Seated Barbell Overhead Press
Trains the Shoulders.
- Equipment
- A barbell, an adjustable bench and a rack
- Mechanic
- Compound
- Force
- Push
- Level
- Intermediate
How to do it
- Set a barbell in a rack at shoulder height with an upright bench positioned underneath it.
- Sit with your back flat against the bench and take an overhand grip just wider than your shoulders.
- Unrack the bar to the front of your shoulders, elbows under and slightly in front of the bar.
- Brace your stomach and press the bar straight up, moving your head back slightly so the bar passes your face.
- Once the bar clears your head, bring your head back to neutral and finish with the bar over the middle of your skull.
- Lower under control to the front of the shoulders along the same line.
Common mistakes
- Pressing the bar around the face rather than past it. Moving the head back an inch lets the bar travel in a straight line; pressing it forward in an arc puts the weight in front of the shoulder for the whole repetition.
- Arching hard over the bench to get the bar up. Seated, there is nowhere for that arch to go except the lower back, and unlike a standing press there are no legs to brace with.
- Finishing with the bar in front of the head. The lockout is with the bar over the middle of the skull and the shoulder blades rotated up — anything in front of that is a position the shoulder is holding rather than one it is stacked under.
- Choosing seated to lift more weight. Seated removes the leg drive and the trunk's contribution, so the usable load is usually lower than standing, not higher. What it buys is that the shoulders cannot cheat.