How To Overhead Press With Good Form

Image Credit: roguefitnessphotos

The overhead press is one of the most basic movements available for working the upper body. It’s so good, in fact, that it is touted by many to be the most useful movement for working your upper body.

Overhead presses place primary stress on the anterior deltoids (front shoulder muscles), the medial deltoids (middle shoulder), and the triceps. Secondary stress is also placed on the upper chest, the stabilizing abs and lower back, and the upper back muscles involved in the rotational movement of the scapulae.

This exercise is very efficient for building overall body mass simply because of the shear number of muscles groups involved in the movement. Any well designed training program should include an overhead pressing movement, and the overhead press is a premier movement to strengthen your shoulders and upper body.

Set-Up:

• Get in position: Take a firm grip on an Olympic bar and clean the bar up to your shoulders.
• Grip width: Your hands should grip so that your index finger is placed at approximately one inch wider than the nearest part of your shoulder. The width may be just slightly more or less depending on your size.
• Elbows up: Start with your elbows up high enough that your arms and shoulders are in the correct position to press the weight upward. Your elbows should begin more forward than the bar.
• Start on the shoulders: Bar begins on the shoulders with your chest up.
• Deep breath: Take a deep breath to fill up your lungs before you lift. This will help to increase the abdominal pressure.

Once you’re in place and all set to go, begin to press the bar upward with the following in mind:

1. Directly upward: Press the bar upward in a nearly straight line from your shoulders. This will mean that the bar should pass very close to your nose on the way up.

2. Stay centered: As the bar presses upward, keep your center of gravity over the middle of your feet. This means you will start the movement leaning back slightly as the bar is pressed upward and clears your forehead.

3. Move under the bar: As soon as the bar clears your forehead, begin to move your body forward under the bar. Again, the bar is traveling directly upward, and your body must move back slightly as the bar passes your face and forward again under the bar in the second part of the movement.

4. Lockout: This is completed as the triceps straighten the elbows and the trapezius muscles of your upper back pull to hold the shoulders in that position. Finish the movement with the bar directly above the back of your neck.

As always, there are a few common errors to watch out for and make sure to avoid. Proper form is key to your safety and making this into an effective exercise.

Common problems:

• Not keeping your chest up: This can cause your back to round and bend forward. Keeping your chest up will start the bar on your shoulders and give you a solid starting place for the movement.
• Elbows to your sides: Starting in this position will often place your elbows behind or directly under the bar and move your shoulders out from under the bar.
• Excessive hyperextension of the back: Some backward lean is necessary during this movement. But leaning too far back on the overhead press is unsafe for your lower back and shifts much of the stress of the movement to your chest muscles.
• Turning the movement into a push press: This means that you are using a thrust from your legs to help get the bar up. Your goal is to work your upper body in this movement, not your legs. A push press can be useful to eek out that last rep or two at the end, but you should generally do all of your exercise with good form.

Just starting out with weightlifting? Want to get bigger muscles this winter?
Get my full-body lifting routine here: FullBodyAttack!

Related posts:

1. Deadlifting With Perfect Form
2. How to Prevent an Arching Back on the Incline Bench Press
3. You Gotta Be Kidding Me- Bridging on the Bench Press

Tags: deltoid, overhead press, shoulders, Training Tips