Barbell Overhead Pressing: Technique & Variations

Does pressing a barbell overhead confuse or intimidate you? Are you unsure if you're doing pressing movements optimally or safely?

We've got you covered!

In this post we’re going to walk you through optimal stance, positions - the differences between overhead barbell pressing movements, and much more!

First we’re starting off with foot stance.

Your stance can make a BIG difference in the safety and load of your lift.

Often times, we'll see individuals press with their feet too close together, way too far apart, or the worst culprit, with a staggered foot stance.

When barbell overhead pressing, optimal stance is with your feet just about shoulder width apart. This is going to give you maximum stability and power to press the most load overhead.

This stance carries over into any overhead movement your performing: strict press, push press or push jerk - each movement starts with your feet shoulder width apart.

So now that we got the foot stance covered, let's move onto your elbow positioning!

Ever wonder how and where to position your elbows on a strict press, push press and/or push jerk?

A major difference between these three lifts is your starting position… and more specifically, your elbow position.

So let’s relate your elbows to a clock.

Strict press: Start with your elbows just slightly in front of the bar at 5 o’clock

Push press: Elbows slightly higher than strict press at 4 o’clock

Push jerk: In this movement your starting position is similar to your front rack position - elbows are at 3 o’clock

For each movement, start with your hands just outside shoulder width standing with a neutral spine and tight core. Then position your elbows accordingly!

And lastly, the one thing that can add some serious weight to your barbell..... LEG DRIVE.

For the purpose of this post, we'll cover leg drive in a push press specifically.

Because we see a lack of powerful leg drive in this movement way too often... which ultimately means you'll be missing out on adding more weight to your overhead movements.

Our biggest piece of advice is to stop thinking of a push press as an upper body exercise and start thinking of it as a leg exercise.

The more powerful and aggressive your leg drive in the push press, the more weight you’ll be able to lift overhead, and the more efficient you’ll be cycling a barbell overhead in metcons.

The most common mistakes we see in the push press are:

❌ too much leg drive / squatting the bar - which leads to wasted energy

❌ too little leg drive and too slow of a dip - which leads to less power - don’t be afraid to use your LEGS (they’re much stronger than your upper body)

❌ knees caving in (EEEK) which leads to less power and more prone to injury

When you’re push pressing, think about a SHORT and AGGRESSIVE dip and drive, almost like you’re sitting back onto a high stool chair that’s 300 degrees (so of course you're going to aggressively pop up off the chair to save your ass from burning).

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