Seated Behind-the-Neck Barbell Press

Sit on an upright bench with the barbell resting across your upper traps behind your neck and grip it slightly wider than shoulder-width. Keep your back tall, core braced, and feet flat on the floor for a stable base. Press the bar straight overhead until your arms lock out, then lower it under control behind the neck only as far as comfortable. The seated position removes leg drive, making it a stricter test of pure shoulder strength.

SHOULDERS · PUSH

Seated Behind-the-Neck Barbell Press: how the movement is executed

How it is executed

Sit on an upright bench with the barbell resting across your upper traps behind your neck and grip it slightly wider than shoulder-width.
Keep your back tall, core braced, and feet flat on the floor for a stable base.
Press the bar straight overhead until your arms lock out, then lower it under control behind the neck only as far as comfortable.
The seated position removes leg drive, making it a stricter test of pure shoulder strength.

Muscles worked: Shoulders
Primary muscle: Front delt
Equipment: Barbell
Movement pattern: Push
Difficulty: Advanced
What it is for: StrengthHypertrophy

Variations and substitutions

Arnold PressDumbbell Machine Shoulder PressMachine Landmine PressBarbell Seated Band Shoulder PressResistance band Barbell Shoulder PressBarbell Dumbbell Shoulder PressDumbbell Smith Machine Shoulder PressSmith machine Single-Arm Dumbbell Shoulder PressDumbbell

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Glossary and calculators

Training tempoTempo is the prescribed speed of each phase of a rep, written as four numbers: eccentric, pause at the bottom, concentric and pause at the top.Maximum recoverable volume (MRV)Maximum recoverable volume is the largest number of weekly sets a client still recovers from before the next session for that muscle.Estimated 1RM calculatorWhat is your estimated 1RM?

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Seated Behind-the-Neck Barbell Press

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