Overhead press
Deltoids (mostly front and middle), triceps and upper traps; core as a stabiliser.
How to do it
- Standing, feet hip-width apart. Bar resting on your upper chest, hands a little wider than your shoulders.
- Elbows slightly in front of the bar, wrists straight.
- Squeeze your glutes and abs so your body is one solid block.
- Press the bar straight up, moving your head back a little to let it pass.
- Once it clears your face, push your head "through the window" and finish with the bar over the back of your neck / mid-foot.
- Lower under control to your chest.
Cues
- Glutes squeezed: it stops your back from arching.
- Bar close to your face, vertical path.
- At the top, arms next to your ears.
Common mistakes
- Arching the lower back to "push with your chest" (turns the press into an incline press).
- Pushing the bar forward instead of up.
- Using your legs (that would be a push press).
This is the lift where people most tend to flare their ribs and arch their lower back. Before every rep, close your ribs and squeeze your glutes. If you need to arch to lift the weight, it's too heavy.
Photos: free-exercise-db (public domain).
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