How to Do The Barbell Strict Overhead Press

THE PRESS

We love the standing overhead press (or as Mark Rippetoe calls it, “The Press” for building upper body strength.  

The bench press gets more attention than the press but that’s probably because the press is harder! I mean, you get to lay down while benching! 

The press has an extremely large kinetic chain since the whole body is involved from the bar overhead to the feet on the floor. It involves a ton of muscle mass, and that’s why we program it for all of our clients.

Here’s how we do it, stripped straight from the pages of Starting Strength 3rd Edition. 

Take a narrow grip.  Narrower than you think.  The width of your hands should be such that your forearm is vertical once you unrack the bar.  For most people that’s right about where the knurl of the bar meets the smooth part in the center.  The other thing we look for in the grip is that the bar is held such that the wrists are straight, with the bar stacked directly over the forearm.  This eliminates the extra leverage of a flexed wrist.

Next, we unrack the bar with the proper grip.  We place our elbows just barely in front of the barbell with a strong, lifted chest.  Our feet should be right around our squat width stance.  Your eye gaze should be straight ahead. 

Take a big breath into your belly, contract your abs and hold it in.  Press the bar overhead by aiming for your nose with the bar and pulling your head slightly back.  The lockout position is with shrugged shoulders and the bar directly over the shoulder joint and mid foot.

The path of the bar should be as vertical as possible.  If you have trouble keeping yourself from using your legs in the press, contract your glutes and quads before each rep.  This will make it impossible to use them.  

If you want more information on using the press in your program, reach out to us!