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In an effort to be cool, personal trainers have come up with many new exercises using various equipment. These include things like wobble board squats and stability ball bench presses. In my opinion nearly all of these movements are useless if you are trying to increase strength and gain muscle mass. Time and time again the old-school exercises defeat the new exercises. There are various reasons for this, which we won’t get into here, but if you need to be convinced then simply observe the bodies of those who train with these exercises. The point is that while these new exercises are ineffective, they have caught-on in some gyms simply because they are different. This isn’t so devastating in itself, but many of these new exercises seem to have pushed the classic exercises from the gym entirely. One such classic exercise is the overhead press. Now, the overhead press has always been somewhat of an endangered animal due to the huge popularity of the bench press, but now it is nearly extinct in most gyms. So it’s time for a reintroduction to this classic mass builder. As mentioned, the bench press is by far the most popular variation of the press, likely due to its activation of the pectorals. However, if you have become too bench press oriented in your programming you have likely seen a stagnation in your strength and size gains. One of the best ways to get your bench press moving again is to increase your strength in the overhead press. By focusing on the overhead press the delts, triceps, and traps will all get stronger and bigger, which will translate to a bigger bench press. I strongly recommend that most trainees drop the bench press entirely for at least 2 months every year to focus on the overhead press. Do not worry about your bench press strength, it will be much better when you return to it. There are many ways that overhead presses can be done. The first obvious choice is whether to use dumbbells or a barbell. You can then choose to be seated or standing. In this article we are going to focus on the standing barbell variations as these will typically give you the most bang for your buck. Standing Front Overhead Press This is the classic version of the overhead press, with the barbell in front of the head at the collarbones. The bar is pressed overhead until the arms are straight. The finished position is with the bar directly over the head, even with the ears. Standing Behind-the-Neck Overhead Press This variation is the same as the Front Overhead Press, except that the bar starts resting on the traps, just as you would for a high-bar back squat. From this position the bar is pressed overhead and then returned to the upper back. Standing Bradford Press The Bradford Press is a combination of the Front and Behind-the-Neck Presses. The starting position is the same as the Front Press. From this position the bar is pressed to a position just above the head and then brought down onto the upper back. From the upper back the bar is pressed as in the Behind-the-Neck Press, but only to a level slightly above the head and then brought back to the front of the body. This is one repetition. Push Press The Push Press is a variation on the Front and Behind-the-Neck Presses, although it is most often performed with the bar in front of the head as in the Front Press. From this position the motion of the arms is the same as in the Front Press. The only difference is that the movement is initiated with a slight bend in the knees followed by an explosive extension of the knees. This brings the leg muscles into play which will allow you to use more weight. Try one or more of these overhead pressing variations in your workout program instead of the bench press. If you do I know you will be pleased with the strength and muscle gains you experience.
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