# Military Press



## Bfit247 (May 24, 2013)

Which one do you prefer? Smith machine or Free weight?
Do you use legs to assist? 

I love going to the gym and shoulder pressing more then ppl bench! Lol

I use Free weight.  I use the smith machine to get my mind and body use to the heavy weight!

Smith machine military press 225 x6
Free weight military press 225 x2

Free weight is beast.


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## LuKiFeR (May 24, 2013)

i agree...free weight is great. haha

but i have horrible shoulders n its painfull with free weights.


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## AtomAnt (May 24, 2013)

Previous shoulder injuries make free weight pressing a bitch.  I can do them, but need to go in a higher rep range.  I don't have to worry about stability as much in the smith and is my preferred shoulder press.


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## Enigmatic707 (May 24, 2013)

I have a love hate relationship with Military Press-

I like to use a cambered bar for heavy heavy free weights that way my hands are not behind or in front of my head.

On the smith I go a lil heavier and put the seat at a very very slight incline and just blast them. I feel the slight recline put a lot less stress on my shoulders.

Free - 225x3
Smith- 225x8 on my best day
DB military- 105x4


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## Enigmatic707 (May 24, 2013)

This is what I like to use for heavy military press, allows me to be in a neutral position with my hands by letting my head glide through the relief in the bar


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## Magnus82 (May 24, 2013)

I love standing military. I like to go very heavy and very strict, squeezing your lats and using them as a shelf.  I have recently started alternating them with John Meadows rack presses.  Nice twist on traditional military and are killer on the shoulders.


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## tri-terror (May 24, 2013)

Nothing quite builds mass like the standing military.   It is however an absolute mother fucker on your rotator cuff...

I like to go heavy for 6 strict reps and then finish off with some leg drive for a few more.

Or heavy push presses for reps of 5 are great to get past training plateaus.

Always always always work your rotator cuff though too.  Also my new rule of thumb is to do twice as much pulling volume as pushing.  Love face pulls.  Great compliment to military presses.


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## Magnus82 (May 25, 2013)

Couldn't agree with you more.  Face pulls and heavy swings are staples of mine and are a huge contributer to my over all joint health.  If your going to go heavy on shoulders, muscle balance is a must.



tri-terror said:


> Nothing quite builds mass like the standing military.   It is however an absolute mother fucker on your rotator cuff...
> 
> I like to go heavy for 6 strict reps and then finish off with some leg drive for a few more.
> 
> ...


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## Bfit247 (May 25, 2013)

Enigmatic707 said:


> I have a love hate relationship with Military Press-
> 
> I like to use a cambered bar for heavy heavy free weights that way my hands are not behind or in front of my head.
> 
> ...




The one upper lol jk
Im just starting to get my strength back in my shoulders! 
My delts grow very easy. I wish everything else was the same lol. 

But military press makes me feel strong and powerful!


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## Ironbuilt (May 25, 2013)

Standing free weights legs not even to add stress on lower back.  And rack presses are bad ass along with face pulls thanks to u guys here getting this old man on those. Makes my shoulders feel so much more balance. 

Nothing worse than a smith machine with zero maintainance such as one at my gym. Let bar go and it stops or u gotta pull it down. Aaarg!


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## chrisr116 (May 25, 2013)

Due to my previous shoulder injuries, I can't do any type of barbell military press with any kind of weight.  I do a one arm standing dumbbell press (one arm at a time), somewhere around 55-70lb dumbells for 3 sets of 10 or so, depending on how I feel.  No shoulder pain at all from them.


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## thebrick (May 25, 2013)

Both my shoulders have lots of wear and tear in the joint so I use the smith machine these days. It helps a lot with my shoulder stability (which mine is pretty much in the gutter at this point with anything heavy). I used to love free weights though and I do think free weights will activate those stabilizer muscles more


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## swolesearcher (Jun 6, 2013)

i prefer the old style free weights, but i feel like i`m isolating more the muscle with the machine


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## The Grim Repper (Jun 6, 2013)

I prefer free weights, collarbone to extension.


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## Roman (Jul 10, 2013)

I prefer free weights. more muscle control.


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## d2r2ddd (Jul 10, 2013)

push press:headbang:


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## MilburnCreek (Jul 11, 2013)

I have to use free weights (although it can be a bitch getting the weights into position),because the movement on the machine is very unnatural to me and painful in the joints.


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## turbobusa (Jul 11, 2013)

Best keep as military. PBN for years will really wear on ac joints.
I did prefer bb presses for years .Now a smith (properly maintained toggle boy)
allows a bit more feel without being distracted with stabalizing the bar. 
Best done at the end of a delt session when much lighter poundages can be really effective.Don't know why i thought I needed to pbn with big poundage 
back in the day. I am certainly paying the piper for the ego of my youth today.. T


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