Training guide
A good overhead press is simple to describe: take the bar from a rack at shoulder height, grip it so your forearms are vertical, squeeze your glutes, and press it straight up close to your face, tipping your head back and then through so the bar finishes over your shoulders. No knee dip and no leaning back: that's what makes it strict.
The research on the press is small: muscle activity studies of a few dozen lifters, one 10-week training study and studies of shoulder problems in gym-goers. It suggests that seated, standing, barbell and dumbbell presses all work, and that your shoulder blades should move as you press. The evidence on pressing behind the neck is limited, and no study has counted injuries.
This guide covers the set-up, bar path and breathing, standing vs seated and barbell vs dumbbells, behind-the-neck pressing and shoulder pain, and the ladder from a band press to the barbell, with a 3D demo of every step and the warning signs to act on.
Take the bar from a rack at about shoulder height, hands just outside your shoulders so your forearms are vertical and your elbows sit a little in front of the bar. Stand with your feet about hip-width apart, squeeze your glutes and brace with your ribs down. Pressing inside a rack, set the safety arms just below shoulder height.
Source 1
Tip your head back a little as the bar passes your chin, then bring it through once the bar clears your forehead, so the bar finishes over your shoulders and the middle of your feet with your arms locked. Heavy presses are slowest about halfway up, which is where a missed rep stalls.
Keep your back straight and tall and press with your arms alone. Leaning back to finish a rep turns the press into an arch through your lower back: lower the weight instead. A quick dip and drive of the legs makes it a push press, a different exercise.
Source 1
Seated and barbell presses let you lift more; standing with dumbbells, you'll lift less, though your shoulder muscles are more active. Across 137 reviews, the type of equipment made no consistent difference to strength or muscle gains, so pick the press you can do well and keep progressing.
Your shoulder blades turn upward and tilt back as the bar goes overhead. That's normal, so don't try to pin them back and down while you press.
Source 6
The evidence on behind-the-neck pressing is limited, and no study has counted injuries. It works the side and rear of the shoulder more, but holding the arm out and turned back went with signs of shoulder instability in a study of gym-goers, and a hospital handout says to avoid it. With shoulder pain or instability, press in front of your head and use the gentler steps in our shoulder guides.
The overhead press is pressing a weight from the front of your shoulders to straight arms overhead. Gyms use the names loosely: "strict" or "military" press usually means standing with no help from the legs, "shoulder press" often means seated or with dumbbells, and the push press adds a dip and drive of the legs.
This guide is about the strict standing press with a barbell, which the American Council on Exercise (ACE) rates an advanced exercise, and its dumbbell and seated versions.
Source 1
The deltoids at the front and side of your shoulder and your triceps do the pressing, and pressing in front of the head brings in the chest. Standing, your trunk muscles work to hold you still, and pressing one arm at a time makes the back muscles that steady you work harder.
On our exercise pages the strict press sits in the "easier" group of the overhead press family because the push press and the jerks come after it, not because it's a beginner exercise. Most people start with a band, machine or dumbbell press, as in the progression below.
In 15 men pressing at 80% of their maximum, two dumbbells standing lifted about 7% less than a barbell standing and about 10% less than dumbbells seated, but drew the most activity from the shoulder muscles. Seated presses drew about a quarter less activity from the rear of the shoulder than standing ones, with a barbell or dumbbells.
Source 3
In 30 trained people pressing seated, a barbell on a bench was lifted heaviest and dumbbells on a Swiss ball lightest. In 8 bodybuilders, a shoulder press machine allowed a heavier maximum than a barbell (95 against 82 kg), while the barbell drew more muscle activity.
In a 2026 overview of 137 reviews by the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), the type of equipment didn't consistently change strength or muscle gains. Strength rose most with heavier loads (80% of your maximum or more), a full range of movement, 2 to 3 sets, the lift early in the session and at least two sessions a week.
