Seated dumbbell/smith/military press

[RJ2208]

When you guys do seated dumbbell and smith machine/military press, do you adjust the seat at exactly a 90 degree angle or just a little bit further back so you are leaning back a tiny bit? I see people doing it differently, figured I would ask what is most effective

[Mr VW]

I like doing them standing but lately I've been doing them seated and I have leaned just a bit back. I do this because when I put it at a 90 degree angle I feel that my lower back is being put under tremendous stress and it just doesn't feel right. Thats just me though. I really do prefer standing though.

[JMike]

We have a seated press bench which is non adjustable and set at 90 degrees. It's a personal prefrence I'd imagine with less of an inlcine employing more of the chest. Anyone back this up?

I don't use a seat back and sit upright. Most effective for everyone? Don't know, but this works best for me.

I would say that for overhead pressing, the back being upright would be better than inclined. If you incline, you are moving more to the anterior delts.

[RJ2208]

Yea I never knew really what the "proper" way was, I guess it makes most sense to keep the back pad straight as possible, but I definately notice that I do less weight then if I were to go one notch back on the incline, but I guess thats when it starts to include a tiny bit of upper chest? anyways, for those of you who do max-ot when do you increase the weight? when you are able to do a set of 6 good form reps or, when you do all 2 or 3 of your sets with 6 good reps?

[jasonsmith092]

Yea I never knew really what the "proper" way was, I guess it makes most sense to keep the back pad straight as possible,

[beefcurry1]

my favorite way is seated with back support at 90 degrees (straight up) using a shrug bar instead of DBs or straight bar.

since i dont have access to a shrug bar i just go with DBs back support straight up.

my rep range dictates when i will add weight. since i use DBs the lowest increment of increase is 5 lbs per DB (10 total pounds) since 10 lbs is a pretty big increase on this specific exercise if my rep range is is multiple sets of 4 (like my heavy days) i will do sets of 4, then next workout go for sets of 5, then 6. when i can do all sets for 6 reps i will increase and go back to sets of 4.

since shoulders are where a lot of people are/get injured i try to not force too many reps. i take progress there kind of slowly to make sure i dont hurt myself.

[bodyshop20]

I dont use back support as i like the natural posture when pushing overhead.
But leaning back a tad will still hit the front Deltoids, but lean back to much and the pectorals will kick in

I prefer standing. I feel standing is the most natural way to do OHP. Think about it, when you are pressing something over your head in real life, you are most likely going to be standing up not sitting down.

[beefcurry1]

i think one of the main reasons a lot of people prefer to sit is to not allow the opportunity to cheat.

at the same time having the opportunity to do "cheater reps" at the end is a nice thing about standing.

[Todd]

I say just go with whatever feels better for your structure and allows you to lift most weight. Just like foot positioning for leg press, squats, etc...you have to experiment and go with what is most comfortable and allows you to lift the most weight. There is no set rule on what is best.