Jim’s comment in my training log:

“Is the Overhead Press done by standing upright and pressing the weight above your head?

That strength training exercise puts lots of stress on my lower back. Do you use a belt? “

Yes the Overhead Press is done standing upright while pressing the weight above your head. Yes the Overhead press will stress your lower back.

No I don’t use a belt & no my lower back doesn’t hurt when I press overhead. Here’s why yours does.

Why Your Lower back Hurts on the Overhead Press. What’s keeping your torso upright? Two things. Your abs & your lower back.

Your abs give you support from the front. Your lower back gives you support from the back. If one is stronger than the other, the strongest will bear all the weight. This leads to pain & eventually injury.

Your abs & lower back should be equally strong. I never met someone whose lower back was weaker than his abs. Most people, including me, have a strong lower back. Especially if you Deadlift.

Strengthen Your Abs. Endless bodyweight crunches won’t give you strong abs. Here are some exercises that will:

• Weighted Roman Chair Sit-ups. Put the weight on your chest.
• Waiter Walks. Hold dumbbell overhead in one hand. Walk with it.
• Overhead Squats. Squat while keeping a barbell overhead.
• Hanging Bent-Leg Raises. Hang on pull-up bar. Bring knees to chest.
• Hanging Pikes. Hang on pull-up bar. Straight legs. Feet against bar.

There are many more exercises. Pick one of the above. Do 5 sets of 5 reps at the end of your workout. Apply progressive loading like with any other exercise. Remember: abs react to stress as all other muscles do.

That’s for the abs strengthening part. Next Overhead Press technique.

Squeeze Your Glutes. If you squeeze your glutes, your pelvis can’t tilt forward. Forward pelvis tilt leads to arching of the lower back, which is as bad as bending of the lower back.

Bring your hips forward & squeeze your glutes hard. Tighten everything from toes to chest. The only thing that should move during the Overhead Press are your arms, torso & head.

Keep Your Back Straight. Picture on top. Vasily Alexeyev doing an Olympic Press with 474lbs (1971 – Peru). Notice his lower back: hyper-extended. You need strong abs & a healthy spine for doing an Olympic Press.

Technique on the Overhead Press doesn’t involve hyper-extension of your back.

• Squeeze your glutes
• Chest up
• Shoulders back & down
• Elbows forward
• Torso slightly behind vertical

Once the bar leaves your front shoulders, your torso goes forward. If your torso goes to the back, you’re doing an Olympic Press not an Overhead Press.

Increase Back Health. Strength training never causes injury when correct technique is used. What it does is showing pre-existing conditions. If your lower back is stiff from all the Squats & Deadlifts: do some spinal decompressions. If you have symptoms of lordosis, do some glute activation.