The Shoulder Friendly Overhead Press!

The military press variation you didn’t know you needed and probably didn’t know existed.

Dubbed 'the Dutton press' by my clients, I've personally never seen this performed anywhere before and after a little research online, I've not found anything to suggest otherwise.

I originally developed this for a client suffering with reduced range of motion in the elbow joint post op, but after trialling it myself and with a few others, I’ve found it do be a lot less aggravating on the shoulder joint too.

The majority of people I coach suffer with some degree of internal rotation in the shoulder and therefore we tend avoid too many pronated pressing movements. This variation of the military press is simply another option; another tool in the arsenal to when it comes to opening out the shoulders and adding in variety.

The benefit could also be seen as a con - Yes the range of motion is slightly shorter, but when rotator cuff issues crop up and you wan to reduce the movement through the shoulder, 'the Dutton press' slots in nicely.

SET UP

Loop a pair of d-handles around the barbell whilst it's propped up on the rack. There are some other careful considerations that need to be made to keep this a safe as possible.

Position of handles - Biggest risk factor is the barbell slipping left or right. Therefore positioning the straps of the d-handles on knurling of the barbell to increase friction is key. As well as the handles being perfectly aligned either side. I've found just outside shoulder width apart works best.

Hand placement - When trialling this this clients, they often gipped it in the wrong part of the hand. Instead of placing your thumb through the handle from the outside, place your fingers through the handle from the inside.

This ensures the d-handle is positioned in the palm of the hand rather than over the thumb joint. This is make for very unpleasant and unstable pressing if done incorrectly.

Practice without weight first - This sounds obvious, but is essential with this one. Due to there being some variables around d-handle position on the barbell from person to person, try this with just the barbell first to get a feel for where the best positioning is for you.

Once the trial runs over, don't be afraid to load that bay boy up. This can be approached as a heavy compound exercise so give it some beans once you're confident with the approach.

Feedback is always super valuable, so if you had success or not with this exercise, i'd love to know. Be sure to tag me online if you post it online @r5.online !

Ryan