Barbell Press
You stand tall with the barbell resting in front of your shoulders and your elbows under the bar. From there you drive it up fast until your arms are straight and the bar is stacked over the middle of your feet. Then you lower it under control back to your shoulders.
The barbell press is a standing overhead push. The bar rests in front of your shoulders and you press it overhead until your arms are straight.
Your front and middle delts do the pressing, and your triceps straighten your elbows to finish the lift. The upper part of your chest helps. Your serratus anterior rotates your shoulder blade upwards and your upper traps steer it, so your arm can travel overhead.
Nothing is supporting you, so your abdominal wall holds your trunk firm while your glutes and legs keep you steady.
You progress by adding weight to the bar. Start on a lighter bar and move up to the 20-kilo bar once you can press it cleanly.
Starting position
Grip width. Set your hands so your thumb just reaches your shoulder. That width suits most people. To check it, take the bar out and look at your arms: your elbows should be bent to roughly 90 degrees and tucked close to your ribs. Stacking your wrist over your elbow keeps the press travelling in a straight line. Remember where your thumb sits against the knurl marks and you will find the same grip every time.
A narrower grip gives your triceps more of the work and brings your elbows further forward. A wider grip shifts more of it to your shoulders.
Taking the bar out. Always walk into the rack from the open side, so at the end of a set you can step back in and set the bar straight down. Step in so the bar is against your chest, lift it out of the hooks and brace: chest up and slightly forward, shoulders back and down, stomach tight.
The bar path. The bar travels straight up. Pull your head back a little as you press and push your chest forward, so the bar clears your chin. At the top the bar is stacked over the middle of your feet. Press up fast, lower under control. Your legs stay still: the drive comes from your shoulders and arms.
Breathing. Breathe in at the bottom, brace your stomach, then press. As soon as the bar is back down, let the air out and take a new breath. Breathing happens at the bottom, between reps.
The three cues
- Chest up, shoulders back and down, stomach tight
- Elbows under the bar
- Fast up, slow down
Common faults
| Fault | How to fix it |
|---|---|
| You push the bar forward around your chin | Pull your head back a little as you press and push your chest forward. The bar then travels straight past your chin. |
| You lean well back as you press | Chest up, shoulders back and down, stomach tight, as if someone were about to poke you in the stomach. If your lower back still arches, the weight is too heavy. |
| Your elbows start behind or beside the bar | Bring your elbows under the bar and set your wrists above them. From there you press in a straight line. |
| You breathe in and out at the top with the bar overhead | Breathe at the bottom and hold at the top. Breathing in with the bar overhead loosens your brace. |
| You let the bar drop on the way down | Fast up, slow down. Lowering the bar is part of the rep. |
Variations
| Variation | When to use it |
|---|---|
| Light bar | Every gym has lighter bars, around ten kilos. Use one to learn your grip width, the path past your chin and the breathing while the weight is still light enough to let you. |
| Twenty-kilo bar, no plates | Once you can press the twenty-kilo bar for ten clean reps, it becomes your working bar. |
| Bar with plates | Fast up, slow down, and at the top the bar stacked over the middle of your feet. Add plates in small jumps. |
| Heavier bar, same breathing | The heavier the bar, the more your stance underneath it matters. Breathe in at the bottom, build the pressure, press, then breathe again at the bottom. |
Reps and load
Andreas's tempo: press up fast, lower under control. Your legs stay still: the drive comes from your shoulders and arms.
Put the press early in the session while you are fresh. Always walk into the rack from the open side, so at the end of a set you can step back in and set the bar straight down.
From the studio floor: the press is one of the oldest lifts there is — people were pushing weight overhead long before anyone thought of the bench press. Everyday life rarely asks for it now, which is exactly why it is worth training.
