Nailing The Overhead Press by Paul Carter
Nailing the overhead press originally published on T-Nation by Paul Carter
Here’s what you need to know…
• Using a thumbless grip on overhead pressing allows for a better path of the bar by bringing it in closer to the centerline of the body. It’s also easier on the shoulders and wrists.
• Start with a shoulder-width grip. As a visual cue, rotate your hands back towards your delts. If your thumb grazes the outside of them, you’ve got it right.
• Contract your glutes, abs, and quads when you press. The more tension you have throughout the body, the stronger you’ll be.
• Activate the biceps on the eccentric portion of the press. When you lower the bar, think about doing a sort of hammer curl towards your face/ears.
• Press with a purpose. That means press with violence and hate. Try to think about throwing it through the ceiling.
Lots of guys these days shit on any form of seated press, but I’m not sure why. The entire purpose of pressing overhead is simply to build bigger and stronger shoulders. Whether you’re seated or standing doesn’t really matter unless you’re a competitive strongman and … (read more here)
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Friday 20th June 2014
Press 57.5kg x5, 65kg x3, 72.5kg x7 then a drop set of 55kg x7 (60s rest)
DB Press 20kg x10x10x9x8x7
EZ Curls 30kg x10x10x10x10x8 (30s rest)
Machine Rear Delt (6) x10x10x10x10 (superset with lat raise)
DB Lat Raise 7.5kg x10x10x10x10 (superset with rear delt) – 60s rest, stopwatch started at end of rear delt reps, but lat raise then performed so approx 30s between supersets
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Friday 6th June 2014
Press 85kg x1, 70kg x6, 60kg x6 (60s rest)
DB Standing Overhead Press 25kg x10, 22.5kg x9, 20kg x9x8x7 (60s)
EZ Curls 25kg x10x10x10x10x10 (60s)
DB Rear Raise 10kg x10x10x10 (Superset with Lat Raise)
DB Lat Raise 10kg x10, 7.5kg x10x9 (Superset with Rear Raise)
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Wednesday 12th March 2014
Seated Press 60kg x5x5x10, followed by DB Lat Raise 7.5kg x19
Weighted Chins 20kg x8x7x5 (after each press set)
‘V’ Grip Pulldown (12) x10+5+3 RP (30 secs after last chin set)
Weighted Dips 20kg x17+6+4 RP
Lying Leg Curls (4) x12x11x9
Ab Wheel x12x12x11 (superset with leg curls)
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Monday 30th December 2013
Not going to get in for a few days as going away for new year – Thought I’d try a shoulder session to see how it feels ..
Seated Smith Shoulder Press (No Back rest) 60kg x5x5x5, then 40kg x10 – chins between sets
Seated DB Press 22kg x10x10, 20kg x10x9x8 superset with Cable Curls 22.5kg x10x10x10x10x10
Prone DB Rear Raise 8kg x10x10x10 superset with Standing Lat Raise 5kg x10x10x10
– Won’t do that again! Felt not too bad at the time, but next morning.. ouch
Smith Press has ruined me, really irritated rotator cuff so will leave shoulders alone for a while :- (
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Thursday 31st October 2013
Seated Shoulder Press 65kg x5x5x8
V Grip Pulldown (10) x15x15x15 (between press sets)
Dips x20x20x13 (60s rest)
45 Degree Leg Press 320kg x20
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Sunday 29th September 2013
Seated Press 67.5kg x4x4x7
V Grip Pulldown (14) x12x9x8 (between press sets)
Dips x26x15x12
Deadlift 167.5kg x3
Machine Lever Deadlift 200kg x3x3
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Wednesday 18th September 2013
Press 72.5kg x4x4x7
V Grip Pulldown (14) x9x8x7 (after each press set)
EZ Tricep Extensions x12x8, 45kg x8x6
Deadlift 162.5kg x7
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Thursday 12th September 2013
Press 72.5kg x3x3x5, followed up with 60kg x8 (60s rest) – still a slight niggle in shoulder, but it’s not massively affecting lifts
Weighted Chins 30kg x6x5 (between press sets), followed up with Reverse Grip Pulldown (13) x14 (60s rest)
EZ Tricep Extensions 47.5kg x10x8, 45kg x7x6 (60s rest)
Deadlift 160kg x5
Later in day taught a SPIN class
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Sunday 8th September 2013
Press 70kg x5x5x8
Weighted Chins (between Press sets) 30kg x5x5, then after 60s Reverse Grip Pulldown (13) x14
EZ Tricep Extensions 45kg x12x10x8x6 (60s rest)
Power Clean & Press 60kg x5, 80kg x3, 90kgx1, 100kgx1x1
Deadlift 155kg x8
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Sunday 1st September 2013
Press 70kg x4x4x7
Weighted Chins 30kg (Between press sets) x6x5+ Reverse Grip Pulldown (13) x13 (60s rest)
EZ Tricep Extensions 45kg x12x10x7x5 (60s rest)
Deadlift 152.5kg x7
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Tuesday 27th August 2013
Press 67.5kg x5x5x9, then followed up with Reverse Grip Pulldowns (12) x15 (60s rest)
Weighted Chins 28kg x6x6 (Between Press sets)
EZ Tricep Extensions 45kg x12x9x7x5 (60s)
Deadlift 150kg x9
Shoulder slowly feeling better, still struggling on overhead press, but I can at least do it now! Dips still not happening so sticking to the extensions for now
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Wednesday 21st August 2013
Press 65kg x5x5x5 (didn’t max on last set, happy that my shoulder is behaving for now!)
