To build massive shoulders, you are required to perform shoulder exercises that build strength and allow you to keep progressing in your training. For this reason, it is recommended to add the Viking Press to your shoulder workout. This exercise is currently popular in modern strength gyms. It is a crucial upper-body pressing movement that is a much more measured movement than your standard overhead press. It doesn't matter if you're a newbie trying out different moves or a pro lifter who's just trying to get to the next level.
What is a Viking Press?
Viking Press is an overhead pressing movement that involves a dedicated machine or lever attachment with parallel handles. More similar to a shoulder press using a barbell, the machine allows for a fixed, angled press, and you can solely train pressing power. The primary front and side deltoids and your triceps are working when you do a Viking press. Your upper chest, your trapezius muscles, and core muscles have a part to play.
What are the Reasons to Add the Viking Press to Your Workout Routine?
1. Strengthen and enlarge your shoulders
The main advantage of the Viking Press is the focus on the shoulders. The motion of the pressing action is particularly challenging for the front delts, but also works the side delts to help.
If you train your shoulders with resistance on a regular basis, they will become thicker and more muscular. It works well as part of an upper-body workout routine to increase size and strength.
2. Strengthens the Upper Body
This is a compound movement that recruits many muscles at once. Shoulders and triceps provide pressing power, while muscles that assist keep things stable.
So it has a lot of uses in building overall upper body strength and it is often used in conjunction with other strength machines like the Hammer Strength plate loaded iso lateral row that is more targeted towards building pulling strength.
3. Offers a Controlled Pressing Movement
The path of movement on a machine traditional Viking press is a lever-based one, as opposed to the floating barbell approach taken by the free-weight overhead press. This results in a more guided press and less stabiliser activation.
If you have trouble finding control in your overhead presses, then the Viking Press will help. Just make sure you're in the right position and you're using a reasonable amount of weight.
4. Builds Up The Triceps
While your shoulders are the main muscle group targeted, the triceps assist by extending your elbows with each repetition.
The continued training of this movement can help to strengthen the triceps and assist performance in other pressing movements. Pairing it with a movement like the Hammer Strength Plate-loaded Iso-lateral Incline Press can introduce some variation to an upper body strength programme.
5. Promotes Functional Strength and Performance
The strength you develop overhead pressing can be applied in real-life settings, including: such as brining a box onto a shelf, carrying loads, and pushing objects overhead.
This press from the Viking press workout will help you build this pressing power while also training coordination of the shoulders, arms, and core.
6. Enables Progressive Overload
Progressive overload helps you make muscle and strength gains. With a plate-loaded Viking press machine, you can add weight as you get stronger.
7. Adds Variety to Your Shoulder Workout
Repetition makes training boring. A Viking Press offers a different pressing angle and movement pattern.
It fits nicely with dumbbell shoulder presses, lateral raises, and all sorts of other upper-body training.
Weight of a Viking Press
One frequent question is how heavy a Viking Press is. The weight varies depending on how the machine is built and designed. A free-standing machine could weigh in the range of 100-200 lb (45-91 kg), but the starting resistance and loading capacity of certain machines are different.
Final Thoughts
The Viking Press is a great addition to any well-rounded strength training program. To dive even deeper into your upper-body training, browse the affordable, high-quality strength-training equipment from True Iron Fitness, and create the workout program that works for you.
