The behind the neck shoulder press -- or BTN press -- has gotten a lot of negative feedback, yet it's a fantastic move for shoulder development. Overhead pressing has long been heralded as an upper-body builder and BTN pressing was a common practice in the early days of strong-men and bodybuilding. In more recent times, bodybuilding greats (think the likes of Arnie) employed this movement on a regular basis for the development of the entire shoulder girdle. Yet somehow the BTN press has fallen into disrepute with many fitness gurus utterly disowning it as a recipe for disaster, disease and anal prolapse.
...how did this happen? How goddamnit!
The reason it gets stick is due to the claim that when using a barbell to perform the movement, it has the "capacity" to fuck your rotator cuffs up. Whilst many strength-training movements have the same capacity, the BTN press is lauded as having extra capacity to do so. This is attributed to the position the BTN press places you in with head forward, arms flared out sideways perpendicular to the ground, and hands up as if surrendering. In this position, your shoulders rotate up and back; it almost feels like you're pulling your elbows forward as well to maintain correct posture whilst pushing your chest out, which can indeed feel quite awkward at first.
Check out this image on your left to see what I mean: you have to hold the barbell how I've explained due to the bar running across your shoulders after all, bars are pretty hard things to bend or ignore, if you get my drift. What's more, there's a little thing called your head that tends to get in the way as well, right? Dumbbells on the other hand are different; with dumbbells you're free to switch positions, hold the weight forward more, you get the idea. Theoretically you're in less of a stressed position with dumbbells I suppose, and I notice no-one whines about BTN press with these.
IF THE EXERCISE HURTS, DON'T BLOODY DO IT. THERE IS NO SINGULAR, MUST-DO EXERCISE FOR ANY SPECIFIC BODY PART, ONLY A SERIES OF OPTIONS FOR ALL BODY-PARTS WE ARE FREE TO CHOOSE OR DISCARD AT WILL
Over the years I've read many, many pros and cons about the BTN press from a wide-range of authors and athletes, and the first thing to know is that the movement -- like many other training movements -- can be injurious if done incorrectly. This is important so I'm going to repeat it: the first thing to know is that the movement -- like many other training movements -- can be injurious if done incorrectly. And. For those of you who need a definition of what, exactly, "injurious" looks like, please read the above statement all in caps to clarify this to yourself.
WHAT DO THE PLONKERS SAY ABOUT BTN PRESS?
I always thought it more believable if feedback came from people who did BTN press -- and did so over x-amount of weeks, months, years or whatever so you could hear it straight from the horse's mouth. But. Sadly, this level of honesty seems to be in short supply because whilst I've read quazillions (that's a lot, huh?) of articles by people damning BTN press, I've found bugger all first-hand experience or recounts from Jo Average. In fact, I've probably read 3-to-5 comments in fitness forums (not articles per se just dudes talking iron shit) from guys who actually perform BTN press and found it hurt them.
3-to-5.
Which isn't a hell of a lot, huh?
Whilst I'm not a fan of fitness forums, search engines tend to take me there when I punch in some random questions but take a step back with me and just think about it: shit-loads of people are damning BTN press with absolutely no personal experience of it whatsoever whilst at the same time, I can only find 3-to-5 first-hand accounts from those who actually did employ BTN press, then went on to explain why they ended up dropping it. Honestly, it makes me think those opposing BTN press might just be regurgitating the same 'ol shit from the same sites they all seem to visit at the same time:
"...Brad over at god-I-glisten-beautifully-dot-com said BTN press was bad-bad so I'm going to say it because god, he really does glisten beautifully, does our Brad"
Here's a curve ball, folks: what if BTN press works for some people and...not others?
Wow. Now that is heavy shit!
WHY BTN PRESS WORKS FOR SOME PEOPLE AND NOT OTHERS
I've been doing BTN press for 8yrs. I reckon 8yrs on one movement is a pretty decent amount of time, one that gives me some basis from which to address the subject in-depth. So here goes: I've had zero issues. Zero. Shoulders are fine in fact, they're healthy as fuck and would you like to know why? Because overhead pressing strengthens your entire shoulder girdle. All those fucking muscles, tendons and ligaments are getting stronger (you're also getting bigger but that should be obvious to all). In fact, 2008-2009 I did my left rotator cuff and kept performing BTN press -- albeit lighter -- to restore shoulder health.
Worked a charm.
Yeah, I could say BTN press works for me because of my levers: I have long, gorilla-arms (I believe the correct term is "lanky") but seems as I don't have any mates with shorter arms doing BTN press, I can't really claim it works for me because of arm length. What I can claim is shoulder mobility. I have great shoulder mobility. BTN press agrees with me because I have great shoulder mobility. Do you have great shoulder mobility? If you don't have great shoulder mobility then maybe BTN press won't agree with you. But. You're not going to know that till you give it a go.
...will you give it a go?
Or are you one of those plonkers who does whatever Brad does because you're a goddamn follower?
