How to Perform the Seated Press
Jan 24th, 2008 by Mehdi Tags: Exercise, Overhead Press, Weight Lifting
Several of you have asked me if you can replace the Overhead Press by the Seated Press when your ceiling is low. Substituting exercises is never optimal, but in this case it’s better than nothing. Here’s the Seated Press technique.
Seated vs. Overhead Press. The Seated Press works less muscles than the Overhead Press. Your legs are removed from the movement. And your abs & lower back don’t need to stabilize the weight as much.
You can alternate the Overhead Press with the Seated Press to give your lower back a break from the heavy Squats & Deadlifts. Keith Wassung recommends this to improve your Overhead Press.
Lower Back Safety. Arching your spine while loaded can cause lower back injuries. You can avoid this on the Overhead Press by squeezing your glutes. This technique doesn’t work as well on the Seated Press. Some tips:
- Use Backpadding. Push your lower back against it. Make sure your head is unsupported so you can tilt your head back while pressing.
- Tighten Your Abs. Push your abs out while tightening them. Plant your feet on the floor and squeeze your calves & glutes hard.
Seated Press Setup. Take the bar out of the uprights & sit down. Or unrack the bar from the safety pins. Or Power Clean the bar on your chest.
- Wide Stance. Wide is more stable than narrow. Use the same stance as for the Bench Press: push your knees out.
- Weight on Heels. Plant your feet into the ground. Curl your toes up if necessary & squeeze your calves.
- Grip Width. About 46cm/18″. The larger your build, the wider your grip. Hands should never touch your shoulders.
- Gripping the Bar. Grip is same as for the Bench Press. Bar close to your wrist, in the base of your palm. Not close to your fingers.
- Chest Up. Make a big chest & lift it up. Makes it easier to use your back muscles & shortens the distance the bar has to travel.
- Elbows Forward. Elbows in front of the barbell when looking from the side. Not upper-arms parallel with the floor, it’s not a Front Squat.
- Look Forward. Looking up is bad for your neck. Look forward, fix a point on the wall before you.
The Seated Press. Technique is same as for the Overhead Press. Except you can’t squeeze your glutes. Don’t let your lower back arch. Aggressively shift your torso forward as soon as the bar leaves your chest.
- Tilt Head Back. Quickly tilt your head back so the bar can pass your chin/nose without hitting them. Keep looking forward.
- Shift Torso Forward. Once the bar reaches forehead level, shift your torso forward. Continue pressing the weight overhead.
- Head Forward. Your chin should almost touch your chest when the weight is overhead. Look forward, not down.
- Lock Everything. Squeeze shoulders, traps & back. Lock your elbows.
Here’s a video of the Seated Press. I Press without backpadding because my bench doesn’t allow me to tilt my head back when I put it upright. I Power Clean the weight before starting the Seated Press.
Common Errors. The biggest error is doing the Seated Press like the Incline Bench Press: starting with your arms extended. The Seated Press starts with the bar on your chest. Power Clean the bar on each set to build this habit.
- Lower Back Arched. Guaranteed way to injure your lower back. Belts won’t help. Focus on your technique. Lower the weight if necessary.
- Head Supported. You can’t tilt your head back if your head is supported by the bench. Worst case Press without backpadding.
- Looking Up. Makes it impossible to lock out the weight & causes neck pain. Look forward, including when tilting your head back.
- Elbows & Chest. You’ll forget to reposition yourself between reps at first. Start each rep with elbows in front of the bar & chest up.
- Bar Low. The higher the bar on your chest, the shorter the distance it has to travel. Put the bar close to your clavicles. Quickly tilt your head back & forth. Clavicles might hurt at first, your skin will adapt & thicken.
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Ok i watched your video, and i do the same with but instead of bringing it back to my chest i place it downwards towards my back and then lift it up from there….
Is this good form? What different muscles are worked. Any info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks man
@AJ
You’re doing the behind neck version. It’s a different exercise. Like Front Squats instead of Back Squats. Behind neck work muscles slightly differently, but it’s also mainly on the shoulders/arms. Try the press once, see how it feels. Behind neck is more of an assistance exercise.
I’d like to ask something about the OHP:
When I try to bring my elbows in front of the bar, my shoulders need to be forward (don’t know the exact description for it). If I OHP like this, my shoulder hurts. I started to pull my shoulders back and squeeze my back and then OHP and I’ve got no pain, but the elbows are not in front of the bar, more like under it+a tiny little bit forward. Is this bad technique? Are there any ways to stretch the shoulders or something? Elbows in front of bar feels uncomfortable/painful for me.
Thanks in advance!
@P123
Slightly in front/under bar is better than behind the bar. So that’s good. If it doesn’t hurt that way, continue doing it. Best stretch you can do are shoulder dislocations. If you post a video in the forum, I’ll be happy to tell what I think of your critique. Good luck.
wow, thanks for the really quick answer!
