<\/p>\n
The behind-the-neck press developed a bad-boy reputation for legit reasons. The \u201chigh-five\u201d abduction, externally rotated behind your head, puts the shoulder in a vulnerable position. That\u2019s why it\u2019s lumped into the \u201cnever do it\u201d category faster than you can say rotator cuff.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re not a fit for this exercise, it is a shoulder issue waiting to happen. That makes the behind-the-neck press a selective lift. Selective lifts tend to get trashed because of the high risk-to-reward ratio<\/a>.<\/p>\n The real question isn\u2019t whether the behind-the-neck press is evil. The question is whether the person using it has the mobility, control, and common sense to make the risk worth it. Like many maligned exercises, the problem isn\u2019t that the movement is useless\u2014it\u2019s that people fail to treat it like the advanced shoulder builder<\/a> it really is. Let\u2019s dive in, with some help from Matt Wenning<\/a> of Wenning Strength<\/a>, and see if the behind-the-neck press is for you.<\/p>\n