Source 5
In 16 men pressing light weights, the military press turned the shoulder blade upward and tilted it back more than lifting the arm forward did. That rhythm is what lets your arm get overhead.
Source 6
Up to 36% of reported weight-training injuries involve the shoulder, though most of the data come from surveys looking back. Weight-training sports have low injury rates overall, with the shoulder, lower back and knee the commonest sites.
In 46 recreational weight trainers, signs of shoulder impingement (a pinching pain as the arm rises) went with lateral raises and upright rows taken above shoulder height, not with pressing, and strengthening the muscles that turn the arm outwards went with fewer signs. That's a snapshot, so it can't show cause and effect.
In 24 trained men, 10 weeks of seated presses on a Smith machine, twice a week for 3 sets at 65 to 90% of their maximum, raised their maximum by 17.5%, from 57.6 to 67.7 kg. There was no comparison group. In heavy presses, the bar slowed most at about 46% of the way up.
Source 2
No trial has compared months of standing and seated pressing, or counted injuries by grip, bar path or behind-the-neck pressing. Most studies here measured muscle activity in a few dozen people, and muscle activity readings don't predict which exercise builds more muscle. Treat the doses on this page as starting points.
Source 16
From ACE's standing shoulder press and our move page. The grip just outside the shoulders, the head movement and lowering a stalled rep are standard coaching, in our editorial wording. With high blood pressure, heart disease or glaucoma, breathe out through the whole press.
Loading the 3D figure…
The movement on the figure: Standing overhead press
ACE's standing press uses hands about shoulder-width apart. Just outside the shoulders, so your forearms are vertical from the front and the side, is the usual coaching standard and our editorial starting point. Wrap your thumbs around the bar, hold it low in your palms and keep your wrists stacked over your elbows rather than bent back. We found no study linking a press grip width to injury.
Source 1
ACE has the elbows pointing straight ahead with the bar on your shoulders. Flared out to the sides, they put the bar behind your forearms; a little in front of the bar is our suggestion.
Source 1
The bar travels up in a nearly straight line close to your face: your head moves back to let it pass and forward once it has, so the bar finishes over your shoulders and the middle of your feet. Pressing the bar out in front of your face leaves it ahead of your shoulders, a longer lever (our editorial view). Heavy presses are slowest about halfway up.
Source 2
Finish with your arms straight and your biceps beside your ears. Some coaches cue a shrug towards the ceiling at the top and others keep the shoulders down; the evidence only says the shoulder blades turn up as the arms rise, so reaching tall is fine (our editorial view).
Source 6
Take a breath into your belly at the bottom, brace, press, and breathe out as the bar passes your forehead or at the top (our editorial starting point, as in our bench press guide). Standing presses work your trunk muscles, and pressing on a wobble board added nothing in 12 trained men. Pressing one arm at a time makes the back muscles that steady you work harder.
Strength coaches often teach holding the breath through each heavy rep; our barbell strength workout says to breathe out through the press rather than strain against a held breath. In 5 bodybuilders, blood pressure rose to extreme levels in heavy lifts, overhead presses included, partly from breath-holding, and eye pressure rises more when you hold your breath.
If your blood pressure is controlled, low- to moderate-intensity strength training is safe with proper breathing. With high blood pressure, heart disease, glaucoma or diabetic eye disease, breathe out through the press and leave maximal lifts until you've had advice.
Leaning back to finish a rep arches your lower back and turns the press towards an incline press. Squeeze your glutes, keep your ribs down and take some weight off. If you can't get your arms overhead without arching, press one arm at a time, at an incline or seated with your back supported until your range improves, as our move page advises.
Seated with your back supported, you'll lift more and your trunk does less; standing works more of your body and drew more activity from the rear of the shoulder. No trial has compared months of each, and across many reviews the type of equipment didn't consistently change results.
Stand to train the whole body; sit to load the shoulders with less balance to manage, or when your lower back complains (our view). Seated in a rack, set the safety arms just below your shoulders, because you can't step away from a missed press.
