Jill's Path To Fitness

Press Machine

How to Improvise a Shoulder Press Machine Out of 2 Bars and a Power Rack

The benefits of the shoulder press machine are many: improved shoulder strength and muscle mass, no need to kick dumbells up to your shoulders, increased stability, etc.

But many gyms are sorely lacking when it comes to shoulder press machines. They may not have one at all or one that simply doesn’t work well.

What would you say if I were to tell you that you can not only very easily make your own shoulder press out of common gym equipment, it actually works even better than machines specifically designed for shoulder pressing!

How To Build It:

In order to build this, you’ll need two Olympic Bars (one bar will do if you don’t have two but you’ll then you’ll have to do the exercise one arm at a time), a power rack and some weight plates. Nothing fancy here.

Essentially, you’ll be using the two bars, set inside the rack, as levers. You’ll be outside the rack to either the left or right side, facing in, pushing up on the ends of the two bars as though they were the handles of a machine.

To maximize the effectiveness of this exercise, we’ll need a rather specific setup. Once you know how to set the exercise up, you’ll find it’s just as quick as any other rack exercise setup.

Start by setting a flat bench beside the rack, with the end about a foot from the side of the rack. This is what you’ll be sitting on as you do the exercise. Next, we’ll be setting the height of your safety rails in the rack. The height will vary somewhat, depending on how tall you are.

Sit on your bench, facing the rack, and set the safety rail right in front of you to a little above your shoulder height. The other safety rail should be set about 2 feet higher than this rail. Having the other end higher is necessary for proper and safe functioning of the movement. The two Olympic bars should not go much higher than horizontal at the top of the movement. This is especially important if the safety rails on your rack are smooth metal. If the bars go higher than horizontal, you may end up sliding them forward rather than up.

Set the two bars on the rails in the rack, about shoulder-width apart (approximately 2 feet). They will be angled down towards the bench at about a 35 degree angle.

In order to ensure that the bars don’t slide, pull the collars of the bars against the top safety rail. I also highly recommend putting a 10 pound weight plate on the ends with a collar to toally eliminate the possibility of the bar slipping down.

Do a practice rep without any weight plates on the lower ends to make sure the setup feels good. Sit on the end the bench and place the heels of your hands under the ends of the two bars. Now wrap your fingers around the ends of the bars. You may have to lift the bars up a little to get into the start position.

Perform a shoulder press movement from there. Start with your hands in the normal shoulder-width position. As you press up, bring your hands together overhead in an arc.

This freedom of movement is one of the most valuable benefits of this set-up. Most machines don’t allow you to do this–they lock your hands into position like a barbell, increasing the stress on your shoulder joints.

Dumbells do allow this freedom of movement but it’s very difficult to get very heavy dumbells up into position. With this exercise you get the best of both worlds…the ability to use more weight, like a machine, and the increased freedom of movement like dumbells.

Now it’s time to add some weight to the bars. Use smaller sized plates (5, 10, and 25 pounders, at the most) so you don’t bang them together at the top. If the plates are larger, you won’t be able to bring them together as close, which will limit the effectiveness of the exercise.

Start adding weight conservatively – remember, you’re also lifting the weight of the bars as well.

It is EXTREMELY important that you use very solid collars on the bars on the lower ends. The bars are at a steep angle and the potential for the weights to slide off is great. Check for signs of slippage between sets (gaps between the weight plates and the bar collars).

Perform the seated shoulder press as you normally would on a machine. You’ve now got yourself a shoulder press machine!

Why This Exercise Is So Effective:

As I mentioned above, one of the major benefits of this setup is the freedom of movement you get with the bars. Unlike machines and like dumbells, you are able to bring your hands together at the top of the movement.

Another advantage of this setup over a regular machine or barbell is the independent movement of the bars. This eliminates the problem of the stronger side helping out the weaker side too much and creating strength imbalances. It also allows you to perform both one arm presses and alternating arm presses very easily.

The possibility of using more weight, like a barbell or machine, without having to get those weights up to shoulder position on your own power, like with dumbells, is a tremendous advantage as well.

Conclusion:

A good shoulder press machine is hard to find. Why not build your own machine that actually works better! All you need is a couple of bars and a rack.

About the Author

Nick Nilsson is Vice-President of BetterU, Inc. and has been inventing new training techniques and exercises for 17+ years. Nick has written many training books including “Muscle Explosion! 28 Days To Maximum Mass” & “Metabolic Surge – Rapid Fat Loss” – for video and pics of this exercise in action click here.

Saving Time And Money With A Pizza Press

With the weekend just around the corner families from all over the world to get ready to prepare their traditional weekend meal and as we all know such meal always involves something like fast food, take out or pizza. It is a widely known fact that people in the US consume a lot of pizza and it is this particular food that gets the most attention during weekends but when the time comes to eat pizza preparing something unique is important because you don’t want to have the same thing over and over again (Pizza Hut, Domino’s, etc.) the best way is to go for something unique, something that the whole family can enjoy, something homemade.

Preparing a pizza yourself is not a hard task however many people frown at the very thought of having to prepare their own pizza instead of just taking out their wallets (or plastic) and paying for a premade pizza, which often means that it has been frozen for quite some time before it is heated and sold to the consumer.

The fact of the matter is that when you buy a pizza you are paying well over a dollar for each and every slice, most people have accepted that fact as an inevitability but the truth of the matter is that you can prepare your own pizza with as many toppings as you would like and still be able to save money, heck you could have prepared two four-topping pizza is and still save money.

The secret to prepare your own pizza from scratch is knowing how to prepare the dough and then press it in such a way that comes out in a perfectly circular shape.  Preparing the pizza dough is not as hard as it sounds, you can use your own spices and give it a unique taste however shaping that go into a perfectly round pizza is not an easy task and this is exactly where a pizza press comes in handy. A pizza press is a machine that you can use in order to give a perfectly circular shape to your dough without having to take that pizza dough and throw it in the air like the pros do, God knows that there have been many accidents after noobs attempt to do something like that, so do yourself a favor and use a pizza press instead.

Once you have pressed your pizza dough you are ready to add a layer of marinara sauce cheddar cheese or any other type of cheese that you may want on your pizza as well as your toppings. Some pizza press machines can be quite big however don’t get scared by the size of the machine because they are many sizes depending on what is it you’re trying to accomplish so it goes without saying that if you are running a business then you will want one of those industrial pizza press but if not then a smaller one will do just fine. Remember to do enough dough ahead of time and freeze it so that you will be able to make your own pizzas whenever you want without having to rush into things during the weekend.

About the Author

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