Presses Behind The Neck

  Use the same form as outlined for the standing barbell press. It’s not necessary to clean the weight here; note the seated starting position in the photo as an alternative technique. Begin with a light poundage in order to warm up your entire shoulder girdle. Take a deep breath before pressing the weight up smoothly to the fully extended position of your arms, and then lower the resistance twice as slowly (four seconds) back to the starting position. Add weight to the bar (approximately 20 percent more than your warm-up weight) and perform two more sets.
 
  You may notice that you will not be as strong in this movement as you were last month. The reason for this isn’t that you’re becoming weaker, but rather that your last four exercises have involved your deltoids to a greater extent, and consequently, your shoulder muscles are more fatigued than they were when you performed this exercise last month. Battle through the fatigue to get your prescribed number of repetitions, all the while maintaining perfect form.