Front delts exercise
Barbell Overhead Press (Standing)How to do it, with form in numbers
- Main muscles
- Front delts
- Also works
- Side delts, Triceps, Upper chest
- Equipment
- Barbell
- Level
- Intermediate
How to do it
How do you do the Barbell Overhead Press?
- Grip the bar just outside your shoulders and rest it on your collarbones.
- Stand tall, feet shoulder-width, squeeze your glutes and brace.
- Press straight up, moving your head back so the bar passes your face.
- Lock out over the middle of your head, then lower to your collarbones.
Cues
- Bar over the middle of your feet
- Head through at the top
- Ribs down, glutes tight
Common mistakes
- Leaning back to finish the press: squeeze glutes and keep ribs down.
- Bar swinging forward round the face: move your head back instead.
- Elbows flared out wide: keep them slightly in front of the bar.
Form in detail
What does good form look like?
Starting position
Standing, bar taken from a rack set at about chest or shoulder height. Feet about shoulder-width apart, flat, toes forward or slightly out; knees straight but not locked once the bar is out of the rack. Pronated, closed grip (palms forward, thumbs round). Wrists straight, the bar over the heel of the palm. Torso braced, ribs down, glutes tight, head neutral, eyes forward.
The movement
Bar travels in a near-vertical line over the mid-foot. On the way up the head moves back a little (slight neck extension) so the bar clears the chin and nose, then moves forward under the bar once it passes the forehead. The elbows swing from in front of the bar to under it and then lock out. Hips, knees and feet stay still; no knee dip, no backward lean. The way down reverses the path, the head moving back again as the bar passes the face.
End position
(turnaround point): arms straight, elbows at about 175–180° (extended, not snapped). Bar directly over the shoulder joints and the middle of the foot, above the crown of the head. Upper arms close to the ears. Head comes back to neutral under the bar ("through the window"), torso upright with no lean back.
Tempo
About 1.5 s up, a 0.3 s hold at lockout, about 2 s down, a 0.3 s rest on the collarbones.
Form in numbers
What are the angles and distances?
| Measure | Target | Good range | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| Forearm from vertical, front view, bottom | 0° | 0–10° | |
| Bar at the bottom | on the collarbones | upper chest to chin height | |
| Elbow at lockout | 178° | 170–180°, no snap | |
| Bar horizontal drift from mid-foot line | 0 cm | under 5 cm | |
| Torso lean back from vertical | 0° | 0–5° |
The targets our 3D demo was built to, from the references below. Bodies differ, so treat the ranges as a guide for your own build.
For coaches
Use this demo in your clients’ programs
The Barbell Overhead Press is in Trainaq’s exercise library. Add it to a workout, and your client sees this demo in the free Trainaq app above the sets they log.
Sources
