Shoulder Press Exercise using Hammer Strength Machine
Close-grip and wide-grip options

This a good exercise machine from Hammer Strength for the shoulder muscles that allows you to do the exercise using either a close-grip (hammer grip) or a wide-grip with your palms facing outwards. Each will work the shoulder muscles a little differently and it is always good to do each to vary your workout. You do not have to use a lot of weight for this exercise as this machine seems to have a lot of resistance already built in or maybe, it’s because it is a very newly purchased piece of equipment and hasn’t been used a lot yet. Of course, if your gym doesn’t have this machine or a similar type of shoulder press machine (like LifeFitness, FreeMotion, Matrix) you can do it using dumbbells - the dumbbell shoulder press or the dumbbell hammer (close-grip) shoulder press.

In this selfie video, I start with the close-grip shoulder press then the wide-grip and back to the close-grip just for demonstration purposes. I will do one or the other and I prefer doing the wide-grip weekly while the close-grip every 2 weeks.

How to do this exercise:

• Grab either of the two handles depending on your preference.
• Press upwards without locking your elbows a the top of the movement and return to starting position.
• Breath in as you lower and breath out as you press (push upwards).
• Do 4-5 sets of 12 repetitions.
• I like to do a warm-up set with very light weights for the first set just to warm up the shoulder muscles.