Overhead Pressing

[lweaver]

I need to get my standing OHP up big time in case I ever need to throw a giant rock at a charging bear or some shit.

That being said, what is everybodys preference of overhead pressing? What the hell should I do?

I'm thinking I should alternate between seated OHP and standing push press (heavier loads). Or should I use the stricter military style press and toss out the seated?

 

[coreygb]

I personally hate seated pressing...Or seated anything. I prefer a pretty strict military. Shoving something over my head while standing feels so much more manly.

 

[moya]

^this... and all the way down to your collarbone/upper chest...

 

[ExtraMile]

I hate standing presses. I feel it very hard to get any sort of power into the movement, its not like a benchpress where you can really grind the reps out. I also get some shoulder discomfort from doing then, especially when I try to press explosively. I have done alot of standing presses in the past though because everyone raves about how functional they are and how much they benefit your benchpress, but personally I never found much carryover to my benchpress strength. Even after building enough strength to press my 5rm for a set of 8 and my 1rm for a set of 3.

I also suck at overhead pressing lol.

Pushpresses would work if your weakness is in the top half of the movement, but most people get stuck in the bottom. Pushpresses would also be good when you're at a plateau and want to get the feel for having heavier weights over head.

Another thing you could do is alternate standing presses with high incline BB presses. I actually recently have swapped my overheads for high inclined barbell presses. Im hoping this will give more carryover to my benchpress and allow me to get some weekly progress going which was always hard to do with my standing presses.

I know southernlord loves standing presses and got up around 225 for reps at one point, maybe he will chime in.

 

[lweaver]

Yeah, definately going to add standing OHP, but if I can handle more weight seated won't that also be beneficial?

 

[ExtraMile]

depends on your goal. If your wanting to help improve your benchpressing by overload the delts, upper chest and triceps in a different plane of motion to the benchpress, then you may find seated presses have more carryover since it allows more weight to be handled and recruits more upper chest and front delts (more specific to the benchpress). However, alot of people use a standing press to hit the delts hard which in turn helps the benchpress.

If your after functional strength, improved co-ordination and stability, carry-over to strongman events, carry over to certain sporting events then chances are a standing strict overhead press will do you better since it fills all of those requirements.

one thing is for certain though, amoung other lifters pressing big weights overhead while standing is much more admirable then sitting against a back support and pressing a barbell in what resembles a very high incline press...

You cuold cycle both, try 6 weeks of OHP and see if your bench improves steadily at the same time... deload then do 6 weeks of seated and see what the effects are. Dont over complicate it just use which ever feels more comfortable/progresses better/you prefer. They arnt that different imo

 

[Tblock1]

Hey moya from I've heard going lower than chin height on standing press places the shoulder in a bad position and theres really no need to go lower than chin or just below.

But yeah I think standing strict overhead press is the best and when you do it it really tires out your whole body because it has to work so hard to stabilize the weight.

 

[JDid23]

Hey moya from I've heard going lower than chin height on standing press places the shoulder in a bad position and theres really no need to go lower than chin or just below.

But yeah I think standing strict overhead press is the best and when you do it it really tires out your whole body because it has to work so hard to stabilize the weight.

i would LOVE definitive answer on this, as my shoulder has not really allowed me to press anything for 3-4 months, especially overhead. Now that it's 90% better and i do want to get back into OHP's, i'd appreciate any input.

 

[moya]

Hey moya from I've heard going lower than chin height on standing press places the shoulder in a bad position and theres really no need to go lower than chin or just below.

But yeah I think standing strict overhead press is the best and when you do it it really tires out your whole body because it has to work so hard to stabilize the weight.

that would make sense for those that are effected by it... however, i have been doing them strict like this for a while now, and they give me any discomfort... actually, if i press any sooner, at like eye or chin level, i do feel some discomfort...
i guess this just leads back to the fact than everyone is different and what works for one dosnt always work for the other...

 

[Judo Tom]

my favorite lift in this area is the standard standing military press. I focus on lifting heavier and heavier weight there. I also love doing push press and jerk. They are lots of fun but at this point in my life I am getting more out of the military press.