Push Press - Behind the Neck
Trains the Shoulders.
- Equipment
- A barbell and a rack
- Mechanic
- Compound
- Force
- Push
- Level
- Intermediate
How to do it
- Set a barbell in a rack at shoulder height and step under it so it rests across your upper back.
- Take an overhand grip a little wider than your shoulders and unrack it.
- Set your feet under your hips and keep the torso upright.
- Dip a few inches by bending the knees, keeping the bar settled on your back.
- Drive up hard through the legs and press the bar the rest of the way to straight arms overhead.
- Lower it back to the upper back under control, absorbing it by bending the knees slightly.
Common mistakes
- Taking the bar lower on the back than the shoulders allow. Behind the neck asks for external rotation and abduction at once, and how much is available varies a great deal — the bar rests on the traps, not the neck.
- Dipping by leaning forward. Behind the neck, a forward lean pulls the bar off your back before the drive starts.
- Pressing before the legs have finished. The two halves overlap into one movement; starting the arms early wastes the leg drive.
- Catching the bar on a straight body. Bending the knees as it lands is what lets the legs absorb it.