(PS -- did I mention I have great shoulder mobility?).
Tell me how someone in a Smith machine doing BTN press is going to fuck themselves up? They're not. Brah. Tell me how someone with great form being cautious and starting light is going to screw themselves doing BTN press? Again, they're not. Brah. Tell me how someone using dumb-bells for BTN press is going to do themselves some mischief? They're not going to either, brah. What causes damage is when plonkers with poor shoulder mobility whack on way too much weight and with shitty form, start BTN pressing. That's just plain silly and an accident waiting to happen. Brah.
WHY THE BTN PRESS (OR ANY OVERHEAD PRESS) IS A FANTASTIC SHOULDER EXERCISE
Unlike the usual shoulder press in front of the body -- which has a more front-delt focus and involvement, apparently (I say "apparently" because I started doing more overhead pressing in front of the body in 2019 and felt it everywhere, regardless. Yeah, this could be due to hitting the same muscles from a different angle) -- the BTN press is a better shoulder development tool because it hits delts more evenly. This does make some sense I mean, think about it: with your arms out to your sides you will target middle delts more because of positioning.
However, this may not be the case for everyone and no, I've absolutely no idea why -- bar the fact two people doing the exact same program right on down to the same exercises, sets, reps, supplements the whole shebang -- can still have different results. You're not actually supposed to admit this sort of thing but it's true. You're also not supposed to admit you don't know why something is the way it is, but I don't see the point in lying or trying to sound good. I guess it's just the curse (and blessing!) of our being individuals, huh? Which is okay. I prefer it like that.
AN INCORRECT MOVEMENT IS A MOVEMENT THAT HURTS AND THUS, SHOULD BE IMMEDIATELY DISCONTINUED OR A MOVEMENT THAT, OVER TIME STARTS CAUSING PAIN AND THUS, SHOULD BE IMMEDIATELY DISCONTINUED
Don't forget too that practically any overhead pressing targets your triceps as a secondary-muscle focus. I've heard guys with huge triceps credit overhead pressing as the reason for these and I believe them; this doesn't mean you or I will respond the same way but again, you're not going to know till you give it a go. When shoulder pressing, the closer your hands are to your torso the more you'll target the shoulders, and the further apart your hands are the more you'll target your triceps, so go with a medium grip and get the best of both worlds.
Look, the BTN press is a fantastic shoulder exercise but so is overhead press from the front, either with a barbell or dumbbells. Do I recommend one over the other? Nope. Would I recommend incorporating both into your routine? Sure, but it's totally up to you. If one week you did front press the next week BTN press and you were fine with it then by all means, be my guest. I don't. I usually stick at one for about a year simply because I'm an OCD kind-of-a-guy. Besides, the whole point of this article isn't to tell you what to do inasmuch as inform you that if you have the shoulder mobility, then BTN press is a great option.
It's okay to do.
It works very well.
PLAYING DEVIL'S ADVOCATE
However, do you need to shoulder press to get big shoulders? News flash: shoulder-pressing movements are not necessary for this. They actually aren't. You can build your delts plenty of other ways if that's your thing. Look, if old-time strongmen did shoulder-press and it was once the measure of strength, good on those old-time strongmen and their measure of strength. Hoisting weight overhead is awesome, but you don't need to and just because it's a compound movement, doesn't suddenly take it into the realm of godliness. Compound movements aren't a prerequisite for everyone (though I'd strongly recommend them).
As much as it pains me, this does need to be said.
...though personally I prefer shoulder pressing over the likes of, say, lateral raises any day of the week.
Some people build excellent shoulders/delts simply through heavy benchpressing and heavy bent-over rows. Some people espouses bench and rows for exactly this reason and that no other isolation movements are required. For some people this is 100% correct, maybe even for many, maybe even you. You just need to find out if that's true for you or not and you're not going to know that if you're going with a routine clogged up with a zillion must-have-these because Brad over at god-I-glisten-beautifully-dot-com said so.
Though I don't enjoy playing devil's advocate, I've also heard countless times shoulder pressing has a carry-over effect to benchpress i.e. as you shoulder press more -- not just the actual movement per se but with increasing amounts -- your bench numbers will climb. I've heard this from many reputable trainers and athletes but truth be told, that wasn't the case for me, though I'm sure it was for them and the people they coached. Why wasn't this the case for me? I've no fucking idea mate, but if it makes you feel better, I just focus on getting a stronger overhead press these days simply because I want to.
:: CONCLUSION
If you feel put off or think I've contradicted my earlier statements due to the above, don't get bent, don't drop shoulder press. Instead, use your discernment and work out which program and what focus is going to get you to your goal(s) in the quickest, most effective fashion. Some of the answers to this will depend upon what feels most comfortable for you. Some of the answers to this will depend upon what equipment -- do you go to the gym or work out at home -- you have access to. Some of the answers to this will depend upon your own mobility and keeping yourself safe. And "safe" is what the BTN press is. Kia ora whanau.
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