The Forgotten Practice of Overhead Pressing

By Tony Boutagy

For many decades, overhead pressing has been the standard by which strength coaches have measured upper body strength. The common trend more recently has seen personal trainers using the bench press to the exclusion of overhead pressing lifts as the primary upper body exercise and indicator of strength. The most common question I’m asked at parties is “how much can I bench?” I’m still waiting for someone to ask what my best overhead press is!

Although the bench press, and its derivatives, have their place and must be trained, the over reliance of horizontal pressing movements can create major problems for the shoulder girdle if the program is not carefully balanced. For example, emphasizing the bench press over pulling and overhead movements can put pressure on the shoulder joint due the chronic shortening of the subscapularis. Training overhead presses is a way to correct this problem which will result in better long term shoulder health.

Training overhead pressing movements has many advantages to the personal trainer:

1. It is an excellent way to develop the strength of shoulder flexors, abductors and elbow extensors;
2. It can improve bench press strength by minimizing the various inhibition mechanisms of the shoulders that are associated with poor overhead pressing strength;
3. The standing overhead press is an excellent strengthening exercise for the lower back and core muscles. Weak core and lower back muscles become obvious during the performance of the overhead press, which makes it a great diagnostic tool for the personal trainer;
4. Many therapists can trace a number of causes of shoulder pain in the weights trainee to a lack of overhead pressing work. The other major predictor of shoulder pain is external rotator strength.

In terms of injury and pain potential, the shoulder joint complex is extremely vulnerable to certain injuries and pain because of the large amount of mobility it affords. Strength coach Charles Poliquin has identified a strong correlation between shoulder pain and lack of overhead and external rotation strength. There are two ratios of interest that Poliquin uses which highlight this point:

1. The ratio between the seated dumbbell overhead press, semi-supinated grip and the close-grip bench press.
The weight done for 10 repetitions with each dumbbell should represent 29% of the close-grip bench press 1 repetition maximum. In other words, if your 1RM close-grip bench press is 100 kilograms, you would use a pair of 29kg dumbbells for 10 repetitions in the seated dumbbell overhead press with a 4010 tempo (lower over 4 seconds, lift in 1, no pause at either end.

2. The ratio between the seated dumbbell external rotation from the knee and the close-grip bench press.
The weight done for 10 repetitions should represent roughly 10% of the weight used for a 1 RM close-grip bench press. In other words, if your 1RM close-grip bench is 100 kilograms, you would use a 10kg dumbbell for 10 repetitions in the seated dumbbell external rotation from the knee with a 4010 tempo.

If your test results from these two ratios are positive, and you could perform close to 10 repetitions at the correct ratio and tempo, then it indicates good shoulder health and you can proceed to the overhead lifts described below. If your results weren’t as good, don’t rush to find your pink therabands just yet – prioritize your external rotation movements with the elbow low (for teres minor) and elbow high (for infraspinatus) and deltoid exercises below shoulder height, such as front and side raisers. Use my Training for Structural Balance article the to help guide you and re-test in 6-8 weeks to monitor your progress.

Here are some technical points to help you perform overhead presses correctly and safely:

1. When you perform standing overhead presses, make sure that your dominant leg is about 15-20 centimeters forward to the other foot. This diminishes pressure on the lower back compared to the standard feet-aligned technique. You will know how effective your core training has been as soon as you perform overhead lifts. Trainees with poor core strength will find it difficult to stabilize the trunk during these lifts.

2. If you have difficulty performing overhead lifts due to flexibility issues, which is extremely common, prioritize rigorous stretching of the muscles listed in the box, using both static and PNF stretching. The ideal time to stretch is 4-6 hours after training and certainly not immediately before or after training. This significantly reduces strength and interferes with the adaptational and recovery processes.

Muscles to stretch if a lack of flexibility is preventing the correct execution of overhead lifts.
Subscapularis
Serratus anterior
Infraspinatus
Teres Minor
Teres Major
Latissimus Dorsi
Long Head of the Triceps
Deep and Superficial Forearm Flexors
Pronator Teres

3. When specializing on the overhead press, make sure you train the antagonist muscle groups (such as all variations of pulldowns) and include some rhomboid and external rotator work.

4. To maintain healthy shoulder joints and the surrounding soft tissue, use a complete range of motion in all the overhead pressing movements. This means that the starting position of the barbell press is on the clavicle and on the deltoid for the dumbbell press. The top position for both lifts is 99% of full elbow extension, where the biceps is as close to the head as possible. To promote healthy functioning shoulders, full range of motion, from touching on the shoulder to almost full extension, must be encouraged with the dumbbell press, pronated grip, as well.

5. When gripping the barbell, the index finger shoulder be just outside of the medial deltoid in the lowest position and the arms brought in line with the head in the top position to maximize the range of motion and promote longevity in the shoulder girdle.

6. To minimize stress of the shoulder joint, the elbows must be tucked in on both the dumbbell press, semi-supinated grip and the barbell press. Allowing the elbows to flare out places too much pressure on the shoulder capsule and surrounding tissues.

Use these strength ratios and exercises (both seated and standing, with one arm and two) to better inform your programming and to create healthy, long-lasting shoulders for your clients.