Barbell Seated Overhead Press

How to do the barbell seated overhead press with proper form to build strong, stable shoulders

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How to perform

1. Sit upright on a bench with your feet flat on the floor and a slight natural arch in your lower back.
2. Grasp the bar with an overhand grip slightly wider than your shoulders, unrack it, and bring it to the front of your shoulders with palms facing forward.
3. Brace your core, press your feet into the ground, and exhale as you push the bar straight overhead.
4. Extend your arms fully so the bar finishes directly above your shoulders, then pause for a moment.
5. Inhale and slowly lower the bar under control until it is back at shoulder level.
6. Repeat for the planned number of reps without arching your back excessively.

Muscles worked

The seated overhead press is a compound pushing movement that builds the delts, with the triceps extending the elbows and the upper back stabilizing the shoulder blades.

• Delts — drive the arms overhead, doing the primary work
• Triceps — extend the elbows as the bar travels up
• Upper back — stabilizes the shoulder blades under load

Make it easier

Use a lighter bar or an EZ-bar, or press seated with a backrest set to a high angle. Start with dumbbells if a straight bar is uncomfortable on your wrists or shoulders.

Make it harder

Add weight, slow the lowering phase to a three-second count, or pause at the bottom for two seconds to remove the bounce out of the hole. Pressing with a wider grip also shifts more tension to the delts.

Common mistakes

Mistake: Arching your lower back to push the bar up. Fix: brace your core and keep the ribs down, pressing with the shoulders instead of the spine. Mistake: Lowering the bar behind your neck. Fix: bring the bar to the front of your shoulders and keep it slightly in front of your head on the way up. Mistake: Flaring the elbows straight out to the sides. Fix: keep the elbows angled slightly forward, roughly 45 degrees from your torso. Mistake: Bouncing the bar off your shoulders between reps. Fix: pause at the bottom and press from a dead stop.