Two dumbbells make each arm steady its own weight: standing, they drew more shoulder activity and lifted about 7% less than a barbell. Dumbbells held palms in keep the elbows in front and often suit sore shoulders, and a barbell lets you add weight in smaller steps (our view).
Source 3
A kettlebell sits behind your wrist. In a preliminary study of 20 people pressing seated, kettlebell and dumbbell presses at the same load worked the shoulder and back muscles about the same.
Source 21
Machines guide the path, so you lift more, though the barbell drew more muscle activity in one study; they make good first loaded presses. The landmine press, one end of a barbell anchored in a corner and pressed up and forwards, is the step our shoulder pain guides use between the band press and the dumbbell press.
Source 7
A short dip and drive of the legs lets more weight go overhead. It's the next step in the family and trains power; it doesn't replace the strict press.
In 8 bodybuilders, the behind-the-neck press worked the side and rear of the shoulder more and the chest less than a press in front of the head, and they lifted less with it (76 against 82 kg). In a second study of 14 trained men, the behind-the-neck press again worked the side and rear of the shoulder more, and the press in front the front of the shoulder and the chest.
No study has counted injuries. In 33 people pressing seated, shoulder movement stayed within its passive range, except for outward rotation in the men pressing behind the head, and the authors called both versions safe for people with normal trunk stability and full shoulder range.
In a study of 123 weight trainers, exercises that hold the arm out and turned back, such as behind-the-neck pulldowns and presses, went with signs of shoulder instability, and a hospital sports-medicine handout lists the behind-the-neck press among exercises to always avoid.
You don't need it. With shoulder pain or instability, a past dislocation or neck pain, press in front of your head instead, as our behind-the-neck press page and shoulder guides advise. If your shoulders are pain-free with full range and you want to try it, start very light.
Stand with your back against a wall and slide your arms up it, as in the wall angel. If your arms reach the wall overhead without your lower back lifting off it, you have the range to press; if not, press one arm at a time or at an incline for now (our editorial check, following the move page).
3 sets of 10 to 15, stopping 2 or 3 reps short of failure (our editorial starting point). Our shoulder guides start pressing with the band press, and ACE rates the machine press a beginner exercise. Move on when the reps are smooth and painless with a firm band or a moderate weight.
3 sets of 8 to 12, stopping 2 or 3 reps short, as in our dumbbell workouts. Move on at 3 sets of 10 at a moderate weight with both arms moving together.
3 sets of 8 to 10, the dose in our climbers' workout, or one arm at a time. Move on at 3 sets of 10 without leaning back.
The empty bar for 3 sets of 5, or a lighter technique bar or dumbbells if the empty bar is too heavy, as our beginner strength programme advises. Add 1 to 1.25 kg next session if every rep was clean, as our barbell strength workout B does.
Many programmes put beginners on the empty bar in week one; others build up through dumbbells first. Both are fine with a plan for a missed rep (our view).
The push press, the seated barbell press, kettlebell presses, and pike push-ups on the way to the handstand push-up. Each has its own move page.
In trained men, 10 weeks of twice-weekly seated presses added about 17% to the maximum, and in 14,690 people training once a week, strength rose 30 to 50% in the first year before levelling off. Our estimate, not a trial result: most beginners press the empty bar for 3 sets of 5 within a few sessions, and the press stalls sooner than the squat or deadlift because each small step is a bigger share of a lighter bar.
Our beginner strength programme presses in workout B, so once or twice a week as its two workouts alternate, and the bench press in workout A trains the front of the shoulder too. In the ACSM's overview, strength improved with at least two sessions a week.
Source 5
For strength, 3 sets of 5, as in our barbell strength workout B. For muscle, 3 or 4 sets of 6 to 12: our shoulder workout uses 4 sets of 6 to 8 and our dumbbell workouts 3 sets of 8 to 12. The move page's dose is 3 to 4 sets of 5 to 8.
