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To me nothing symbolizes bodybuilding like massive shoulders, they say to the world I workout, and I am in shape'and sure they look good at the beach too!

And if you think about it, no matter what you are wearing, heck even a three piece suite, your shoulders or lack there of, are on display.

Trouble is, you rarely see massively thick and wide shoulders anymore you know the kind where you think, man are those delts or bowling balls.

If you would like to learn the one, yes, only one, exercise you need to do in order to build truly impressive shoulders, read on.

THE OVER HEAD PRESS

The over head press with either a barbell or dumbbells (and for this article we will talk about how to do them with a barbell) is without a doubt the king of all shoulder builders.

Why?

Simple.

It works all three heads of the shoulders, the front, rear and side head, as a bonus it also works the upper back like no other exercise, the rotator cuff muscles, and triceps and will give your abs and good one over as well.

I am going to assume you will be taking the barbell off a rack to do your presses, if you do not have one; it is ok, simply jut clean the bar to your shoulders and start from there.

The first thing about overhead presses that I simply cannot stress enough is warming up, trust me, if you hurt your shoulders you will regret it.

Taking the time to do two sets of twenty reps with an empty bar, before you begin adding weight, will go a long way towards keeping your shoulders and elbows healthy.

O.K., rant over, now take the barbell off the rack and set your self, make sure your feet are planted firmly, in fact actually try and grip the floor with your toes, make sure your abs are tight, along with the rest of your body.

Take a breath and press, keep your wrist locked and once the barbell is past your face (it should almost brush your nose) put your head through the space, do not look up, keep looking forward, and lock out at the top, hold for a count, and slowly lower.

A COUPLE OF POINTS

At the top of the rep you want the bar to be over the back of your head and when you lower the weight your can raise your shoulders to kind of create a shelve you can rest the bar on while you re-set your self for the next rep.

And that is an important point, please reset for the next rep (making sure your whole body is tight and your feet are firmly planted), especially when you are first learning the lift. Do not worry about how much weight you are using, simply master the lift first then you can start adding weight.

CLOSING POINTS

On the surface the overhead press seems like a simple lift, but it is not, which is why I recommend that beginners to the lift (or those coming back to it after a long lay off) start with the basic 5x5 (that's five sets of five reps per set) program.

The overhead press is a wonderful lift that will build your shoulders from front to back, but again please take the time to learn the lift and be aware while this article is a good beginning it is just that, a beginning.

I have no doubt if you give the overhead press a good honest try your shoulders will improve by leaps and bounds, heck one day somebody may ask, if those are truly shoulders or boulders!