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Tonal coach Joe Rodonis performing a barbell overhead press.

Barbell Overhead Press: Increase Upper Body Power & Stability

Master the barbell overhead press. Build shoulder and chest strength, learn standing and seated variations, and explore some press-motion alternatives.

The barbell overhead press is one of those lifts that keeps you honest.

It looks straightforward — press a bar from your shoulders to the sky — but once you're under it, you realize how much coordination the movement demands. Everything matters: Your grip, your stance, your breathing, even how your ribs behave and align.

There are also several versions of the barbell overhead press. Some lifters prefer the standing alternative because it feels powerful and athletic. Others like the seated style using a workout bench for its simplicity. Either way, the barbell overhead press can help teach you how to stabilize while engaging a series of key muscles worked.

And if you’ve ever wondered how the barbell overhead press vs. dumbbell debate shakes out, you’ll start to feel the differences as soon as the bar moves. This guide gives you grounded, practical steps to approach this lift more self-assuredly, especially if you’re still learning how your shoulders, chest, and lats respond to pressing weight overhead.

Contents
  1. Barbell Overhead Press: Step by Step
  2. Barbell Overhead Press: reps & intervals
    1. Average Duration of
    2. Estimated Calories Burned
    3. Recommended Number of exercises Per Week
    4. Warmup & Cool Down Exercises
    3.
  3. Muscle Groups Targeted
  4. Equipment Used for Barbell Overhead Press
  5. Who This Exercise is Best For
  6. Answers to FAQs about Barbell Overhead Press
  7. Concluding words on Barbell Overhead Press

Barbell Overhead Press: Step by Step

1. Position into your starting stance.
  • Stand with your feet hip-width apart.
  • Keep your weight centered across your whole feet, not rocking on your toes or heels.

2. Grip the bar.
  • Place your hands just outside shoulder-width.
  • Bring the bar to the top of your chest, just above your collarbone.
3. Adjust your elbows.
  • Stack elbows, wrists, and forearms vertically right beneath the bar.
  • Elbows and arms should line up parallel with your torso.

Tip: Take care not to have your elbows jut or flare away from your body, both in your starting position and as you press the bar overhead. This can strain your shoulders, disengage key back muscles worked, and reduce most peoples' overall pressing power.

4. Brace and breathe.
  • Take a slow breath in, slightly pushing your ribs down while keeping your torso tall.
  • Your spine stays neutral. Not arched, but not overly rigid.

5. Drive the bar straight up.
  • As the bar meets your chin, lean your head slightly back, then move it back beneath the bar as you reach your top lockout.
6. Lock out intentionally at the top of your lift.
  • Reach the bar overhead with your arms straight but not hyperextended.
  • Use your upper back and shoulders to help hold the finish position.
7. Lower the bar along the same vertical path.
  • Bring the bar back to the top of your chest.
  • Avoid rushing or "bouncing" into the next rep.


Repeat. If the movement starts to feel shaky, pause and reset. Your goal is consistent, smooth, repeatable form.

Barbell Overhead Press Alternatives:

A barbell overhead press can be performed in two main ways: standing or seated. Each option asks for slightly different stabilization demands, but both follow the same core movement pattern.

Standing Barbell Overhead Press
  • Requires full-body bracing as described above, including subtle leg and core tension to keep the bar path steady.

In-practice tips: This version is often described as feeling more athletic because your whole body contributes to balance, especially your lower back and core. It’s interchangeable with the seated version though, but it does create a different stability challenge.

Seated Barbell Overhead Press
  • Performed on a seated bench, either upright or with light back support.
  • Is designed to reduce lower-body involvement and potentially places more emphasis on the shoulders and upper back.

In-practice tip: Many lifters use this option when they want less focus on balance and more on controlled overhead pressing. It trains similar muscles, just with a shift in potential demand.

An overhead press can also be done using a barbell, like the version above, or with a pair of dumbbells. The movement pattern is similar, but the setup and stability cues slightly vary.

Dumbbell Overhead Press
  • Performed with one dumbbell in each hand, usually beginning at shoulder height.
  • Can allow for a more neutral grip and independent arm paths, which some people find smoother on the shoulders.

In-practice tips: You may need a narrower stance or a steadier core brace, since each arm works separately with this configuration. It’s a natural alternative to the barbell version, especially if you’re exploring the barbell overhead press vs dumbbell differences for yourself.