Stop 2 or 3 reps short of failure (2 to 3 reps in reserve: how many more you could have done), as our plans advise. Training to failure isn't needed for muscle growth, and people misjudge how many reps they have left by about one. In a press, the last reps tend to turn into a lean back: end the set there.
2 to 3 minutes for heavy sets of 5 to 8, and about 90 seconds to 2 minutes for sets of 8 to 12, as our plans advise. In 21 trained men, 3-minute rests built more strength than 1-minute rests.
Source 26
Add 1 to 1.25 kg when every rep was clean, as workout B does; our beginner strength programme allows 1 to 2.5 kg, and small plates help. With dumbbells, add reps until every set reaches the top of the range, then move to the next dumbbell and drop back to the bottom of the range.
The press turns into an arch through your lower back. Lower the weight, squeeze your glutes and keep your ribs down; press seated or one arm at a time if you can't get overhead without arching.
The bar finishes ahead of your shoulders. Tip your head back, keep the bar close and bring your head through once it passes your forehead.
A full range builds more strength. Finish with straight arms and your biceps beside your ears.
Source 5
The bar sits behind your forearms and your wrists take the strain. Hold the bar low in your palms, wrists stacked over your elbows, elbows a little in front of the bar.
They should turn up as your arms rise. Reach tall at the top.
Source 6
That's a push press. Keep your knees locked for strict presses, and do push presses on purpose, as their own exercise.
Breath-held heavy lifts drive blood pressure up sharply. Breathe out through the press instead.
Source 17
Set the safety arms just below shoulder height and lower a stalled rep to your shoulders. With dumbbells, lower them to your shoulders and then to your thighs. Clear the space above and behind you, as the move page advises.
Presses move in small steps. Add the smallest weight you can, or add reps before weight.
With a sore shoulder, our shoulder impingement guide brings pressing back in steps: a band press, then a landmine press, then a dumbbell shoulder press, keeping the pain at or below 5 out of 10 during the exercise and back to its usual level by the next session. In weight trainers, impingement signs went with raises and upright rows above shoulder height, so change those first.
Source 15
The AC joint, where the collarbone meets the shoulder blade, can hurt with heavy pressing. Our AC joint guide brings heavy overhead pressing back last, starting with a band press and then a landmine press.
Leave out behind-the-neck presses and start with the landmine press, as our shoulder dislocation guide advises. In weight trainers, the arm-back position of behind-the-neck lifts went with signs of instability.
Source 9
Strengthening the muscles that turn the arm outwards went with fewer impingement signs. Face pulls, band pull-aparts and outward rotations with a band train them: 2 sets of 12 to 15 at the end of a pressing session is our editorial starting point.
Source 15
This includes spinal stenosis and spondylolisthesis. Press seated with your back supported, one arm at a time or with a landmine, ribs down. Our back pain guide's rule is to use the direction that eases your pain as a temporary guide.
From stiffness, a frozen shoulder or shoulder arthritis: press one arm at a time or at an incline until your range improves, as the move page advises, and see our shoulder guides.
No behind-the-neck pressing. Move your head only as much as the bar needs, and see our neck pain guide.
If your blood pressure is controlled, low- to moderate-intensity strength training is safe: breathe out on each effort, use weights you could lift 10 to 15 times, and leave maximal lifts until you've had advice, as our high blood pressure guide says. Eye pressure rises more with heavy loads, long sets and a held breath; with glaucoma or diabetic eye disease, ask your specialist before lifting heavy.
Follow our pregnancy guide, and breathe out on the effort rather than holding your breath.
Stack your wrists over your elbows, or use dumbbells held palms in.
Work up in order, moving on when every rep of the current step looks the same; the targets are in the progression above.
