The overhead press is usually called the press, without the overhead qualifier. When done standing, it’s called the military press. The press can be done seated, to reduce the tendency to lean back. It can also be done seated against a high-incline bench, to remove much of the stress from the lower back—this is the most conservative form of the press.
Main muscles worked
deltoids, triceps, trapezius
Capsule description
seated, push resistance from your shoulders to overhead
Set-up
Don’t use a vertical bench. Use one set at about 75 to 80 degrees. Tilt the seat a little, if it’s adjustable, to help prevent your slipping off the bench while pressing. Ensure any adjustable bench you use is sturdy, heavy, and stable.
Many gyms have purpose-built units for the seated barbell press, with fixed back support, and built-in uprights to hold the bar. Some can be good, but most have problems. The back support may be too upright, or too tall. Because the uprights that support the bar are usually behind the trainee, a spotter is essential for unracking and racking the bar. Taking the bar unassisted from behind your head is bad for your shoulders, and pressing from behind your neck can be harmful, too. The press behind neck is an unnatural movement that causes neck, shoulder, and rotator cuff problems for many trainees, and is best avoided.
The seated press can be done in a power rack. Position the bench inside the rack so that you can’t hit the uprights with the bar during a rep. Load the bar on pins set at the height from which you press.
You can also do the seated press close to squat stands. Position yourself and the stands so that you have minimum handling problems getting the barbell out of the stands to start a set, and returning it to the stands at the end of a set. Spotters should be used here so that you don’t have to wrestle with the bar.
Don’t use a machine that forces you to use a vertical bar pathway, such as a Smith machine. That will lock you into an unnatural groove that commonly leads to shoulder problems.
Positioning
When you’re sat on the bench ready to press, your feet should be wider than shoulder width. Flare your feet for greater stability, and keep your heels directly beneath or slightly in front of an imaginary vertical line drawn through the middle of your knees.
The bottom position from where you press is typically at about the height of your clavicles (when you’re in your pressing position), or a little higher (at, or just below chin height). For shoulder comfort, long-limbed trainees will need a slightly higher starting position than will short-limbed trainees. Starting too low will put excessive stress on the shoulder joints.
Take a pronated grip on the barbell. Start with a hand spacing two inches wider on each side than your shoulder width, and fine-tune from there. Don’t use a thumbless grip. Your forearms should be vertical at the bottom position of the press, when viewed from the front or rear.
Note the two flaws in this starting position for the seated press from the pins of a power rack. The elbows need to be moved forward to produce forearms nearer to vertical. And the lower back shows exaggerated arching, largely because the heels are behind the knees.
Performance
Push the bar up vertically, and keep the rest of your body braced. Don’t let the bar move forward. Push it up near your face, but be careful not to strike your face. Apply force evenly with both arms and shoulders. Don’t let one hand get ahead of or in front of the other. Once the bar is above your head, allow it to travel two to three inches to the rear as it ascends, for a more natural pathway than a perfectly vertical one. Lock out your elbows smoothly, without jolting. Pause for a second at the top position.
Lower the bar under control, don’t lower it beyond your safe point, and don’t bounce at the bottom. Pause momentarily at the bottom before pushing the bar up, but don’t relax at the bottom. Keep yourself tight, like a coiled spring.
Inhale at the top during the brief pause, or during the descent; and exhale during the ascent.
Keep a rigid wrist position during the press. Don’t allow the weight to bend your hands backward more than just a little, because that can mar your lifting technique, and injure your wrists, too. Grip the bar firmly, to help keep your wrists in the right position.
Keep all your body's musculature tensed as you press and lower the bar, especially your legs, thighs, abdominals, buttocks, and back.
Back support height
If the back support from the bench is too tall, it won’t allow your head to go back a little, out of the way of the barbell’s ideal pathway. This would put the bar forward of the ideal pathway—to prevent striking your face—mar the exercise, and could produce injury because of poor distribution of stress. A shortened back support would be required. Alternatively, use dumbbells.
Spotting
At the end of a set of the press, the groove can easily be lost. The spotter should look out for the barbell tipping, one hand getting forward of the other, or the bar being pressed off center. The moment that one of those markers occurs, the spotter should provide assistance to prevent more serious technique deterioration.
The spotter should stand as close as possible behind the presser, to be able to apply assistance easily. The spotter must use both hands, apply help in a balanced way, and maintain a slightly arched back.
Caution
To help prevent back injuries while pressing, preserve a non-exaggerated hollow in your lower back. This is the natural weight-bearing formation.
To avoid exaggerating the hollow in your lower back while performing the seated press, keep your feet flat on the floor, with your heels directly beneath your knees, or a little in front of them.
