📋 How to Do?
- Position the barbell at shoulder height with feet shoulder-width apart, gripping slightly wider than shoulders and bracing your core for stability.
- Dip your knees slightly into a quarter squat, then explode upward through your legs while pressing the bar overhead, exhaling at the top.
- Lock out your arms fully overhead with delts engaged, then lower the bar controlled to shoulders, inhaling deeply.
- Perform 3 sets of 5-8 reps, focusing on smooth transition from dip to press.
Keep the bar over mid-foot during push presses, bracing core tightly to safeguard the back, and use bumper plates for safe drops if training explosively. Warm up with light strict presses for shoulder prep. Scale dip depth if mobility limits form.
💪 Working Muscles
Primary: Deltoids (overhead press flexion); Triceps Brachii (lockout extension); Secondary: Quadriceps (dip drive); Core (stability and bracing)
Equipment Needed: Barbell
Difficulty: Advanced
✨ Benefits
Push presses develop athletic power across all delt heads, improving coordination and overhead stability in power training. They hit quads and core for full-body transfer. Athletes see 20% explosive gains in 6–8 weeks.
🔥 Burned Calories
Burns Approx. 70-90 kcal per 10 min at moderate intensity
Metabolic Impact: High, great for power training
Common Mistakes
- Over-dipping the knees excessively, which disrupts the bar path and reduces power efficiency.
- Pressing the bar behind the head, increasing impingement risk and shoulder strain.
- Relying solely on upper body without leg drive, reverting to a strict press with limited load.
