Do This EVERY Time You Overhead Press (MORE STRENGTH!)

If you perform the overhead press for your shoulders and are looking to build more strength on the exercise, then you are going to want to watch this video. The key to any movement done for strength is to make sure your bar path is efficient. While inefficiency may serve you well when you are attempting to simply build muscle, it will derail your ability to get stronger as quickly as possible.

Here, I break down the inefficient movement of the bar during the overhead press and what you can do to make sure you get it right every single time.

First, it is important to point out that most of the time the inability of the lifter to press the bar straight up overhead comes from a lack of proper shoulder mobility and flexibility. The result of this is that that bar is often times pressed out in front of the body rather than up over the head and shoulders. This actually creates more tension in the front delts, which as I said, could be ok if you wanted strictly to create more hypertrophy of those shoulder muscles.

That said, the OHP is often done as a barbell strength exercise and therefore the pressing of the bar out front is not serving your best interests.

So, if your shoulders are not cooperating with you and it is their immobility that is causing you problems when you perform the lift, there is something you can do every single time you overhead press that will help to instantly get your shoulders better prepared to perform the lift.

Grab a 25, 35 or 45 pound plate and hold it at the 4 o’clock and 8 o’clock positions. Be sure to let your thumbs ride up the back side of the plate for additional support. Now, press it overhead and attempt to reach it backwards at the top (almost as if you were trying to hand it to someone behind you). With each rep, feel as if you reach higher with straighter elbows and are able to get the plate behind you even a little bit more.

The reason why this works so well is due to three things.

First, this is a loaded mobility drill for the shoulders. Often times, people will spend their time focusing on mobility drills that don’t incorporate a load into them. What happens is, even if you feel loose after doing them, when you go back and put your body under some weights the carryover from the drill is minimized. This is due to the fact that the muscles are firing differently under load than they are without.

Second, this combines both requirements of a proper overhead press in one movement. Shoulder external rotation and thoracic extension. One without the other will never produce an arm that is capable of moving straight up overhead due to bony blocks that become involved due to the simple anatomy of the shoulder.

Third, this primes the stabilizing muscles of the press in ways that help reinforce the proper mechanics of the shoulder joint during the press. In other words, with one of the main roles of the rotator cuff muscles to centralize the head of the humerus within the glenohumeral joint during overhead pressing, the act of externally rotating the shoulders as a result of grabbing a plate rather than a bar (with an overhand grip) and holding it low enough to encourage even more rotation, allows these muscles to realize the need for them to get involved.

Perform 3-5 repetitions of this in a slow and deliberate manner. Attempt to get back a little further each and every time you press the plate overhead.

Of note, it is important to make sure that you always press overhead from within something called the scapular plane. This is an angle of about 30-40 degrees forward from the plane of the scapula. This ensures that the arm travels up and down with the least impediment to its movement within the joint. Even when the arm appears as if it is finishing behind the head, it is not. In fact, it’s the body moving around the bar rather than the bar and shoulders moving around the body that you are seeing. The arm never leaves the scapular plane if this is executed properly.

For more videos on how to build bigger shoulders and the best way to increase your strength on the overhead press, be sure to subscribe to our channel via the link below and remember to turn on your notifications so you never miss a new video when it’s published.

[athleanx]

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If you don’t win, no worries, you’re not going away empty handed. Just be sure you have your notifications turned on so you can get to my next video quickly and try again. Good luck and thanks for being a loyal subscriber…

[antoniorl]

Jeff must have implemented microphones into our gym benches when they were manufactured because he always seems to know what we are struggling with

[pretty.cool.sports]

I like how he makes Jesse do the bad versions of the exercises.

[nanrez]

I like to imagine Jeff's ideas for videos come from watching Jesse workout

[bigbrain]

The life of your gains becomes longer when you watch athlean x.

[johnmarston]

When you're so early that Jeff's still warming up

[Alfirio]

I like how Jesse looks like he’s actually learning on the spot when Jeff is explaining everything

[aboody]

Another thing to note for lack of mobility is the tightness of the lats. Something that really helps me is stretching the lats prior to pressing overhead.

[toom]

jeff is like if my anatomy teacher was jacked and kept talking about workouts in class

[WickCityLLC]

Recently did this exercise wrong and went through 6 months of nerve damage on my shoulder just for lifting it the wrong way with tilt. I'm finally getting better (this month) and to see a video like this is extremely helpful. Thanks again!

[konradk]

That's Athlean-X! Telling WHAT to do and showing WHY 👍

[hkjwpli]

OHP is my favorite exercise by far. No single exercise did more to improve my physique than this one.

[HoudaEz]

This just saved my life thank you Jeff

[topgames]

Damn after few classes of anatomy such a vid hits different.

[somebody]

Thanks Jeff and Jessie, theses short tips and reminders are always great.

[ngrimmett]

This helps me a lot Jeff. All your videos are great & these about shoulder health and movement are extremely helpful to me.

[troyedler]

I'm going to apply that to my workout routine right away! Always great advice!

[deking]

I like the in-depth explanation you give to the press movement. I have been doing that as you explained but not trully knowing why. Thank you.

[Namrenih]

I really appreciate all the break downs you do. They have really kept me and my lifting friends from making dangerous mistakes that could lead to injuries. Your channel is our gym bible!

[smokesNedibles]

Gotta say. I have been following most of your work outs. And it’s made a substantial difference.