Prior to the year 1972, the overhead press was part of the Olympic games as a symbol of overall strength. The clean and press is very similar to the modern day clean and jerk where the clean portion was the same (bar lifted off of the floor and caught in the front racked position), but in the clean and press the lifter had to press the bar overhead without using momentum from their legs. You can see why overhead pressing strength was a staple of manliness; it doesn’t get much more impressive than lifting and holding a heavy loaded bar overhead. But due to increasingly sloppy form and injury, the clean and press was removed from the Olympic lifts.
You may be asking why I am briefing you on the history of the overhead press, well, it is because since the overhead press was removed from the Olympics, it also diminished in popularity in the gym, as well as sport performance environments. Instead, the bench press is primarily used as the staple of upper body strength (partially due to the growth in popularity of powerlifting), which is problematic due to muscle imbalances caused by a lack of overhead pressing (and pulling exercises) and an abundance of anterior pressing. Keep reading to find out the benefits of overhead pressing for athletes (and the average gym bros) and how it can help reduce the risk of shoulder injury.
The shoulder, by nature, is a relatively unstable ball and socket joint, where the socket portion is not very deep. Shoulder stability primarily comes from the muscles and tendons keeping the humerus inserted into the glenoid cavity of the scapula. Some of these muscles, I’m sure you have heard of are the rotator cuff muscles; consisting of four relatively small muscles: The Supraspinatus, Infraspinatus, Teres Minor, and the Subscapularis. You have probably heard of these muscles, or at least the “rotator cuff” because you have, or you know someone that has had a rotator cuff tear, which is a tear of one, or more than one of these muscles or tendons (typically the tendon tearing from humerus). The shoulder complex also consists of multiple bigger muscles that attach to the scapula or humerus from a different origin. All of these muscles come into play with shoulder stability and strength. It is a no brainer that having a strong, symmetrical shoulder complex is beneficial for athletes, especially athletes that swing, throw, and move weight overhead (Andersen et al,. 2012) (Niederbracht et al,. 2008). All athletes, regardless of the sport, use their arms for something. Whether it is throwing, pushing, catching yourself in a fall, or using your arms for running economy. All of these movements comes from some origin, and that origin is the shoulder. Without a strong, symmetrical shoulder, the mentioned movements can become detrimental and cause overuse injury or prevent you from saving yourself from an impact injury.
Athletes that throw, swing, and lift weight overhead are at a greater risk of overuse injury, typically caused by asymmetry in the shoulder complex. For instance, a baseball pitcher who has a poor ratio of pec strength to the external rotator muscles of the humerus and scapula stabilizers will “throw their shoulders out” because their posterior muscles aren’t strong enough to overcome the eccentric load of slowing the arm down.
Returning to the overhead press, it is a great exercise to strengthen the shoulder complex, from the muscle agonists that insert on and manipulate the humerus, to the scapula stabilizers assisting with the lift. The standing overhead press is also great for core stabilization; if an athlete has trouble keeping their body erect with the standing overhead press, there’s a good chance the athlete has a weak core and this should be addressed. There are multiple styles of the overhead press. You can start from the racked position with the bar on your chest; this style puts more emphasis on the anterior muscles of the shoulder complex and it is typically the strongest variation of the overhead press. This is a great exercise for upper body pressing strength. The behind the neck overhead press is another good exercise for upper body pressing strength; this style puts more emphasis on the posterior muscles of the complex and scapula stabilizers. In addition, it is also a good tool to assist with shoulder mobility. There are also dumbbell or kettle bell variations with different grips. The neutral grip dumbbell overhead press is great for people with preexisting shoulder issues because the medial rotation of the humerus decreases the risk of the supraspinatus tendon getting pinched by the acromion (shoulder impingement).
In conclusion, the shoulder should be treated symmetrically; it is too common to see people over train the bench press and neglect overhead pressing as well as pulling exercises which causes all sorts of problems in the shoulder complex.
References
- Andersen, C., Zebis, M., Saervoll, C., Sundstrup, E., Jakobsen, M., Sj gaard, G., & Andersen, L. (2012). Scapular Muscle Activity from Selected Strengthening Exercises Performed at Low and High Intensities. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 2408-2416.
- Niederbracht, Y., Shim, A., Sloniger, M., Paternostro-Bayles, M., & Short, T. (2008). Effects of a Shoulder Injury Prevention Strength Training Program on Eccentric External Rotator Muscle Strength and Glenohumeral Joint Imbalance in Female Overhead Activity Athletes. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 140-145.
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