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 The overhead press is an amazing exercise to build overall strength for your upper body. It incorporates your delts, traps, triceps, biceps, lats, rhomboids, and everything in between to lift the weight overhead. Done properly it is a very good movement for strength. It is a higher-risk movement as it is very dependent on good shoulder mobility and range of motion. Further, if something goes wrong, you could potentially have a tremendous amount of weight over your head to come crashing down. This is why form and technique are so imperative to not only this lift but all the lifts.

The path your hands travel is critical to activating the right muscles during the lift. Moving with pinpoint accuracy through the correct path will ensure that you lift the weight as safely and optimally as possible.

(INSERT PICTURE OF BAR PATH WITH ARROWS)

You want your hands to be stacked over your shoulders and to go in as straight of a line as possible from the bottom starting position, into the fully extended, finished top position. You do not want to deviate too far in any direction as this will compromise your position. You want to bring the weight down in the same exact path to just above the tops of your delts, and then press the weight back into the top position.

You want your hands facing out ahead of you in a supranated position. You also want your knuckles to be level with the ground. You can internally rotate your hands inward slightly. Your wrists and forearms should be in a stacked and vertical orientation throughout the movement.

(show picture of stacked wrist, and unstacked wrist with green check arrow, and red x)

(Show picture of vertical forearms, and forward or backward forearms)

To keep your wrists and arms stacked you may have to rotate your elbows in slightly. This further helps to recruit your lats and rotator cuff to stabilize you throughout the lift.

Depending on if you choose barbell or dumbbell your head position will change. When using dumbells it is less important, you just want to try to drive your chin down and back to engage your upper back for stability. When doing barbell overhead press, because the bar is attached and the bar path goes where your head should be, you need to clear your head out of the way to press the weight overhead. You want the barpath to be as over the center of gravity as you can. So when performing the lift, you want your head in a neutral stacked position, and when initiating the lift, clear your head back and out of the way, once the bar passes you stick your head " through the window" and finish the lift.

(show picture of dumbell head position)

(show video of cleaing head and stickin head "through the window" as bar passes

When pressing the weight overhead, you should activate a significant portion of your lats, traps, and rhomboids. These back muscles help to stabilize the weight overhead. You should think about trying to squeeze your shoulder blades together as hard as you can as you press the weight overhead. Pinch the pencil between your shoulderblades. Think of pulling your back, back and down. 

(show video of squeezing rhomboids together)

(show video of pulling back and down)

With any weightlifting movement that you do, your core is extremely important. Be sure to brace your abs tightly throughout the entire set. This helps you to transfer energy to the weights and well as protects you from injury.