Beast Life – Military Press

This exercise should be the core of your shoulder routine. This is the exercise that does the most work at building strength and durability in your shoulder muscles and joint. Most gyms don’t have any sort of machine or station that covers this exercise with free weights. The best solution is to go into the power rack and set the bars high. Find an adjustable bench that will go to a 90° angle. If there isn’t one, you can use a flat bench and sit up right, but I wouldn’t do this without a weight belt for support. Now from the sitting position, find an area for the safety bars that is shoulder level. Set the hooks at just above your head. Place the bar and start some warm up sets. You’re hand placement on the bar should be wide. The goal is that it sits wide enough so that when you are at the bottom position, your forearms are fully vertical and not cocked in.
Choose if you want to do this exercise in front of your head or behind it. I go behind because I don’t want to use my chest too much. Lift the bar off the hooks and fully extend them. Your arms shouldn’t be straight up and down here. Your shoulders are under the greatest stress here and are much more supported at a wide grip. If at this position your hands are not outside of your shoulders, rerack the bar and adjust. Lower the bar to a point that is about eye level. Rinse, repeat.
This exercise is essential for protecting your shoulders during the bench press. It will also give you big arching front delts that look nice rolling into your biceps.