The press behind neck is an unnatural movement that causes neck, shoulder, and rotator cuff problems for many trainees, and is best avoided. The press from the FRONT is safer. If you find the barbell press awkward, use the dumbbell press instead.
Main muscles worked
deltoids, triceps, trapezius
Capsule description
seated, push resistance from your shoulders to overhead
Dumbbell pressing can be done simultaneously, or by alternating hands. For the alternating dumbbell press, press with one hand as you lower with the other, or press and lower one dumbbell while the other waits at its shoulder. This produces asymmetrical stress and encourages leaning from side to side. Simultaneous pressing is safer.
Getting dumbbells into position
Set up a bench with an incline of 75 to 80 degrees, and tilt its seat if it’s adjustable. Then get the help of an assistant or, better yet, two assistants to hand you the dumbbells, or use the following method.
Stand immediately in front of a bench, feet about hip-width apart. Each dumbbell should touch the outside of its corresponding foot, with the two handles parallel with each other. Bend your knees and take the ’bells from the floor with a parallel grip and correct deadlifting technique. Because of the small-diameter plates on the dumbbells, the range of motion when lifting them from the floor is considerable. Taking the ‘bells from off a rack or boxes is safer than lifting them directly off the floor, provided that good lifting technique is used.
While standing, center the rear end of each dumbbell on its corresponding thigh just above the knee. If you use dumbbells with protruding ends or collars—probably adjustable ’bells—place just the inside part of the bottom plate of a given dumbbell on the outside of its corresponding lower thigh. This will work if the radius of the dumbbell plate concerned is sufficient so that you can have the ’bell positioned vertically on your thigh while you’re seated. The collars must be securely in place—a ’bell that falls apart during use could be disastrous.
Keep the dumbbells against your thighs, and sit on the bench, with your hips against the bottom of the back support. The ’bells will move into a vertical position as you sit down. The dumbbells must remain against your thighs, just above your knees.
Clockwise, from the bottom left, how to get into position for the seated dumbbell press without assistance, and the first ascent of the set.
Once you’re sat on the bench, pause for a moment and then thrust your left knee up and simultaneously pull vigorously with your left arm. This will get the dumbbell to your left shoulder. Do the same for your right side.
Once you have the dumbbells at your shoulders, roll your back onto the back support—don’t keep an arched back as you lean backward. Now, you’ll be in position for pressing, with your back supported.
When you’ve finished a set of dumbbell presses, move your feet and knees together, and lower the ’bells directly to the floor, quickly but under control. Keep the dumbbells well away from your legs and thighs. Alternatively, return the ’bells to your thighs using a reverse of the handling that got them to your shoulders. Control the dumbbells—don’t let them crash onto your thighs. Then stand and return the dumbbells to their rack.
Before you do any dumbbell pressing, practice handling the ’bells.
The use of competent spotters will resolve the handling issue.
Performance
The dumbbell press allows you to find the wrist positioning and pressing groove that feel most comfortable for you. Your hands can be parallel with each other, pronated, or somewhere in between. Try each variation, and find the dumbbell pathway that feels the strongest and most comfortable for you. For example, start with your hands parallel with each other at shoulder height and, during the top half of the movement, move your hands to or toward a pronated position.
Keep a rigid wrist position, and don’t allow the weights to bend your hands backward more than just a little, because that can mar your lifting technique, and injure your wrists, too.
By permitting the natural positioning of your hands at the sides of your head, your head doesn’t get in the way, unlike with a barbell.
Keep the dumbbells directly over your shoulders. Don’t let them drift out to the sides, and don’t overstretch at the bottom.
Push up smoothly from the bottom position, pause for a second at the top position, lower under control, pause momentarily at the bottom while keeping your entire body tight and tensed, then push smoothly into the next rep.
Pressing from a parallel grip at the bottom, to a pronated one at the top.
Spotting
Spotting someone who’s pressing dumbbells can be awkward. One hand should apply force under each elbow. This is strictly for assisting the trainee to get a tough rep up in correct technique. A single person can’t simultaneously take a pair of dumbbells from a presser who fails on a rep—two spotters are needed. With dumbbell pressing, the key markers of technique regression to look out for are the ’bells drifting out to the sides, and one hand getting above, in front of, or to the rear of the other.
Caution
To help prevent back injuries while pressing, preserve a non-exaggerated hollow in your lower back. This is the natural weight-bearing formation.
To avoid exaggerating the hollow in your lower back while performing the seated dumbbell press, keep your feet flat on the floor, with your heels directly beneath your knees, or a little in front of them. If your feet are behind your knees, the arch will probably be exaggerated, and the risk of injury increased.