using some horizontal, lateral and rotational movements considering the demands of most sports require force production in these planes.
Thanks for the advice! I’m kinda glad I got this shoulder injury, it helped me find your website and learn more about how the body functions as a whole rather than parts. I’ll be sure to spend the word around about your program.
Thanks Danny. I’m glad the information here helped you out
Are the postural assessments you perform described in your muscle imbalance package?
I meant muscle imbalances revealed? Are they shown on DVD? I love the stuff you show us, it’s very informative and interesting, thanks!
I honestly never liked doing traditional static based posture assessments as I feel they are unreliable. I notice it in a person’s natural demeanor and such. I use primarily dynamic assessments for posture and identifying muscle imbalances, compensation patterns, etc.
What I put in the program is identifying compensation strategies within movements and exercises, what they mean in terms of muscular imbalances and how to correct them.
I break imbalances down into 3 main areas, muscles involved and how to quickly correct them.
Muscle Imbalances Revealed (MIR) is a different program. I was 1 of 6 presenters (along with Rick Kaselj, Eric Cressey, Mike Robertson, Dean Somerset and Bill Hartman). That program is a series of webinars (I did 2 of the webinars) that you can watch from your computer. There’s more assessment material on this one and less exercises which is the main difference b/w this and my program the Muscle Imbalance Solution. MIR is a very good program however and offers CEC’s as well.
Here’s the link if you’re interested: Muscle Imbalances Revealed