maratoolAnti-Gravity Press
How to do the anti-gravity press
- Place a bar on the ground behind the head of an incline bench.
- Lay on the bench face down. With a pronated grip, pick the barbell up from the floor. Flex the elbows, performing a reverse curl to bring the bar near your chest. This will be your starting position.
- To begin, press the barbell out in front of your head by extending your elbows. Keep your arms parallel to the ground throughout the movement.
- Return to the starting position and repeat to complete the set.
Muscles worked
The prime movers are the deltoids, which raise and rotate the upper arm at the shoulder joint.
Because more than one joint is moving, the work does not stay in one place: the mid-back retracts the shoulder blades so the shoulder has something solid to work from; the traps anchor the shoulder blade against the load; the triceps straighten the elbow to finish the movement.
Every exercise for:ShouldersMiddle backTrapsTriceps
How this movement works
The working muscles shorten as they drive the load away from you, and more than one joint changes angle to do it. Load spreads down a chain instead of sitting on one muscle, which is why a compound push handles more weight than any single-joint alternative — and why joint position, not the muscle, is usually what fails first.
It is filed under strength: produce force against resistance for a countable number of repetitions, and progress the resistance over time.
What you need
A barbell locks both hands to one bar, so neither side can drift and the load climbs in plate-sized steps. That makes it the simplest way to add weight and the least forgiving thing to bail out of.
Every exercise using:Barbell
These train the shoulders too, using equipment this one does not:
- Arnold Dumbbell Pressdumbbell
- Back Flyes - With Bandsband
- Backward Medicine Ball Throwmedicine ball
- Ball Wall Circlesexercise ball
- Bent Over Low-Pulley Side Lateralcable
Difficulty
Listed at beginner level: the pattern is simple enough to pick up without coaching, and a position that goes wrong mid-set is obvious enough to correct on the next repetition.
Of the 141 shoulders exercises in this database, 74 are listed at beginner level.
Photos: free-exercise-db — public domain (Unlicense) Full attribution →
ⓘ Informational only — not a substitute for professional fitness or medical advice.