Bulletproof Your Shoulders Before You Press

One of my favorite upper-body combinations for both shoulder health and helping you press more weight (with greater stability) is supersetting Batwing T’s and wide-grip dumbbell upright rows (with a slight forward lean). This superset can be used as part of your warm-up before bench presses or military presses, but it’s also effective as supplemental work for building stronger shoulders and a powerful upper back. The beauty of the combination is that it targets the muscles that most lifters don’t typically train—the posterior delts, rhomboids, and traps—while simultaneously preparing the shoulders to handle heavier pressing loads.

Batwing T’s are a deceptively challenging exercise. Lying prone on the ground (or an incline bench) with your chest supported on an Airex pad, you raise the dumbbells into the top position of a dumbbell row and them “slide” them out into a “T-position” without touching the floor. If you are doing the exercise face down on an incline bench, your goal is to keep the dumbbells in line with your torso at all times.

Because tension never comes off during the movement, the posterior delts, rhomboids, and middle traps are forced to stay engaged throughout the set. More importantly, the exercise teaches you how to control your shoulder blades. If you’ve ever struggled to maintain a solid upper-back position during bench presses or felt unstable at the bottom of a military press, Batwing T’s can help reinforce these positions and create a stronger and more stable foundation.

Immediately following the Batwing T’s, we shift into the upper traps, medial delts, and the rear (posterior) delts with wide-grip dumbbell upright rows. Using a wide-grip upright row pattern and a slight forward lean, the movement feels like a wide-grip barbell upright row – but with dumbbells. The goal with this movement is to minimize momentum and try to pull the elbows to the ceiling with every rep.

By the end of this superset, your shoulders will feel incredible and you’ll be ready to press.

As a warm-up, I like performing 3-4 sets of 8-20 reps on each exercise before moving into my main pressing work. The muscles are activated, the joints are lubricated, and the shoulders simply feel better under the bar. As a supplemental superset later in the workout, the superset becomes a great way to accumulate quality volume for the upper back and shoulders – without beating up the joints. Because the weight you’ll be using will be heavier, the rep volume will typically go to 8-12 reps per set. Sometimes the best way to improve your bench press or military press isn’t more pressing—it’s spending a little more time building the muscles that support the movement in the first place.

Let’s take a look at the upper body superset below:

1. Batwing T’s (with Chest Elevated)

Recommended Volume: 3-4 sets x 8-20 reps (warm-up), 3-4 sets x 8-12 reps (supplemental)

2. Wide Upright Rows

Recommended Volume: 3-4 sets x 8-20 reps (warm-up), 3-4 sets x 8-12 reps (supplemental)