The Overhead Press is Possibly The Best Muscle Building Exercise For Your Upper Body

The standing overhead press is possibly the best upper body exercise for building muscle. Today, the bench press gets all the glory as the best upper body pushing movement, but back in the day, the standing overhead press was the main exercise to some of the most impressive physiques.

Through the years, all the big names in weightlifting like Sandow, Steve Reeves, Reg Park, and Arnold used overhead pressing.

Up until 1972 the overhead press was a main exercise in weightlifting competitions, but athletes arched their back so much to press more weight overhead that it became too hard for judges to tell if there was “excessive arching” and it was later replaced with the bench press.

Standing overhead press muscles worked

The standing overhead press is actually more effective than the bench press at building upper body mass. The muscles that take the main load during this exercise are the shoulders, triceps and the upper chest.

However, there are a number of other larger and smaller muscle groups involved during the execution of this exercise. 

Because you are standing up rather than laying down, your core muscles  (your abs, obliques, transverse abdominal muscles, lower back and spinal stabilizers) work harder in order to stabilize your body, which means your back, abs and legs also work hard during execution of the exercise.

Besides, well developed shoulders look more powerful than a big chest and small shoulders.

Does standing overhead press work your upper chest ?

Yes, the overhead press does train the upper chest to an extent, however it is primarily a shoulder builder.

While you’ll surely get some upper chest development from doing overhead presses, especially if you watch your form and go low with the bar, it’s a good idea to add some incline work for the chest as well if you want a well developed upper chest.

Standing overhead press benefits

1. You get a full body workout

Like we mentioned before, besides the shoulders, arms and upper chest, you also work your back, abs and legs indirectly, and a bunch of other stabilizing muscles while pressing. More muscle being worked means a stronger muscle building signal will be sent to your nervous system.

2. You get a full shoulder workout with one exercise 

The overhead press works all 3 shoulder heads (primarily the front delt head) of the shoulders while the bench press works only the front deltoids.

3. Overhead pressing helps in fixing shoulder imbalances

Shoulder imbalances can occur because of excessive bench pressing. Those who bench press very often but pay less attention to their back, develop a condition known as rounded shoulders.

Rounded shoulders, also known as thoracic kyphosis, is a condition where the upper back (thoracic spine) curves excessively forward because of weak back muscles and rear delts. By working all three heads of the shoulders, overhead presses can help in mitigating this issue.

4. You don’t need a spotter

With the overhead press you won’t need a spotter like you do with the bench press. You will never get stuck under the bar; all you need to do, is to let go of the bar and it will fall on the floor instead of your chest or face.

How to do the overhead press

– Stand with your feet shoulder width apart and the bar resting on your upper chest.
– The grip should be slightly wider than shoulder width.
– Elbows should be pointing forward and knees tight.
– Squeeze your glutes and press.

Remember, never use too heavy and arch your back too much as this can lead to injury.