Weighted Chins 30kg x4x4, then Reverse Grip Pulldown 70kg x15
EZ Tricep Extensions 42.5kg x12x10x8x6 (90s rest)
Deadlift 100kg x10, 110kg x5, 120kg x3, 130kg x3, 140kg x5 – Working on technique so keeping weight/reps down
Seated V Bar Row 80kg x10x10x8x7 (60s)
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Friday 26th July 2013
Press 72.5kg x5x5x7, 60 secs rest then 60kg x9 – Belt came undone on rep 3 of last set (you can just about hear it go on video), a little offputting but still managed to grind out 7 reps – think it’s about time I got a new one!
Weighted Chins 27.75kg x7, 26.5 x6 (between first two Press sets)
Weighted Dips 25.25kg x12x10x8x7 (60 secs rest)
Power Cleans up to 110kg x1
Deadlift 147.5kg x8
Neck Harness 12kg x40x40x40x40
Not done Power Cleans in a while so happy to get 110kg up! also deadlift felt better after doing them so going to bring them back in for a while. Good session all round today 🙂
Later in day did a random session with a member:
Leg Press 220kg x10, dropped to 200kg x10
Leg Extension/Leg Curl Superset (no rest between any sets, just long enough to swap machines) 70kg x10x10x10
Leg Press Toe Press 180kg x10x8x8x6 (rest as long as it took other person to complete)
EZ Cable Curl 25kg x10x10, 20kg x10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10 (rest as above)
Dips x10x10x10x10x10, Pushdowns 40kg x10, 30kg x10x10, 25kg x10x10 (rest as above)
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Thursday 18th July 2013
Press 70kg x5x5x8, 60 secs rest then Seated DB Shoulder Press 20kg x16
Weighted Chins 27.75kg x6, 26.5kg x5 (superset with first two press sets)
Weighted Dips 25.25kg x12x8x6x5 (60s)
Deadlift 145kg x9 – Weight still too forward, may take these right back to 100kg to practice tekkers if I can’t rectify it soon!
Later in day did a little Ab blast:
Ab Sling Straight Leg Raise to Bar x10x10x6(+ 4 swinging crappy ones) (60s rest)
Cable Twist 12.5kg x10x10x10 (no rest between sides, 30s rest between sets)
Kettlebell Windmills 20kg x10x10 (60s)
Weighted Crunch 25kg x40 (30s) x30 (20s) x20 (10s) x10
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Wednesday 26th June 2013
Press 65kg x5x5x9
Weighted Chins 25.25kg x8x6
Dips x25x17x13 (90s rest)
Deadlift 140kg x9, then a back off set of 100kg x12
Starting to get some aches and niggles around rotator cuff so stopping the rest-pause training for now. Also lowered weight on all my main lifts to focus on form and work back up to where I was with (hopefully) more strength.
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Thursday 6th June 2013
Press 57.5kg x3, 67.5kg x3, 75kg x3+1+1 RP followed up with 10kg DB Lat Raise x20
Weighted Chins 24kg x8x6
Dips x30x14x9 (30-60s rest)
Romanian Deadlift 100kg x12 – Felt much better at a lower weight, going to keep the reps high on these an work up slowly.
Had a few minutes left to waste so did some more dips on the way out x20x9x5 with approx 20s rest
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Monday 25th March 2013
Press 52.5kg x5, 60kg x5, 70kg x8+2+1 RP – Followed by 10kg DB Lat Raise x12
Deadlift 180kg x2
Speed Deadlifts 150kg x3x3x3
Power Shrugs 120kg x5x5
Lever Row 105kg x5x5
Reverse Grip Pulldown (16)x5x5
Arched Back Good Mornings 77.5kg x5x5
Lying Leg Curl (5) x15+8+6 RP
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Wednesday 13th March 2013
Press 55kg x3, 62.5kg x3, 70kg x8+1+1 RP followed up with 10kg DB Lat Raises x12
Deadlift 160kg x3x3x3 – Form a little better than last week, lower back still rounding a little on the pull but felt better overall.