Which muscles do the work
| Muscle | Role | What it does here |
|---|---|---|
| Front deltoid M. deltoideus, pars clavicularis | Prime mover | Lifts your upper arm forward and up |
| Middle deltoid M. deltoideus, pars acromialis | Prime mover | Lifts your upper arm out to the side |
| Triceps M. triceps brachii | Synergist | Straightens your elbow and finishes the lift |
| Upper chest M. pectoralis major, pars clavicularis | Synergist | Helps lift your upper arm from the front |
| Serratus anterior M. serratus anterior | Synergist | Rotates your shoulder blade upwards so your arm can travel overhead |
| Upper trapezius M. trapezius, pars descendens | Synergist | Rotates your collarbone and steers your shoulder blade as your arm rises |
| Abdominal wall M. rectus abdominis, mm. obliqui | Stabiliser | Holds your trunk firm so the press travels in a straight line |
| Glutes and legs Mm. glutei, m. quadriceps femoris | Stabiliser | Keeps your base steady under the bar |
Your front and middle delts do the pressing, your triceps straighten your elbows and the upper part of your chest helps. Your serratus anterior rotates your shoulder blade upwards while your upper traps steer it. Your abdominal wall, glutes and legs hold your body firm underneath the bar.
Explained in full
Andreas works through the press from the ground up: walking into the rack and setting the bar down safely, finding his grip width from thumb to shoulder and repeating it off the knurl marks, and what changes when the grip goes narrower or wider. He then covers the path past the chin, the brace, the breathing and which muscles do the work. · 12:44
Seeing it done right is not the same as doing it right
Video, cues and variations take you a long way. What they cannot give you is an outside eye at the moment the movement isn't quite there yet. That is what training with me is for — in the studio or in a workshop.
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Sources
Coratella G, Tornatore G, Longo S, Esposito F, Cè E. (2022). An Electromyographic Analysis of Front and Back Barbell and Machine Overhead Press. Front Physiol 13:825880. DOI: 10.3389/fphys.2022.825880 — Measures muscle activity in eight male competitive bodybuilders (29.8 ± 3.0 years, 10.6 years of training on average) during barbell overhead pressing in front of and behind the head and on a machine. Front, middle and rear deltoid, upper trapezius, pectoralis major and triceps are all demonstrably involved in the front press. The basis for which muscles appear in the table at all. The values are normalised per muscle, so comparing across muscles is not valid and no ranking can be drawn from them. Young, highly trained men; no measurement in people aged 40 to 60 training two to four hours a week. (Evidence type: EMG)
Saeterbakken AH, Fimland MS. (2013). Effects of body position and loading modality on muscle activity and strength in shoulder presses. J Strength Cond Res 27(7):1824–1831. DOI: 10.1519/JSC.0b013e318276b873 — Compares overhead pressing standing and seated, with a barbell and with dumbbells, in 15 healthy men. Standing gave higher middle and rear deltoid activity than seated, and the barbell gave higher triceps activity than dumbbells. The basis for treating the deltoid and triceps as the load-bearing muscles of this lift. The standing-versus-seated difference at the front deltoid was not statistically secure. Age and training status are not reported, and no women took part. (Evidence type: EMG)
Saeterbakken AH, Fimland MS. (2012). Muscle activity of the core during bilateral, unilateral, seated and standing resistance exercise. Eur J Appl Physiol 112(5):1671–1678. DOI: 10.1007/s00421-011-2141-7 — Measures trunk muscle activity during seated and standing overhead pressing in 15 healthy men. Rectus abdominis and external oblique worked considerably less seated than standing. The basis for listing the abdominal wall as a stabiliser here and for treating the stance as part of the exercise. The long back muscles showed no seated-versus-standing difference. What was measured was the dumbbell version rather than the barbell; age and training status are not reported. (Evidence type: EMG)
Gundersen AH, Krosshaug T, Mausehund L, van den Tillaar R, Larsen S. (2026). The impact of grip width on kinetics and kinematics in the shoulder press. Sports Biomech 25(6):841–854. DOI: 10.1080/14763141.2025.2590028 — Measures in three dimensions what grip width changes in the overhead press, in eleven resistance-trained men (25.9 ± 3.1 years). The narrow grip went with a smaller moment at the shoulder, more load lifted and a larger range at shoulder and elbow; the wide grip with a smaller moment at the elbow. The basis for the statement on this page that a narrower grip puts more on the triceps and a wider grip more on the shoulders. What was measured are joint moments, not muscle activity, so no statement about activation shares follows from it. A seated version, eleven young men. (Evidence type: Kinetik und Kinematik)