3D demoWall angelBeginner · A wall
3D demoShoulder press with a bandBeginner · A band
3D demoMachine shoulder pressBeginner · Strength machine
3D demoSeated dumbbell shoulder pressIntermediate · A dumbbell + A bench or box
3D demoStanding dumbbell shoulder pressIntermediate · A dumbbell
3D demoOne-arm dumbbell shoulder pressIntermediate · A dumbbell
3D demoStanding overhead pressIntermediate · A barbell + A dumbbellChoices once the standing press is solid: press the landmine without the dip for sore shoulders, and leave the behind-the-neck press out with shoulder or neck pain.
3D demoStanding palms-in dumbbell pressIntermediate · A dumbbell
3D demoSeated barbell shoulder pressIntermediate · A barbell + A bench or box
3D demoSeated barbell shoulder press from the rackIntermediate · A barbell + A bench or box
3D demoSmith machine shoulder pressBeginner · Strength machine + A bench or box
3D demoDouble kettlebell military pressIntermediate · A kettlebell
3D demoLandmine jammerIntermediate · A barbell
3D demoPush pressIntermediate · A barbell
3D demoBehind-the-neck pressAdvanced · A barbell
3D demoPike push-upIntermediate · No equipmentAdd one or two at the end of a pressing session, 2 sets of 12 to 15 (our editorial starting point).
The overhead press technique workout walks the ladder from the band press to the empty bar; the others use the press as one exercise among several. For sore shoulders, use the shoulder mobility and stability routine.
A 30-minute practice session for the overhead press: check your overhead reach, groove it with a band and seated dumbbells, then press the empty bar.
30 minBeginner9 movesA band, A wallWorkout B of the beginner strength program: back squats, overhead presses and deadlifts in sets of five, plus chin-ups, with the safety pins set.
55 minBeginner10 movesA band, A barbellA shoulder workout for all three heads: overhead press, lateral raises, reverse flyes, face pulls and rotations.
40 minIntermediate8 movesA band, A barbellA push day workout for chest, shoulders and triceps: bench press, overhead press, incline dumbbell press, lateral raises and pushdowns.
55 minIntermediate10 movesA band, A barbellUpper body workout B: overhead press, pull-ups, incline dumbbell press, chest-supported rows, face pulls, hammer curls and triceps extensions.
50 minIntermediate13 movesA band, Pull-up barChest, back, shoulders and arms with dumbbells: presses, rows, raises, reverse flyes, curls and extensions.
40 minIntermediate9 movesA dumbbell, A bench or boxA 35-minute full-body strength workout with dumbbells: goblet squats, presses, rows, Romanian deadlifts and carries.
35 minIntermediate9 movesA band, A dumbbellA 30-minute antagonist workout for climbers: push-ups and presses, band rotations, Y-T-W raises and face pulls, wrist and finger extensions, and a side plank.
30 minBeginner13 movesA band, A dumbbellA 25-minute band routine for healthy shoulders: move the shoulder and upper back through their range, then strengthen the rotator cuff and shoulder blades.
25 minBeginner12 movesA wall, A bandFor sudden or very bad shoulder pain; if you can't move your arm; if your arm or shoulder has changed shape or is badly swollen; for pins and needles that don't go away, or no feeling in your arm or shoulder; if your arm or shoulder is hot or cold to touch; for pain that started after an injury or accident; for severe pain in both shoulders; or if you feel feverish or unwell. In the US, contact your doctor or urgent care.
Source 27
If shoulder pain is getting worse or hasn't improved after 2 weeks, or it's very difficult to move your arm or shoulder.
Source 27
For chest pain or pressure, unusual breathlessness, dizziness or fainting, or a racing or irregular heartbeat during exercise, as our plans advise.
Muscle soreness for a day or two after a new or heavier session is common and fades. Sharp pain, pain that gets worse during a set, or pain that lingers into the next day isn't: swap to an easier press, and get checked if it doesn't settle.
