Performing the Push Press
August 4, 2014 By Justin Moore
The barbell push press is a coordinated total-body movement in which a loaded barbell is moved from the shoulders to the overhead position utilizing the legs and upper body. The movement is initiated through a quick but powerful “dip and drive” of the legs, and is completed by pressing the bar overhead to lockout with the arms and shoulders. Due to the fact that the barbell push press involves the coordination of muscles and motor units throughout the entire body, it is incredibly effective at developing strength and muscle. Additionally, the push press requires the athlete to rapidly change directions and produce force against the ground, which will improve power output and athletic performance.
While many coaches and athletes shy away from overhead pressing for fear of shoulder injury, the reality is that when taught and implemented properly into a well-rounded strength and conditioning program, overhead pressing can strengthen the shoulders and stabilizing muscles of the upper back, making them LESS susceptible to injury.
Execution of the Push Press
1) Begin with the bar supported on the shoulders between the delts and the throat. The hands should be approximately shoulder width to slightly wider than shoulder width apart, with the bar resting on the fleshy area at the bottom of the fingers.
2) Stand with the elbows up and feet approximately hip to shoulder width.
3) Begin the movement by performing a controlled quarter squat or “dip,” bending at the knees and hips making sure to keep your heels flat on the ground and your chest is up.
4) Quickly change directions by driving your heels through the floor and contracting your glutes to extend at the knees and hips. There should be NO pause at the bottom of the dip, the drive should be initiated immediately.
5) Continue driving through the floor and explode up onto the toes as you simultaneously exert pressure on the bar with your arms, utilizing the momentum generated by your legs to push the bar overhead.
6) Finish the movement by fully extending the arms overhead and pushing your head between your arms so that your biceps are by your ears and the bar is directly over the crown of your head.
7) Lower the bar back to the rack position, absorbing the bar’s downward momentum by dipping at the legs and repeat for reps.
1) Rack position with elbows up, heels planted on the ground, and bar resting on the shoulders between the delts and throat.
2) Bottom of the dip. Elbows remain up, torso is vertical, knees are bent and hips are back. At this point my weight is still back on my heels and I am immediately changing directions and beginning to drive through the floor.
3) At the end of the drive at full extension. Hips, knees, and ankles are fully extended and the momentum generated by my leg drive has moved the bar off my shoulders. At this point I have moved my head back and out of the way of the bar, but have yet to begin pressing the bar with my arms.
4) Heels quickly return to the floor as I press the bar with my arms to the overhead position directly above the crown of my head with my biceps by my ears.
Why Is It So Effective?
There are two main reasons the push press is so incredibly effective and efficient:
1) Ability to overload the muscles of the upper body with heavy weights because the legs (consisting of far larger, stronger, and more powerful muscles than in the arms) provide force against the ground to get the bar moving.
2) In order to complete the movement, you must activate motor units and muscle groups throughout the body in a fast, powerful effort to move the load overhead. The quads, hamstrings, glutes, calves, abs, muscles of the lower back, upper back, triceps, and shoulders all play a major role in moving the bar, not to mention the smaller stabilizing muscles necessary to control the bar overhead.
If you want to get stronger and build muscle sometimes it’s as simple as moving more weight. The push press is an overhead movement that requires tremendous strength and stabilization from the entire body to maintain the overhead position and more weight can be used than the strict press or military press because the dip and drive from the legs provides momentum to begin the movement. Pressing a bar from the rack position (on the shoulders) with no momentum is extremely difficult because the initial push must come from a position that is weak for the shoulders and arms. This is often the limiting factor in the strict press. In the push press, however, because the legs provide the initial dip and drive necessary to move the bar off the shoulders, the arms and shoulders don’t actually take over until the bar is already moving up, allowing the arms to begin pressing from a more advantageous position. The result is that the athlete is able to push press far more weight then he/she can strict press, with far less wear and tear on the shoulder. The ability to lift more weight will result in greater gains in muscle and strength, as well as an increased hormonal response due to the greater load.
The key to the effectiveness of the push press is in the number of motor units and muscles groups recruited to move the load. Major muscles groups activated during the push press include the quads, hamstrings, glutes, calves, abs, lower back musculature, upper back musculature, shoulders, and triceps. This list does not include the smaller and less involved muscles that are responsible for stabilizing the weight on the shoulders at the beginning of the movement and holding it overhead at the completion of the movement. There are very few exercises that truly incorporate the entire body in a ballistic and powerful coordinated effort like the push press. As a result, the athlete learns to properly recruit each muscle group in an optimal and efficient pattern to produce a great deal of force in a very short amount of time. Nearly every athlete can benefit from being able to produce greater force in a shorter amount of time. Additionally, for athletes or individuals looking to gain muscle, the potential for heavy loads to be lifted overhead and the increased hormonal response as a result of the recruitment of many muscle groups and motor units makes the push press an excellent option for developing muscle. Finally, for those looking to lose weight, the full-body nature of the push press means that you will expend more energy and burn more calories in a shorter period of time than isolation movements. As a result, the push press is an excellent movement for those looking to shed body fat while building muscle.
Implementing the Push Press
For Power/Strength
–Due to the nature of the push press, the dip and drive with the legs must be performed fast and explosively to complete the lift, even at heavy loads. Therefore, when looking to develop power/strength, heavy loads should be utilized for sets of 1-5 reps as the primary or core training exercise in that workout. Rest periods should be 2-3 minutes to maximize recovery and power output.
For Hypertrophy (Muscle-Building)
–When trying to build muscle, moderate to moderate/heavy loads should be utilized for sets of 6-10 reps. While the generally accepted rep range for hypertrophy is somewhere in the area of 8-15 reps, I find that heavy loading for six reps provides plenty of time under tension to build muscle and anything over 10 reps in the push press becomes far too much about endurance to use any appreciable loading. When utilizing the push press as a hypertrophy movement, it can be performed with heavier loads at the beginning of a training session, or as assistance work later in the workout. Rest periods should be between 90 seconds and 2 minutes to allow for adequate recovery.
For Endurance
–When trying to either shed fat or build muscular/cardiovascular endurance, you must keep the reps high and the rest periods minimal. In the case of the push press, 8-15 reps per set are plenty to improve endurance. Again, this may not be the classic prescription for muscular/cardiovascular endurance, (usually in the 15+ rep range) but the push press is a technical and extremely taxing fully-body movement that will require a great deal of time under tension to complete even 8-15 reps. If you are looking for a serious challenge, or just to experience your heart feel like it might pop out of your chest, choose a weight that will challenge you and attempt sets of 15 in the push press. Depending on your training goals, high rep push presses for endurance can be performed anywhere in your workout, but if you are also training for strength/power, do your heavy work first and end your workout with your endurance training. When trying to improve maximal power/strength output, you don’t want to be in a highly fatigued state, which you will be after high rep push presses. Keep rest periods between 30 and 90 seconds.
