The overhead press

[Fazc]

Also to throw another *angle* to the mix (that's a pun, you'll see why in a moment):

The body position can greatly effect how people Overhead Press and how they Seated Press. Typically people don't Seated Press with a fully upright Bench, in fact I rarely see it. What I normally see is a slightly inclined Bench, couple that with some back arch and you get something which is nothing more than a high incline with a big emphasis on chest and front delts. A proper standing Press forced you to Press more upright and places greater stress across the shoulders, I know people backbend but rarely to the same degree as with an inclined Bench.

Here for example, nothing against this fella in the video (except the ghastly music) but the lean back is horrible:



As a result it's another reason why people generally seated press more than they can standing press.

See, wasn't it worth reading that so the pun made sense!

[BendtheBar]

I am a bit of an oddball because for a long time I performed seated BTNs without back support. Military presses are harder for me now because I do have a tendency to lean back.

I did seated dumbbell presses as well, but they were against a curling bench that was turned around so I was forced to sit upright.

[Traphouse86]

I use to do seated barbell Military Presses religiously. At one time my seated shoulder press was only like 35 pounds under my bench press lol. I think the ratio was SMP/ 190 BP/ 225.
And I weighed around 180 at that time. though I just started a new bench program, I would like to start adding them back in the near future.

[BigJosh]

Originally Posted by abett07

while workoing out at the gym today performing the standing overhead press I just realised that I have never seen anyone else perform this exercise .Just about everyone uses dumbells to perform a seated press.

is the standing overhead press underutilised or is made some what redundant by bencn exercises that hit the front delts hard ?

I don't think it's redundant at all.
I am personally of the opinion that it is just underutilized for various reasons. Possible because a lot of gym goers have weak core strength from not performing lifts like Deads and/or squats, making standing OHP hard for them. Or it could be the simple reason that people are lazy and would rather sit or lay down that stand and do a lift.
Just my opinion on the matter.

[T-Bone]

Originally Posted by BigJosh

I don't think it's redundant at all.
I am personally of the opinion that it is just underutilized for various reasons. Possible because a lot of gym goers have weak core strength from not performing lifts like Deads and/or squats, making standing OHP hard for them. Or it could be the simple reason that people are lazy and would rather sit or lay down that stand and do a lift.
Just my opinion on the matter.

While I have nothing against a seated press, I agree with you Josh.

There might be only one other person in my gym who does OHP. As far as I can tell, I'm the only one who does a push press.

[Shadowschmadow]

Just for shits and giggles since I just posted this in another thread:
http://startingstrength.com/articles...ress_starr.pdf

Great article about the press.

[big_swede]

I love me some standing presses and their variations. Db's, bb's, push or strict. Also arnold push or strict. Good fun.


I tried the oldschool lift 2-hands-anyhow last week and it was painfull but fun, worth a try to spice things up =)


The standing bb press takes a man to perform and as Fazc said, weight that are moved areless than on the sitting (slight incline) press due to utilizing other muscles than the bench press (wich most gym goers overdevelop)

[kitarpyar]

Originally Posted by abett07

while workoing out at the gym today performing the standing overhead press I just realised that I have never seen anyone else perform this exercise .Just about everyone uses dumbells to perform a seated press.

is the standing overhead press underutilised or is made some what redundant by bencn exercises that hit the front delts hard ?

It is not redundant. Quite a few in my gym use this lift, although I see only a select handful ever attempting this with 135 lbs (1pps) or more (although I am pretty sure they could if they wanted to, given their bench max is well over 300lbs).

The reason why more people dont attempt this is simple - they are just too lazy to stand up and lift when they could be lying on a bench for a bench press or moving lower weights, seated, with DBs. Not to mention, as Fazc said, using a high incline lets them use heavier weights and makes them "feel" stronger