Dumbbell Shoulder Press for Beginners- Proper Form, Variations, and Common Mistakes

Khizar Khan
September 5, 2021
Reviewed by K.K Khel - Expert

Outline of the article:

Introduction
Benefits of Shoulder press
Step-by-step instructions
Common mistakes
Modification in exercise

Dumbbell Shoulder press muscles worked: Comprises of three parts (Anterior part, posterior and lateral part)

Targeted part: Front deltoid and lateral muscles of shoulder mainly

Make your shoulders a bit boulder, all you need is one great shoulder press exercise!

Dumbbell Shoulder Press for Beginners, also known as overhead press, is a compound exercise that helps strengthen and stabilize the shoulder core and upper back while allowing the transformation of your puny deltoids into cannonballs. The seated shoulder press helps stabilize the back while the standing press works a wider range of muscles.

The shoulder press is one of the best exercises because it targets triceps, trapezius, and pectoral muscles other than deltoids. This proves to be beneficial not only for the muscles but also helps improve the density and strength of the bones on which the stress is placed during the shoulder press exercise.

The inclusion of a shoulder press in your daily fitness routine provides some additional advantages. The stabilizer muscles of elbows and wrists are also brought into action which indirectly targets the abdominal muscles, ultimately leading to the improvement of your balance and stability.

In case you are a beginner, it is preferable to start with the dumbbell shoulder press before you move on to intermediate level exercises using barbells. This is because using dumbbells rather than barbells allows one to put more focus on each side of the body and ensures equal growth and strength.

Benefits of Dumbbell Shoulder press for beginners:

Building shoulder muscles give you a classier and sexy look. As everybody wishes to look damn amazing and want to have a perfect look, for that building boulder shoulder intensify your looks and physic. The loaded traps muscle just kills the vibes.

The shoulder press is a compound exercise, dealing with multiple muscles at once which include, mainly fronts and middle delts, Traps and pec muscle are also on the list.

Step-by-step instructions to do Shoulder press:

dumbbell shoulder press for beginners — **Dumbbell Shoulder press for beginners**

There can be two possibilities while performing this exercise that is seated shoulder press and standing shoulder press. But as a beginner, it is recommended to perform seated shoulder press because the standing press will have more pressure on the upper and particularly on the lower back and can cause pain. So for beginners, it is better to perform dumbbell shoulder press in a seating position.

First, select your dumbbells, don’t go high on the weight, because as you do this exercise, it suddenly feels very tough halfway through a set.
Sit upright and keep your back stable.
Hold the dumbbells by your shoulders with your knuckles facing up and your elbows out to the sides and bent at a 90° angle.
Raise the weights above the head in a controlled motion while exhaling and do not straight the arms. Pause at the top of the motion.
Then slowly return to the starting position while inhaling.
Repeat the steps for desired reps.

As a beginner, 3 sets with 10-12 reps per set is recommended. You can increase your lift and repetition as your stamina and strength progress.

Common mistakes in shoulder press:

Locked Elbows:

Do not lock your elbows when you reach the top of your lift because this will transfer tension from your deltoids to your triceps, which is not our target.

Flared Elbows:

Don’t point your elbows straight out from your sides as this will put stress on your rotator cuff muscles.

Pressing Speed:

It is preferable to maintain a constant steady speed for the entire range of motion of the dumbbell so that your shoulder muscles can feel the tension. Control the motion of the weights, and don’t allow them to stray too far forward or back during the push. Try to keep them slotted in a path above the head.

Arching Back:

During the whole range of motion, straight your back and avoid arching your lower can cause problems in the lower back. There will be no such issue when lifting lightweight but in heavy lifting, excessive arching may cause injury.