What muscles does the overhead press work?

Mainly the shoulders (deltoids), especially the front and side. The triceps and core work as secondary muscles, and the upper back and traps help hold the bar overhead.

Is the overhead press bad for your shoulders?

Not for healthy shoulders with a sensible load and the bar path close to your face. If pressing hurts, try dumbbells or a landmine press, which let your arms find a more comfortable angle, and lower the weight.

Military press or overhead press?

In most gyms they mean the same lift: a strict press of a barbell from your shoulders to overhead. Some people use "military press" only for a version with the heels together.

Why is my overhead press so much weaker than my bench?

That is normal. The shoulders are smaller muscles than the chest, and pressing overhead uses a less stable position. Expect to press noticeably less overhead than on the bench.

Behind the neck or in front?

In front. Pressing from behind the neck needs a lot of shoulder mobility and puts the shoulders in an awkward position, for no clear extra benefit.

Overhead Press: Muscles Worked and How to Do It

How to do an overhead press

Set the bar in a rack at about the height of your collarbones. Grip it just outside shoulder width, thumbs wrapped around.
Step under it so the bar rests on the front of your shoulders, close to your collarbones, with your forearms close to vertical and your elbows slightly in front of the bar.
Lift it off the hooks and take a step back. Stand with your feet about hip width apart.
Squeeze your glutes, brace your stomach and take a breath. Your body should be one solid column from feet to shoulders.
Press the bar straight up, moving your head back slightly so the bar passes your chin.
Once the bar passes your forehead, move your head forward under it. Finish with your arms straight and the bar over the middle of your foot, in line with your ears.
Lower it under control back to your collarbones. Breathe and brace again before the next rep.

Cues that help

"Squeeze your glutes": it locks your hips and stops you leaning back to turn the lift into an incline bench press.
"Head through the window": once the bar passes your face, push your head forward so you finish with the bar over your head, not in front of it.
"Elbows slightly forward at the start": it puts your forearms under the bar and gives a straighter path up.
"Bar close to your face": the shortest path is a straight line. Pressing around your face makes it heavier.

Common mistakes

Leaning back to finish a rep. It shifts the work onto your upper chest and loads your lower back. Lower the weight and keep your glutes tight.
Pressing the bar forward around your face. A bar that drifts in front of you is harder to press and stresses the shoulders.
Elbows flared out wide at the bottom. Start with them slightly in front of the bar.
Using your legs without meaning to. A small knee dip turns it into a push press, a different lift. Keep your knees straight for the strict press.
Stopping short at the top. Finish with your arms straight and the bar over your head, so each rep has the same range.

Standing or seated?

Both build the shoulders. Standing asks more of your core and balance; seated, with a back rest, lets you focus on your shoulders and usually lift a bit more.

A 2013 study measured 15 men pressing standing and seated, with a barbell and with dumbbells. Pressing seated reduced the rear shoulder's activity by about a quarter with both, compared with standing. The standing dumbbell press produced the highest shoulder muscle activity, but it was the version where they could lift the least: about 7% less than the standing barbell press and 10% less than the seated dumbbell press (Saeterbakken and Fimland, 2013).

So: standing with a barbell to build strength you can load and track in small steps, dumbbells for variety, and seated when your lower back or balance is the limit.

Sets, reps and weight

The overhead press progresses slower than lower-body lifts or the bench press, because the shoulders are smaller muscles. Small jumps matter.

For strength: 3 to 5 sets of 3 to 6 reps, resting 3 to 4 minutes.
For muscle: 3 to 4 sets of 6 to 12 reps, resting 2 to 3 minutes.
Leave 1 to 3 reps in reserve; a grinding last rep is when people lean back.
Add weight in small steps of 1 to 2.5kg. Small plates (0.5 or 1.25kg) help when 2.5kg is too much of a jump.

Warm up your shoulders with a few lighter sets first. The warm-up calculator below builds them from your working weight.

Variations and alternatives

Dumbbell shoulder press: each arm works on its own and the dumbbells can follow a more natural path for your shoulders.
Seated press: a back rest takes your core and balance out of it.
Push press: a small knee dip and drive help the bar off your shoulders, letting you handle more weight.
Landmine press: one end of the bar is anchored, so you press up and forward at an angle. Often more comfortable for sore shoulders.
Machine shoulder press: a fixed path, easy to take close to failure safely.

Tracking your overhead press

Because progress on the press comes in small steps, a log is the only way to see it. PushBeyond logs each set's weight and reps, estimates your one-rep max from your best set with the Epley formula, and charts the history of the lift. Its muscle map counts the overhead press for your shoulders, with triceps and core as secondary muscles.

Overhead press: muscles worked and how to do it

At a glance