Barbell Behind Neck Press

The shoulder press is an exercise that works all three heads of the deltoid (but not to the same extent). This is the deltoid muscle responsible for raising the upper arm. In the behind (the) neck press, the barbell is brought behind the head instead of in front of it.

The pectoralis major assists in raising the arms. In particular, the fibers that run from the clavicle to the upper arm, also known as the 'upper chest'.

In addition to the deltoid itself, various muscles around the shoulder joint are recruited to stabilize it. Smaller stabilizing muscles such as the four rotator cuff muscles, as well as the larger trapezius and deeper muscles that pull the shoulder joint backward and upward.

In the arms, the triceps play an active role by extending the arms, while the biceps have a stabilizing role in keeping the forearms in the correct position. The muscles in the forearms themselves then stabilize the wrist joint to control the bar.

Core muscles such as the abdominal muscles and the muscles along the spine keep the torso upright. Depending on the execution (standing, seated with or without back support), their involvement may be greater or smaller.

Barbell behind neck press execution

Focus on the elbows and push them straight upward until the arms are almost extended.

Lower your arms in a controlled manner until your hands are level with your ears.

Repeat.

Barbell behind neck press

Muscles involved:

Shoulder joint:

Deltoid
Rotator cuff (subscapularis, supraspinatus, infraspinatus, and teres minor)
Trapezius
Rhomboid
Levator scapulae

Arms

Triceps
Biceps
Forearm muscles

Abdomen:

Rectus abdominis (straight abdominal muscle)
External oblique (external oblique abdominal muscle)
Internal oblique (internal oblique abdominal muscle)
Transversus abdominis (transverse abdominal muscle, 'corset muscle')

(Lower) back and spine:

Erector spinae
Lumbar multifidus
Quadratus lumborum

Barbell behind neck press setup

Place a barbell in the supports of the squat rack, slightly below shoulder height.
Step under the barbell and let it rest on the trapezius or shoulder blades.
Place your hands evenly on the bar. Position them approximately so that the forearms are perpendicular to the bar. Check the markings to ensure that you are centered and that your hands are equally spaced.
Stand upright so that the bar is lifted out of the supports, then carefully take a few small steps forward.

Barbell behind neck press technique

Safety:

Use the squat rack, especially when training alone. Unless you want to call for help when you can no longer get the bar over your head after the final repetition.

Depending on shoulder mobility, you may need to tilt your head slightly forward to allow the barbell to move downward along a clear path.

Experiencing pain during or after the exercise? Stop the behind the neck press. In addition, try doing more exercises focused on shoulder mobility, especially exercises targeting the rotator cuff muscles. In this context, consider exercises such as:

Cable shoulder external rotation
Scaption

The three heads of the deltoid

The deltoid muscle pulls on the upper arms from three directions. During the shoulder press, all three of these "heads" of the deltoid are engaged. However, it is primarily the front head (pars clavicularis) that does most of the work, followed by the lateral head (pars acromiaca). The rear head (pars spinalis) is engaged considerably less.

The shoulder press can be performed in different ways that may shift the load between the heads, but not by much. In most cases, the front of the shoulder produces three times as much effort as the side, which in turn produces on average three times as much effort as the rear.

In front of or behind the head?

The behind neck press is quite controversial, with strong supporters and opponents. Due to a lack of data, this discussion cannot yet be settled. There is only one study that performed EMG measurements on one person to measure muscle tension during both variations.

That study found little difference in peak tension between performing the barbell press in front of or behind the head. In terms of average tension, however, the behind-the-neck version would be 'the winner'. All heads showed higher average tension, but the difference was greatest in the middle and rear heads.

Opponents then point to the increased risk of injury. The shoulders must be externally rotated further, which places a (possibly too) high load on some of the smaller stabilizing muscles of the rotator cuff. However, research on this is lacking.

At most, this exercise can therefore be cautioned against in cases of existing shoulder complaints or limited mobility of the shoulder joint. Due to its higher difficulty, you could also prefer the shoulder press .

Seated or standing

Research has shown that when the shoulder press is performed standing, the shoulders (all three heads) produce greater effort. The researchers point to the additional need to stabilize when the exercise is performed standing. This would mean that the standing version is 'more effective' at engaging the shoulder muscles.

Another possibility, however, is that people often cheat during the seated version. The standing version forces you to stand upright so that you do not fall backward. This limits the possible contribution of the chest muscles. On a bench with back support, the backrest is often set too far back. The hips are then shifted somewhat forward, causing even more backward leaning. The shoulders then need to produce less effort because the chest, especially the upper chest, can contribute more.

Dumbbells or barbells?

The same study found that the shoulder press with dumbbells engaged the shoulders (all three heads) more intensely in every case than the barbell version performed in front of the head. Here too, the greater need to stabilize was mentioned as a possible cause.

Besides requiring the shoulder muscles to do more stabilizing work with dumbbells, the exercise's movement path is also greater. At the top of the movement, the hands can move toward each other with dumbbells, at the point where the barbell exercise has reached its endpoint.

At a glance