Speed Deadlift 130kg x3x3x3
Power Shrugs 102.5kg x5x5x5
Reverse-Grip Pulldown (14) x5x5x5
Stiff-Legged Deadlifts 120kg x5x5x5
Bent Over Row 90kg x5x5x5
Arched back Good Mornings 75kg x5x5x5
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Monday 21st January 2013
Seated Press 51kg x3, 60kg x3, 66kg x9+2+1 RP – (No Wraps) Lost Grip on rep 10, but going to persevere without the wraps for now to improve wrist strength.
Weighted Chins 22.5kg x8+2+1 RP
Bicep Curls 26kg x5, 36kg x10+5+3 RP
Stiff-Legged Deadlift 53.5kg x5, 75kg x15
Deadlift 120kg x3, 136kg x3, 153.5kg x8 – Felt a bit better than last weeks lifts, but still got technique issues when I watch it back. Weight too far forward – I’m going to do more warm-up sets to work on it.
Weighted Dips 30kg x13+4+3 RP
‘V’ Grip Pulldown to Chest (14) x9+3+2 RP
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Wednesday 26th December 2012
Had few internet issues over Christmas so haven’t posted in a while. Managed to get down the gym on boxing day to burn off some of the alcohol over last few days!
Seated Press 52.5kg x5, 60kg x3, 66kg x9, 52.5kg x12+4+3 RP
Weighted chins (PF) 15kg x7+3+2 RP
Bicep Curls 30kg x5, 37.5kg x6+3+” RP
Stiff-Legged Deadlift 65kg x5, 80kg x17
Sumo Deadlift 95kg x5, 107.5kg x3, 120kg x9
Weighted Dips 20kg x12+6+4 RP
‘V’ pulldown (12) x11+5+3 RP
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Friday 23rd November 2012
Shoulders feeling a bit battered lately, but I’ve been a bit lapse with mobility work lately so probably to blame!
DB Bench Press 37.5kg x10+3+2RP
Press 55kg x9+3+2RP
Weighted Dips 15kg x15+5+3RP
‘V’ Grip Pulldown to Chest (10) x10+5+3
Rack Pull 120kg x12 – Not too happy with form here, definitely got some lean-back at the top, so didn’t take the weight any higher.
Lever Deadlift 300kg x1 – Felt like just seeing how heavy I could go on this, Going to try 320kg next time!
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Friday 9th November 2012
Finally back online after the move! Busy old week, been increasing my training volume again as I’ve been keeping it simple lately. Did my core & stretch stretch on Tuesday night, I’m doing frequency chins & push-ups on my non-training days (currently sitting at 6 sets of 18 press-ups & 7 chins), previously I’d been forcing the reps out on these so I’m really trying hard to only do reps that feel easy. Once they start to feel like they’re slowing down or requiring more strength I stop the set. Double Spin last night so feeling it in the legs today as usual!
Press 73.5kg x6+1+1 – Decided to start doing some rest-pause training lately as feeling bored of the 3 sets with long rest that strength training usually calls for, and I’ve always enjoyed doing it in the past. I think I’ll take a re-set however, next press session – the two rest pause lifts were killers!
Had 1 minute rest then did 16 reps with 20kg DB’s
Weighted chins 23.75kg x5+2+2, then ‘V’ grip pulldown to chest 17 reps at level 10
Weighted dips 25kg x12+6+4, then unweighted x16
Romanian deadlifts as warm-up, up to 140kg x4
Lever deadlift (plate loaded) 160kg x10 – still feeling easy (compared to 160kg bar!) – going to go for 180kg next session
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Sunday 21st October 2012
A good session today, Sundays are typically quiet, was nice to have the gym pretty much to myself. I’ve decided to give deadlifts a break for a while, I did some Romanian deadlifts today to warm up for them, but when I went to the bar, my back felt a bit sore from Fridays squat session! As I’m desperately trying to cure my APT/hyper lordosis I think they’re better left anyway – May try some stiff legged next week to see how they feel?
Press 72.5kg x5x5x7 – followed up with a finisher set at 50kg x9 – excuse Simon vacuuming in the background!
Weighted chins 25kg x6, 20kg x7 – followed up with ‘V’ grip pulldown to chest (9) x15
Weighted dips 22.5kg x12x9x7x6, then 15 unweighted to failure
Romanian deadlift 135kg x5x5
Kneeling cable crunches (14) x15x15
BE HENCH 