Barbell Overhead Press: reps & intervals

Reps and sets are always recommendations. Use these as a starting point and adjust as needed for your strength training preferences and journey.

  • Muscle growth: 5-15 reps
  • Strength endurance: 6-12 reps
  • Max strength: 4-8 reps

  • Beginner sets: 2-3 working sets
  • Intermediate intervals: 2-4 working sets

Average Duration of Barbell Overhead Press

These timing suggestions are general guides meant to support mindful pacing, not rigid rules.

  • One overhead barbell press rep: ~4-5 seconds
  • One overhead barbell press set: ~20-35 seconds

Estimated Calories Burned

Calorie ranges vary widely based on factors like load, tempo, rest periods, weight, and sex. These numbers offer an educational ballpark, not a personal prediction. Use accordingly.

  • Women (140-180 lbs): ~20-35 calories
  • Men (170-210 lbs): ~30-45 calories
  • Adults above 210 lbs: ~35-55 calories

Recommended Number of exercises Per Week

The barbell overhead press blends well into many weekly strength-training routines, especially ones designed to encourage growing muscle mass.

  • Beginners : 1x/week
  • Intermediate lifters:1-2x/week, especially if you commit to technique-focused sessions.

Warmup & Cool Down Exercises

A good warm-up should assist the shoulders with moving smoothly and the upper back stays stabilized beneath the bar.

Warm-Up (choose 1-3):

  • Banded pull-aparts (60 sec)
  • Scapular presses or wall slides (30 sec)
  • Light overhead reach mobility (30 sec)

Cool-Down (choose 1-2, performed at the end of your full workout)

  • Overhead triceps stretch (30 sec each side)
  • Chest stretch on wall (30 sec)
  • Gentle shoulder rotations (30 sec)

Muscle Groups Targeted

The muscles worked during a barbell overhead press include the deltoids, especially your anterior and medial fibers. With proper technique, these work in tangent with the triceps, pecs, traps, lats, and lower-back stabilizing muscles.

Your core will also help anchor your torso so the bar or dumbbells travel in a steady path. Your legs can contribute more than you might expect, particularly in the standing variation, which demands subtle full-body tension.

Equipment Used for Barbell Overhead Press

You'll need access to:

  • Barbell
  • Rack or bar support
  • Weighted plates
  • Optional: lifting belt or wrist wraps

At-home alternatives:

Who This Workout is Most Effective For
  • Beginners learning how to press overhead while studying form and alignment
  • Lifters refining shoulder mechanics and bar path control
  • Anyone training for more balanced upper-body strength, power, and muscle-mass development in this part of their body.
  • People who want a structured way to explore barbell overhead press alternatives.
  • Individuals who prefer simple, repeatable exercise patterns that can scale over time, if that's your fitness goal.

Answers to FAQs about Barbell Overhead Press


Yes. While the front delts handle most of the pressing effort, the side delts kick in to help stabilize your shoulders and maintain a strong overall pressing path. Most individuals don’t isolate them with during an overhead press, and they're not the primary movers, but they are involved.

It is! Multiple joints and muscle groups contribute at once in this movement: shoulders, elbows, core, and even the upper back. The movement requires coordination across the most of the body, especially when done in a standing position using dumbbells or the bar.

"Better" depends on you — your goals, your strength training equipment, your preferences. The movements themselves just tend to carry some stabilizing differences.

A barbell allows for a stable, unified press, while dumbbells generally ask more from your stabilizers and may feel smoother for some lifters. The barbell overhead press vs dumbbell choice often comes down to comfort, structure, training goals, and really what you personally like more.

It depends. A narrower grip can perhaps feels more natural for stacking your shoulders, while a wider setup can create unnecessary strain in others. If your shoulders feel tense or crowded, adjust gradually until the bar path feels smoother and you're finding the exercise works better for you (while still working appropriate target muscles).

Concluding words on Barbell Overhead Press

The barbell overhead press is a movement that grows with you. Each session teaches something new: How your shoulders respond to load, how your ribs behave under tension, and how much a small adjustment in grip or stance changes the entire lift. It’s the kind of exercise that rewards consistency.

If you’re exploring overhead work for the first time, this is a great place to start.

And if you enjoy learning how different pressing patterns connect, many of Tonal’s upper body exercise programs offers plenty of step-by-step guides that build on what you’ve learned here.

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