maratoolStanding Bradford Press
How to do the standing bradford press
- Place a loaded bar at shoulder level in a rack. With a pronated grip at shoulder width, begin with the bar racked across the front of your shoulders. This is your starting position.
- Initiate the lift by extending the elbows to press the bar overhead. Avoid locking out the elbow as you move the weight behind your head.
- Lower the bar down to the back of the head until your elbow forms a right angle.
- Lift the bar back over your head by extending the elbows
- Lower the bar down to the starting position.
- Alternate in this manner until you complete the recommended amount of repetitions.
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 triceps straighten the elbow to finish the movement.
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:
- Standing Dumbbell Pressdumbbell
- Standing Low-Pulley Deltoid Raisecable
- Standing Two-Arm Overhead Throwmedicine ball
- Two-Arm Kettlebell Cleankettlebell
- Back Flyes - With Bandsband
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.