Ludewig PM, Cook TM, Nawoczenski DA. (1996). Three-dimensional scapular orientation and muscle activity at selected positions of humeral elevation. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther 24(2):57–65. DOI: 10.2519/jospt.1996.24.2.57 — Measures how the shoulder blade turns as the arm is raised, and which muscles work progressively harder, in 25 symptom-free people aged 19 to 37. As the arm angle rises the shoulder blade rotates progressively upwards and tips backwards; upper and lower trapezius, levator scapulae and serratus anterior all work increasingly hard. The basis for having serratus anterior and upper trapezius in the table. What was measured were static, unloaded arm positions in the plane of the scapula, not a barbell press. (Evidence type: Kinematik und EMG)
Johnson G, Bogduk N, Nowitzke A, House D. (1994). Anatomy and actions of the trapezius muscle. Clin Biomech 9(1):44–50. DOI: 10.1016/0268-0033(94)90057-4 — Examines the course and line of action of the individual parts of the trapezius in anatomical preparations. The transverse upper and middle fibres cannot anatomically elevate the shoulder blade; they draw it backwards or rotate the collarbone. The basis for describing the upper trapezius in the table as guiding the shoulder blade and turning the collarbone rather than lifting the shoulder — the common wording does not fit. Preparations rather than living people, and no exercise measurement. (Evidence type: Anatomische Untersuchung)
Tayashiki K, Takai Y, Maeo S, Kanehisa H. (2016). Intra-abdominal Pressure and Trunk Muscular Activities during Abdominal Bracing and Hollowing. Int J Sports Med 37(2):134–143. DOI: 10.1055/s-0035-1559771 — Measures intra-abdominal pressure and trunk muscle activity in seven young men during deliberate abdominal bracing compared with hollowing. Bracing produced many times the intra-abdominal pressure that hollowing did. The basis for describing the brace on this page. Seven young men, no lifting task and no measurement at the spine. (Evidence type: Laborstudie)
Cholewicki J, Juluru K, Radebold A, Panjabi MM, McGill SM. (1999). Lumbar spine stability can be augmented with an abdominal belt and/or increased intra-abdominal pressure. Eur Spine J 8(5):388–395. DOI: 10.1007/s005860050192 — Measures in ten people how raised intra-abdominal pressure affects trunk stiffness. In flexion and lateral bending stiffness rose clearly. The basis for treating the firm stomach on this page as part of the execution. An important limitation: for the extension direction — the very leaning back that occurs in the press — the increase was not statistically secure. A semi-seated rig rather than a press; ten people, age not reported. (Evidence type: Laborstudie)
MacDougall JD, Tuxen D, Sale DG, Moroz JR, Sutton JR. (1985). Arterial blood pressure response to heavy resistance exercise. J Appl Physiol 58(3):785–790. DOI: 10.1152/jappl.1985.58.3.785 — Measures arterial blood pressure directly during heavy resistance exercise in five experienced male bodybuilders, including overhead pressing. Values rose very steeply during the sets, in one person above 480 over 350 mmHg, and the mouth pressures recorded confirm a Valsalva component. This sits here as context for the breathing Andreas teaches in the film: holding your breath gives stability and meanwhile raises blood pressure sharply. No separate value is reported for the overhead press, light-headedness and fainting were not recorded, and the five men were young and very well trained — people between 40 and 60 with age-typical blood pressure risk do not appear in it. (Evidence type: Messung am Menschen)
Williams MA, Haskell WL, Ades PA, Amsterdam EA, Bittner V, Franklin BA, Gulanick M, Laing ST, Stewart KJ. (2007). Resistance exercise in individuals with and without cardiovascular disease: 2007 update. Circulation 116(5):572–584. DOI: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.107.185214 — A recommendation from the American Heart Association on resistance training. It advises explicitly against breath-holding and straining, and in favour of exhaling during the effort. That runs counter to the breathing Andreas teaches in the film for heavy sets, which is common practice in strength training. A recommendation rather than evidence of harm, and addressed in part to people with cardiovascular disease. It is listed here so the picture is complete. (Evidence type: Fachgesellschafts-Empfehlung)
A note on context: EMG studies show which muscles an exercise recruits — that is a good reason to pick it, but it does not replace adjusting things to the person in front of you. See a doctor for persistent or severe pain.