1. Barbell press up
The exercise predominantly develops your deltoid muscles. This exercise is equivalent to seated dumbbell press, press up, Smith machine seated press, seated press on a machine, push-ups, handstand pushups etc.
Choose a suitable weight. Sit on a bench so that the barbell is slightly above your head and somewhat behind it. Take a stance, where the angle between your hips is 90°, and your shank is perpendicular to the floor. Take the bar with overgrip so that your forearms are perpendicular to the floor (and parallel to each other) at the lowest point of motion. Carefully take the barbell off the rack and lower it on the upper chest (over the collarbones). Smoothly press the barbell vertically up. At the end of the exercise carefully put the barbell back on the racks. At the end phase do not fully straighten your arms, leave them slightly bent. Avoid jerking movements (strikes), rotating your head, moving your hips or legs. Do not bend or hyperextend your lumbar spine, try to hold your back straight. Do not put the barbell down on your head.
This exercise can be performed in a standing position.
2. Dumbbell press up
The exercise predominantly develops your deltoid muscles. This exercise is equivalent to seated barbell press, press up, Smith machine seated press, seated press on a machine, push-ups, handstand pushups etc.
Select suitably weighing dumbbells. Sit on a bench (or a special chair). With your back straight lift the dumbbells and put them on your hips close to the knees. Straining your shank and hip muscles cast the dumbbells up at the level of your collarbones so that your forearm is perpendicular to the floor. Smoothly push the dumbbells upward vertically through the sides. At the end phase do not fully straighten your arms leaving them slightly bent, and do not put them to the full vertical position, to avoid straining your chest muscles. At the end of the exercise carefully put the dumbbells on the floor. Avoid jerking movements (strikes), rotating your head, moving your hips or legs. Do not bend or hyperextend your lumbar spine, try to hold your back straight.
This exercise can be performed in a standing position.
3. Upward press seated on a machine
The exercise predominantly develops your deltoid muscles. This exercise is equivalent to seated barbell press, press up, Smith machine seated press, push-ups, handstand pushups etc.
Choose a suitable weight. Adjust the height of the seat so that the handles are at the level of your shoulder joints (or slightly below). Sit on the machine seat, press your foot on the lever (if there is one) and grip the horizontal handles with a wide grip. Release the lever, stretching your deltoid muscles as much as you can. Smoothly press the handles up until full traction of your muscles. Try to apply force perpendicular to the lever. At the end phase do not fully straighten your arms, leave them slightly bent. Avoid jerking, rotating your head, lifting your hips.
4. Barbell press up from the standing position (pull-up)
The exercise predominantly develops your deltoid muscles. An equivalent exercise is dumbbell press up, press up on the Smith machine, lower block, etc.
Choose a suitable weight. Step close to the barbell till it touches your hips. Take the barbell grip with a narrow grip (10-15 cm between the hands). With your back straight carefully take off the weight. Put your feet shoulder-width apart. Smoothly press the barbell up to your chin until full traction of your muscles. Avoid jerky movements, rotating your head, keep your torso and hips immobile. Do not bend or hyperextend your lumbar spine, try to hold your back straight.
This exercise may be performed with dumbbells, on the Smith machine, in a crossover in a standing, lying position etc.
5. Lateral raising of arms (arm swings)
The exercise mainly develops your deltoid muscles and has a lot of modifications. Let’s look at the most common variants:
Variant 1 (with dumbbells): Choose suitably weighing dumbbells and carefully take them off the racks. Put your feet shoulder-width apart (or sit on the bench). Raise your arms with slightly bent elbows to the sides several degrees in the vertical direction. This is the original position. Smoothly bring your arms together in a vertical plane (lying in a horizontal position – with a focus on mid fascicles, lying with your head down – with focus on the lower fascicles, lying with your head up – on the upper fascicles) until full traction of your muscles. When focus is on the mid and posterior fascicles your little finger should always be above your thumb, and vice versa if the focus is on the front fascicles. Avoid jerky movements, rotating your head, keep your torso and hips immobile. Do not bend or hyperextend your lumbar spine, try to hold your back straight.
This exercise may be performed with one arm with different torso angles of tilt sideways.
Variant 2 (in a crossover): Choose a suitable weight. Stand in the center of crossover (or a similar machine), having set the rollers to the lowest position. Grip the left handle of the machine with your right hand and vice versa. Put your feet shoulder-width apart. Smoothly make lateral raises of your arms until horizontal position. To focus on the posterior fascicles, make a step back and bend forward and below, spread your slightly bent arms in a vertical plane and having set the rollers at the level of shoulders, having made a step back, spread slightly bent arms in a horizontal plane. To focus on the anterior fascicles, set the rope handle on one of the blocks, stand with your back to the block and holding the rope, raise your slightly bent arms forward until vertical position. Avoid jerky movements, rotating your head, keep your torso and hips immobile. Do not bend or hyperextend your lumbar spine, try to hold your back straight.
This exercise may be performed with one arm with different torso angles of tilt sideways.
Variant 3 (on a machine): Choose a suitable weight. Adjust the height of the seat so that the lever rotation axis is opposite to the shoulder joints. Sit on it. Place your arms under the supports of the machine. Smoothly raise your arms laterally until horizontal position (for posterior fascicles raise slightly bent arms in a plane perpendicular to the spine). Avoid jerking, rotating your head, moving your blades, torso, and hips. Do not bend or hyperextend your lumbar spine, try to hold your back straight.