We found no study showing that, and our shoulder joint guide agrees. Weight-training sports have low injury rates, with the shoulder among the commoner sites, and impingement signs in gym-goers went with raises and upright rows above shoulder height rather than pressing. Build up gradually, and use the gentler steps if a shoulder is sore.
Neither is settled. They work the side and rear of the shoulder more, and one small study called them safe for people with full shoulder range; but the arm-back position went with instability signs in gym-goers, and a hospital handout advises against them. No study has counted injuries. With shoulder pain or instability, press in front.
They turn upward and tilt back as your arms go overhead. Pinning them fights that rhythm, as our shoulder joint guide explains.
Source 6
Standing dumbbell presses drew the most shoulder activity but lifted the least, and muscle activity readings don't predict growth. We found no training trial comparing them with the barbell.
Seated presses with a back support let you lift more with less work from your trunk, which can suit a sore back, but no study has compared injuries. Either is fine for a healthy back.
A strict press keeps the trunk upright; leaning back to finish turns it into an arch through your lower back. The push press is the honest way to use more than your arms.
They're mostly two names for the same lift: pressing a weight from your shoulders to straight arms overhead. "Military" or "strict" usually means standing with no help from your legs, "shoulder press" often means seated or with dumbbells, and the push press adds a dip and drive of the legs. The set-up matters more than the name.
Both build strength. Seated with your back supported you'll lift more and your trunk does less, while standing works more of your body; standing with dumbbells drew the most shoulder activity but lifted the least. Press seated if your lower back complains or you want to load your shoulders without the balance demand.
Neither is better. Standing, you'll press about 7% less with two dumbbells than with a barbell, though the dumbbells drew more shoulder activity, and across many trials the type of equipment didn't consistently change results. The barbell lets you add weight in smaller steps.
About shoulder-width or just outside, so your forearms are vertical with the bar on your shoulders: that's the usual coaching standard. Narrow it a little if your shoulders complain. We found no study linking a press grip width to injury.
Tip your head back slightly as the bar passes your chin, then move it forward under the bar once it's past your forehead, so the bar finishes over your shoulders and the middle of your feet. Keep the bar close to your face the whole way.
We found no study showing that it is, and weight-training sports have low injury rates overall. In gym-goers, signs of shoulder impingement went with raises and upright rows above shoulder height rather than pressing. With a sore shoulder, change the press rather than stop: a band press, then a landmine press, then dumbbells, as our shoulder impingement guide explains.
The evidence is limited, and no study has counted injuries. It works the side and rear of the shoulder more, but holding the arm out and turned back went with signs of shoulder instability in gym-goers, and a hospital handout advises against it. You don't need it: with shoulder pain or instability, press in front of your head.
Usually because you're leaning back and arching to finish each rep. Squeeze your glutes, keep your ribs down and lower the weight, and press seated with your back supported or one arm at a time if you can't reach overhead without arching. Pain that travels down a leg, or the warning signs in our back pain guide, need checking.
Take a breath and brace before each rep, then breathe out as the bar passes your forehead. With high blood pressure, heart disease or glaucoma, breathe out through the whole press, because holding your breath under heavy loads pushes blood and eye pressure up sharply.
Yes. The press finishes with your arms straight, your biceps beside your ears and the bar over your shoulders, and it's normal for your shoulder blades to turn upward as your arms rise.
Compare yourself with yourself. Most beginners start with the empty bar, or dumbbells if that's too heavy, and add 1 to 1.25 kg a session while every rep looks the same, as our beginner strength programme does. In trained men, 10 weeks of twice-weekly seated presses added about 17% to the maximum.
Learn the strict press first. The push press uses a dip and drive of the legs to move more weight overhead and trains power, while the strict press builds pressing strength through the whole range. Many programmes use both.
Exercise education, not a personal prescription, and clinical review of these guides is pending. Check with a GP before starting hard training if you have a heart condition, chest pain, dizziness or breathlessness when active, and stop for sharp or increasing pain. Health disclaimer.