I’m doing shoulder dislocations every workout and before I trained in the gym I did it 3 times a week at home. I think I can get my arms back quite a bit.
Criticizing my technique would be awsome, I thought about that before. I’ll take a cam to the gym soon. Would you mind looking over squat+DL technique too?
I’ve heard the behind the neck version is not good for you and can lead to serious injury. Is that true?
Sorry for all these stupid questions, but what do you mean by “is more of an assistance exercise”
Thanks, ill be sure to try the Press next time.
@P123
Sure, post any videos you have in the forum.
@Adam
If you’re tight in your shoulders, behind neck can be bad for you indeed. Just like squats will hurt your lower back if your tight in your hamstrings. I never have problems with behind the neck press or behind the neck push press, but my posture & flexibility is ok. Again: lots of shoulder dislocations will help flexbility, which is necessary for a lot of people.
@AJ
No problem. The Overhead Press is, like the Squat or Deadlift, seen as the core movement to put into a routine. While exercises like Front Squats, Romanian Deadlifts, Behind neck presses, etc, are variations of the former, thus usually used as assistance exercise (for the purpose of change for example).
i heard that about the behind the neck press being bad for you too. apparently its something to do with acromioclavicular joint.
one of the problems with behind the neck is a lot of people let the bar impact their neck, which can fracture the vertebrae over time.
also, like mehdi said, unless you have good flexibility. the vast majority of people you see doing it don’t have the proper flexibility, and this can sometime lead to shoulder impingement.
I like the behind the neck press, really feel this in the traps. Obviously don’t slam the bar down on your back and head lol, or of course there will be long term damage.
I have done both the seated version and standing and I can’t tell there’s much of a difference in quality between the two. Of course standing is always better, but I don’t feel that this excercise is enough to actually strengthen the legs and core. I just don’t feel it challenges those muscles.
@Bob
Your type of Acromion joint can indeed cause pain on the overhead press (and bench press) movement.
@Thryah
Just like with squats, you need to lower the bar on the muscle part of your back, not on the spine.
Have you considered the kneeling press as another alternative? I like it because it keeps the core involved but stops lower body compensations.
Behind the neck press seems to be a very controversial excersise. From what I have been reading, many people do partial rep behind the neck presses, thinking that by not lowering their arms past parrallel on the negative part of the movement they are avoiding injury of the rotator cuff. It seems that they are actually increasing the shearing forces on the rotator cuff tendons by doing so. I work in the behind the neck press every other week to ensure I am getting a good balance of work throughout the shoulder girdle. I also keep the weight on the behind the neck press lower in relation to the overhead press. Another variation is the Behind the neck push/press for training explosive strength, but I am just working this in and progressing upwards with the weight very slowly.
@David
I’d go for the Sots Press in that case. Sit in the bottom squat position while doing the oh press.
@Buck
For most people, inability to do the behind neck press is a problem of flexibility. Shoulder dislocations fix it. Decreasing the rom, is like decreasing the rom on squats.
Sots Press sounds good. I was suggesting a kneeling position to remove compensations from the lower body an encorage stability in the core.
I would still prefer standing presses overall though.
“How to Perform the Sots Press?” article?
@Doo
As I wrote: sit in the bottom Squat position while pressing overhead, from the chest or from the back. The Sots Press is an advanced exercise. You might not even be able to do one rep with an empty barbell without some base strength. Maybe in the future I’ll do an article about it.
Great article!
Just a quick question: why do you suggest power cleaning the bar, rather than starting with arms extended? I don’t normally start with arms extended anyway, but I’m just curious.
Cheers,
@Patmanpato
The Seated Press is done like the Overhead Press: bar starts on your upper-chest. I often saw people at the gym doing the seated press like a bench press. It’s not the same movement: bar starts on chest. For those who tend to forget this: power clean the bar first, forces you to start from the chest.
Hmm. At my gym, the seated Overhead Press bench has pins to hold the barbell up, and when you’re ready, you just lift it up off the pins and perform your set, just like the pins holding up the barbell for the bench press.
Of course when peforming the set I bring the bar down to the chest and back up again. But on the very first rep my arms are extended to lift it off the pins initially. Is this what you mean by what one shouldn’t do? If so, why?
Cheers,
@Patmanpato
Because the Press starts with the barbell on your chest, that’s the correct technique. Just like the Deadlift starts with the bar on the floor, not at mid-thigh level. You don’t start the deadlift like a Squat: from top to bottom, then back up. Same rule for the Press as for the deadlift. Squat & bench press: different rules.
Quick question about the StrongLifts 5×5 Advanced for Overhead Press. I already have a solid bench, so I wanted to toss out the Bench component of the Wed workout and replace it with the Seated Press. If I do that, what kind of weight ratios should I use in altering the worksheet?