Barbell Overhead Press Tutorial

Learn how to properly Barbell Overhead Press

watch the video and read the description below to learn helpful cues and avoid common mistakes of performing the barbell overhead press exercise.

Description:

To set-up for a barbell overhead press, grasp the bar with a shoulder width grip and take it out of the rack

Walk back a few steps and place your feet shoulder width apart so that you’ve got a nice wide base of support. 

Before you begin pressing, assure that your wrists are flat and your elbows are directly underneath the bar or slightly in front.

To begin the rep, move your chin back and press the bar up and back over your head, keeping the bar as close to your face as possible. 

Reach up as high as you can, assuring that both your shoulders and elbows are fully locked out and you’re standing up tall.

Lower the bar back down the same way you picked it up, keeping it as close to your face as possible while keeping your wrists flat and your elbows under the bar.

If doing multiple reps, transfer the bar from going down to up smoothly and quickly (but controlled).

Helpful Cues:

  • Brace your abs tight before you begin pressing.  This will make it easier for you to maintain a neutral back position without leaning back.  

  • After the first rep, don’t pause at the bottom.  Lower the bar down under control and catch the tight bounce out of the bottom to assist you back up on the subsequent reps.  

  • Aim for your nose on the way up and on the way down.  Your head will naturally tilt back as you press the bar up, so in order to keep the bar as close to your body as possible, think about pressing the bar up past where your nose was before you tilted your head back.

  • Think about reaching as high as you can to finish each rep. The bar should finish over your head, not in front of your head.

Common Mistakes:

  • Pushing with the legs rather than just the arms.  This is a different exercise called a push press and it serves a different purpose.  If you want to build strength throughout the entire range of motion of the press, don’t cheat by using your legs to assist.  

  • Pressing the bar forward rather than up and back.  Letting the bar drift forward of your center of mass will make the lift exponentially harder.  Instead of thinking of pressing straight up, think of pressing the bar “back” over your head. This will help keep it close to your center of mass and make the lift as efficient as possible.  

  • Related to above, don’t let your elbows drift backward and behind the bar. This will cause you to press the bar forward and not up.

  • Moving your feet to return the bar to the rack before you lower the bar down safely.  To finish your set, first lower the bar down under control and then return it to the rack.  Do not try to do both at the same time, as this lead to you losing control and dropping a heavy barbell on your head.

    Other names for the bench Press:

  • Press

  • Strict Press

  • Military Press

  • Standing Press

  • Barbell press (BB Press)

  • Overhead Press (OH Press)

    Common Barbell overhead Press Variations:

  • Paused OH Press

  • Tempo BB Press

  • Push Press

  • Behind the Neck Press