Overhead Press.
The overhead press is the standard upper-body vertical push. Starting with the bar at collarbone height in a front rack, the bar travels straight up to lockout directly overhead while the head moves back slightly to clear the path, then forward again at the top.
Step by step.
Set the bar in the rack near collarbone height and grip it just outside shoulder width, wide enough that your forearms point straight up when the bar rests on your front delts.
Step under the bar so it sits in a front rack on the meat of your shoulders, with the elbows slightly ahead of the bar. Unrack it and take a step back into a stable stance.
Set your feet about hip to shoulder width, then squeeze your glutes and brace your abs so the ribcage stays down and the lower back does not overarch.
Press the bar straight up, tilting your head back just enough to let it clear your chin rather than pressing around your face.
As the bar passes your forehead, push your head and chest forward through the arms so the bar locks out directly over your shoulders with the ears in line with the upper arms.
Lower the bar under control back to the front rack on your shoulders, moving the head out of the way again, and reset the brace before the next rep.
The head has to move. That's the part most beginners get wrong. They try to press around their face in an arc, which extends the bar path and puts the shoulder in a worse angle at the top. The correct movement is: bar off the collarbone, head back just enough to let the bar clear the chin, bar passes the face, head pushes through between the arms at the top. At lockout, your ears should be in line with your upper arms. That's the cue: "head through." If you're finishing with the bar in front of your face instead of directly overhead, you're in a mechanically weak position and the weight will feel heavier than it is.
Grip width matters. Slightly wider than shoulder-width keeps the forearms vertical when the bar is at the collarbone. Vertical forearms mean the bar loads straight into the wrist and elbow, not through a bent joint. Too narrow and the elbows splay out in front; too wide and you lose torque at the shoulder. If you have wrist pain during overhead pressing, narrow grip is usually the first suspect.
The leg drive used in a push press (a slight knee dip and hip drive to initiate the press) is a separate technique and a legitimate one. But if you're push-pressing on every rep because you can't strict press the load, the load is too heavy for the strict press. Train both. They're different exercises. Most programs that care about shoulder strength run strict press for volume and push press for top-end load. Because the strict press creeps up in tiny increments, fractional plates matter more here than on most lifts, and knowing what plates to load lets you add a pound a side instead of stalling for weeks.
One real friction point: lifters who bench press a lot but rarely press overhead often discover the overhead press exposes weaknesses in the anterior delt and upper trap that horizontal pressing masks. The carry-over from bench to overhead is much weaker than lifters expect. Don't be surprised if your overhead press is only 60-65% of your bench press. That's normal.
Barbell pressing pins both hands to one bar, so a weak side hides behind the strong one. Swap in a dumbbell shoulder press now and then. Each arm presses on its own, the range runs a little longer, and cranky shoulders usually tolerate the freer path.
Common questions.
Standing. The seated overhead press is valid for injury modification or when strict shoulder isolation is the goal, but the standing press trains something the seated version doesn't: the ability to stabilize a load overhead with the entire body. The core, glutes, and legs all have to stay rigid under load, which makes the standing press a more complete strength test. Most programs that call for an 'overhead press' or 'military press' mean the standing version unless otherwise specified.
Some lumbar extension happens naturally when pressing overhead. It's a counter-balance to the load moving in front of the body. The problem is when it's excessive: a dramatic arch with the ribcage flared and the hips pushed forward turns the press into a standing incline press and loads the lumbar spine instead of the shoulders. The fix is to squeeze the glutes and brace the abs before and throughout the press, which stops the pelvis from tilting forward. If the arch is still pronounced despite bracing, the weight is probably too heavy for a strict press.
The overhead press has a longer range of motion, no leg drive (in the strict version), no stable bench to press against, and relies more heavily on the lateral and anterior deltoid rather than the pec. All of those factors reduce how much weight you can move. A 60-65% ratio of overhead to bench is typical for most intermediate lifters. If you bench 200 lb, pressing 120-130 lb overhead is reasonable. Lifters who press overhead frequently close that gap over time, but the overhead press will almost always be the lighter number.
Slightly wider than shoulder-width, wide enough that the forearms are vertical when the bar sits at collarbone height. To find it: hold the bar at your collarbone with your elbows pointed forward. If the forearms are tilted inward (elbows in front of wrists), widen your grip. If the bar is pressing the hands outward past the elbows, narrow it. For most lifters this lands a couple of inches outside shoulder-width. The smooth-to-knurling transition ring on a standard Olympic bar is a useful starting reference.
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