4 UNDERRATED TIPS To Destroy Your OVERHEAD PRESS PlatEAU! (MUST read!)

Today we're going to talk about the overhead press and breaking through those stubborn plateaus! Now, I feel obligated to say, I'm not the best overhead presser in the world. I've strict pressed 200lbs for a single, weighing about 160lbs at the time, I've strict pressed 185lb for a triple off pins, and I have push pressed 255lbs for a triple as well as 265lbs for an easy single. So like I said, I'm not the best overhead presser in the world, but I've put some respectable weight overhead and along the way I've learned a few things about the exercise. So today I want to share 4 quick tips with you guys to help you maximize your overhead press in the long run and build some healthy, strong, cannonball delts in the process!

This is probably the best tip that I can give you. Ya gotta up the frequency man! Once you're past the early beginner stages this shit is simply not going to budge if you are only training it one time per week. That just is what it is. This lift can be very stubborn and once the body adapted to a given level of work, you'll be really hard pressed to expect this lift to continue to improve at that point. Honestly, the deltoids themselves seem to actually respond very well both to large volumes of work and high frequencies of work. Think about high level swimmers for example, they are known for their big, broad shoulders. And part of that is that they use those muscles every time they get in the pool, which if you're competing at a high level, is probably very, very often for relatively long periods of time. So their shoulders are doing a hell of a lot of work, and they're responding to it very well also.

Along with the increased frequency you're going to need to inject some variety into your rep ranges and your weight selections as well. In my opinion, most people try to go too heavy, too often with this exercise. We've all seen it, a guy who can barely muscle up the first rep from a dead stop, and then since the bar is over head after that he's able to get a stretch reflex in on all the remaining reps and essentially take his 2 or 3 rep max and turn it into an ugly and bouncy set of 5 reps. Now, obviously heavy training has its place with this lift just like it does with every other lift, but I think that most people kind of miss out on the bigger picture here. You need to build your shoulders to build a big overhead press, and a big part of that is getting in some high quality volume, and accruing large amounts of work over a given period of time.

Now this is tip very important! It seems trivial but it makes a world of difference when you start pausing your reps. Now I don't think all the different variations that you are doing will necessarily need to be paused all the time, for example I'm not really pausing my trap bar or Swiss bar presses right now, but if you are doing a straight bar strict overhead press then I recommend pausing every single rep regardless of how many reps you are doing per set. And it doesn't have to be a crazy ten minute pause or anything like that, but stop on the shoulders, give it a quick 1-2 count, and then explode back up! 

• This removes most of the stretch reflex and it makes the reps more consistent.

• It makes your form more consistent which leads to a more stable and more reliably efficient motor pattern.

• And it also makes your rep performances more reliable and more accurate in terms of carry over to a bigger overhead press in general. 

And finally, always remember to be patient! This lift simply takes time to develop. If we look at the big 4 lifts: the squat, deadlift, bench press, and overhead press, the overhead press takes the longest to mature of all 4 of those. It is the slowest to develop and the fastest to stall. Part of the reason for this is that people typically train the lift in a moronic fashion, and another part is that the shoulders and triceps are both pretty small muscles. They start out quite underdeveloped in most people and it takes a lot of time, consistency, and effort to add some substantial meat onto them, and that meat that needs to be added is ultimately what creates a strong overhead press.

As well, it's just the nature of the lift! The surest way to tell if a natural lifter knows what they're talking about is to look at their overhead press. Some people are natural born benchers, other are natural born deadlifters and squatters; and these people can often get away with crappy training practices and still lift impressive numbers on those lifts. But no natural lifter has an impressive overhead press unless they have put in the time, put in the work, and learned a thing or two along the way. So next time you see that guy pressing huge weights overhead in the gym you should go pick his brain because chance are you're looking at a knowledgeable dude. 

But just remember to be patient. Just because it's moving slowly doesn't mean you're doing something wrong. It just takes time to mature. That's the nature of this exercise. Keep plugging away and eventually you'll get where you're trying to go.

The Lu Raise is an enhanced version of the lateral raise popularized by Chinese Olympic weightlifters. It takes the shoulders through a much larger range of motion than traditional lateral raises and demands the use of stricter form.

And that about wraps it up for today guys! I hope you found these 4 tips helpful and I hope you're able to take something away from this article to maximize your overhead press and build your own pair of strong and healthy cannonball shoulders. And if you know someone who's struggling with their overhead press then be sure to share this article with them as well! I hope you enjoyed this one, and if you did enjoy it please feel free to support the production of more free content like this by picking up one of my training programs! Keep training hard and I will catch you guys next time!