Arnold Press
How important are the shoulders?
Probably along with the chest a pair of well developed shoulders are those muscles that visually are able to give that sense of strength that every bodybuilder tries to achieve. Unfortunately the shoulder is one of the most difficult muscles to develop also due to the difficulty of performing the appropriate exercises correctly, including the Arnold Press.
As the name suggests, the Arnold Press was developed and made famous by the immense Arnold Schwarzenegger: it is a variation on the theme of shoulder presses, its movement involves an intermediate diagonal trajectory between abduction and horizontal extension of the arm.
execution
Sitting on one bench at 90 °, hold the dumbbells in a position with elbows bent at about 45 ° with parallel arms between them, so that the dumbbells are at shoulder height with supine grip (palms facing the performer).
1. Now to perform the movement, raise the dumbbells while rotating your wrists at the same time, reaching the final position of the classic Shoulder Press.
2. At the peak of the movement, return to the starting position as if rewinding the tape.
3. Exhale as you rise and exhale as you descend.
4. Repeat for the defined number of times.
During the movement the arm must execute a diagonal trajectory upwards in retroposition, in order to reach the final position of the traditional shoulder press with elbows extended above the head.
At the same time, the wrists rotate in such a way that at the end of the movement the palms of the hand face forward.As with the other forms of Shoulder Press, the full range of motion strongly stresses the elevators of the shoulder blades such as the trapezius (upper bundles). ), rhomboids, large dentate and levator scapula.
This is because, from various electromyographic analyzes, it appears that the elevators themselves of the scapulae are activated in a significant manner already exceeded 60 ° of arm abduction (before reaching the horizontal line), becoming more and more stressed as the movement continues, but also the deltodes actively intervene starting from about 60 ° of abduction, transferring the task of abducting the arm to the elevators of the shoulder blades as the arm rises.
Full extension of the elbows leads to a lock out (elbow in joint block) which represents a pause between repetitions. If the exercise is performed for the purpose of developing deltoid hypertrophy, then it would be better to reduce the range of motion by stopping the elbows at maximum eye level.
Common mistakes
A common mistake that is very often made during the execution of the Arnold Press is to carry out a rigid movement as if the exercise were composed of 2 distinct movements (rise of the arms and then rotation of the shoulders).
Movement must remain fluid throughout the course of the exercise, and it is essential that the movement is diagonal as explained above, not the sum of 2 distinct movements, as is sometimes erroneously taught.
