The Press Prescription with Dr. Jonathon Sullivan 

I got your book "Barbell Prescription" last summer. After reading it, I finally understood that going to the gym every day is not the wisest thing for a 52 y.o. Today, I am not afraid of lifting weights anymore, and I am already squatting my BW. Thanks very much Doc for all the quality content you provide.

For years I suffered from shoulder impingement. Only the press helped significantly here (no machines, no rows, no stretching, no hanging, etc.). Impingement patients, do these exercises! Greetings from Germany

The only time the press has bothered my shoulders was when I utilized too wide a grip. I narrowed my grip and was all right.

Thanks for the video. You do great work.

Let 'The Press' begin!

I hope this encourages older people to lift and not consider themselves 'past it'

The press, i.e. The Preeayhs - by far my most favorite exercise. And by far the most underutilized by your average gym goer. Bodybuilder types will often sit on a bench pressing dumbbells, but standing barbell press can hardly ever be seen in the gym.

With deadlifts ( conventional ), squats, press and chinups and rows tou have everything

My shoulders were one of the weakest muscles starting out. After strengthening it, my bench press and tricep pushdowns went alot higher too.

Thanks a lot for the content! The press like every basic powerful technique is important

Subbed, great content 👌

Pressing overhead is invaluable. They will heal your upper body.

I talked to two physiotherapists on RU-vid "Bob & Brad" and they refused to believe me when I told them the OHP was safe for the shoulders. They claimed it was dangerous due to shoulder impingement. I'm glad to see your video here! Sadly, this is one of the hardest exercises to add weight on.

The press was my favorite exercise when I was lifting. I had to stop because of nerve impingement issues in my neck which I just got an MRI for to see what's going on. Anyway, this may seem really obvious and maybe it is, but when I was learning to do it the SS way and moving my whole body back out of the way of the bar instead of just the neck, I wasn't keeping my abs tight enough and it put some pressure on my spine in a way I still feel. I'll be getting that looked at eventually too. I hope I can go back to doing this soon. Not only is it healthy and staves off the degeneration that comes with age, it's FUN!

Your perfect

I don’t compete in anything, I just want to be all around strong, healthy, look good and look like I lift, I focus on squat, deadlift, weighted chin up, and press, and for conditioning I do sled push, farmers walks, sledge swing, weighted pushups and row in a circuit. I think the weighted pushup for non powerlifters is a better exercise.

I have a little over a year of experience with the press. Along with the squat and deadlift, it's been the lift that has made me feel a whole lot better. I also love chins, but would put them below the movements I just mentioned. Now, the press is something I wish I had read more about years ago, because I've been lifting for a few more years and only fairly recently started pressing, for which I thank Bill Starr (RIP), Starting Strength, Brian Alsruhe, and Alan Thrall, among others. There is so much nonsense about pressing overhead on the web, and I had fallen for it, buying into the nonsense that lifting overhead is bad for shoulders, at least for some folks. As I always had wonky shoulders since starting with lifting and didn't know what the heck was wrong and I quickly got weird sounds like clicks and pops in one shoulder, I thought pressing overhead was not for me. Boy, was I wrong. My pressing for a few years consisted of -- you guessed it -- benching, mostly with a barbell and sometimes with dumbbells, for example on an inclined bench. I did nothing for well-rounded shoulders, like the whole shoulder girdle. I also did just about nothing for my upper back, except deadlift, chins, and rowing (never enough). Even though I'm obsessive about technique, the bench caused my shoulders to become much stronger on the anterior side and the chins didn't help, although I thought they would prevent disbalances. I got the first signs of shoulder issues, was unable to lift an arm over my head, got a lot of pain on a few occasions for a few times. I still tried to improve bench pressing, thinking my technique was off (probably was), but still, I could not fix my shoulders -- until I used the press as a shoulder medication. Light weight, high reps, I quickly felt much better. There is no feeling like after pressing, when the upper back feels nicely sore and the shoulders like they worked hard all over. It was a lengthy journey with ups and downs pressing, because it's not an easy lift and I did have no coach in real life (I learn from watching channels like this), and in my previous gym there was no one who pressed (well). Very few seem to press well. If they do it at all, they use light weight and they press in front of their body or with all kinds of body English. Most folks just immediately run to the bench with the barbell and start benching, and they also do this with light light and with horrendous form. Anyway, recently I improved my technique further, placing the barbell on my shoulders, like in the clean. Before, I held it below my chin and dipped it down quickly to that spot to proceed pressing it. Each time, especially when things got heavy, I had to more or less catch the weight and holding it up floating there under my chin, which felt unstable and made me prone to aches if I made a mistake. Now that I press from a more stable base, the press feels even more wonderful, but I had to reduce the weight :) I was convinced I could not get the bar on there, even though I can front squat holding it there just fine. But pressing from that position, no, I thought my body could not get into the position with my forearms held up as is necessary. I have tried before, but a couple of weeks ago I said damn it, I will do it no matter what. Way better. Hope this can help someone out there. Just press and press well and keep pressing. I haven't bench pressed with a barbell in many months, but I think of doing it again as assistance for the press (overloading the triceps with more weight than I can press). Thank you for the video and it looks impressive to me for someone to press those blue plates.

What do u think with the football/Swiss barbell with angle hand grips

I've been learning the clean and jerk. Does the jerk compare favourably with the press as a regular strength exercise?

Barbell training is medicine

Brandon White from Buff Dudes

Can you do the press if you don’t have a beard for the bar to rub against as it passes your chin?

Do you lift weights?

Is shrugging advisable during the press? Does that not introduce instability of the shoulder/scapula? Thanks

1St like from india

It's called the scapulohumeral rhythm not the "active shoulder".

I just can’t look him and not think about werewolves