Overhead Press
This article is about how to do the overhead press and the benefits of doing the exercise.
The overhead press is a compound lift that works the shoulders, triceps, and traps. You'll also need a strong core to be able to lift and hold a heavy bar over your head. It's one of the best for developing big.
For some people, increasing their overhead press will carry over to their bench press a lot
Setting up the rack
Set up the rack so that so that the hooks are around the same height as your sternum. You want it so that you don't have to dip too low to unrack it, or have to go on tiptoes to when you rack the bar.
The set up
Walking the bar out
Pressing the bar overhead
Common mistakes
Having your wrists bent backward
This is caused by having the bar too far back in your hands. The bar should low down in your hand, and be directly above your forearms. Having the bar resting near your fingers will put a lot of pressure on your wrist and likely to cause pain eventually.
Learning back
This can be caused by not bracing and getting tight enough and then not pushing your head through once the bar is passing your forehead. Leaning back increases the chances of injuring your back.
It can also be caused because you lack the mobility to overhead press. If that's the case, don't do the exercise until you've improved overhead mobility.
Using your legs to help the lift
You'll often see people dip and bend their knees to use leg drive to assist with the overhead press. This turns it into a push press. The push press is a good exercise, but it is different. An overhead press should be done without any leg drive and knees should be locked. Make sure you're squeezing your quads and glutes, and it will be impossible to bend your knees.
Pressing in front of your body
This is very common as people try to move the bar around their head, instead of moving their head out the way. The bar should start and end over the mid foot, and move in a straight line. Having the bar out in front of you puts you in a weak position and will limit how much you can lift. It can also cause shoulder pain. If you're in doubt if your bar path is okay, you can record yourself from the side.
Not staying tight and relaxing in between reps
You need to make sure that you maintain full body tension throughout the set. Don't ever relax. Focus on squeezing your glutes, abs, and quads hard, hold your breath, keeping your chest up, and trying to bend the bar. You're going to be lifting a heavy overhead, so you'll need the whole body to solid and stable. Not staying tight is often the cause of shoulder pain when overhead pressing. If you start experiencing pain, look at your set up and see if you're maintaining full body tension.
The overhead press is a compound lift that works the shoulders, triceps, and traps. You'll also need a strong core to be able to lift and hold a heavy bar over your head. It's one of the best for developing big.
For some people, increasing their overhead press will carry over to their bench press a lot
Setting up the rack
Set up the rack so that so that the hooks are around the same height as your sternum. You want it so that you don't have to dip too low to unrack it, or have to go on tiptoes to when you rack the bar.
The set up
- Choose a stance that is comfortable. Feet at shoulder width apart is a good starting point. You can then experiment and adjust from there.
- Lift your chest up. Think about raising your sternum closer to your chin. This will help get your upper back tight. Your elbows should be almost directly underneath the bar, or very slightly in front.
- Take a deep diaphragmatic breath and hold it for the walk out and the whole rep. Whenever you need to take another breath, do it at the top of the rep and not at the bottom.
- Grip the bar on the heel of your hands, not back towards the fingers. Your hands should be just outside of shoulder width, and your forearms should be vertical when viewed from the back and front.
- Squeeze the bar has hard as you can, and try to bend the bar in half. This will help create full body tension. You don't want to feel relaxed at any point when you're holding the weight.
Walking the bar out
- Walk the bar out with a maximum of two steps. Don't waste energy or time by walking too far back r by taking too long. You should be holding your breath, so you don't want to be taking too long doing this. Squeeze your glutes, abs, quads as hard as you can.
Pressing the bar overhead
- Press the bar in a vertical line and then push your head through. To avoid hitting yourself in the chin with the bar, you'll need to tuck your chin and move your head out the way. Don't try and move the bar around your head. Doing so will limit the weight you can lift, and it puts more stress on your shoulders.
- Once the bar reaches your forehead, push your head through and under the bar.
- The bar should start over your midfoot, and end over midfoot. At the top, your wrists, shoulders, and hips should all be in line with each other.
- To finish the lift, lock out your elbows and shrug your shoulders.
Common mistakes
Having your wrists bent backward
This is caused by having the bar too far back in your hands. The bar should low down in your hand, and be directly above your forearms. Having the bar resting near your fingers will put a lot of pressure on your wrist and likely to cause pain eventually.
Learning back
This can be caused by not bracing and getting tight enough and then not pushing your head through once the bar is passing your forehead. Leaning back increases the chances of injuring your back.
It can also be caused because you lack the mobility to overhead press. If that's the case, don't do the exercise until you've improved overhead mobility.
Using your legs to help the lift
You'll often see people dip and bend their knees to use leg drive to assist with the overhead press. This turns it into a push press. The push press is a good exercise, but it is different. An overhead press should be done without any leg drive and knees should be locked. Make sure you're squeezing your quads and glutes, and it will be impossible to bend your knees.
Pressing in front of your body
This is very common as people try to move the bar around their head, instead of moving their head out the way. The bar should start and end over the mid foot, and move in a straight line. Having the bar out in front of you puts you in a weak position and will limit how much you can lift. It can also cause shoulder pain. If you're in doubt if your bar path is okay, you can record yourself from the side.
Not staying tight and relaxing in between reps
You need to make sure that you maintain full body tension throughout the set. Don't ever relax. Focus on squeezing your glutes, abs, and quads hard, hold your breath, keeping your chest up, and trying to bend the bar. You're going to be lifting a heavy overhead, so you'll need the whole body to solid and stable. Not staying tight is often the cause of shoulder pain when overhead pressing. If you start experiencing pain, look at your set up and see if you're maintaining full body tension.