Seated vs. Standing Overhead Press (strict)

Brampton_Boy

Brampton_Boy

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Due to a back injury, I have priortized seated military press and noticed some impressive gains (went from 185 to 210lbs for 6 reps). However, upon resuming standing overhead press, I struggled with 165, a weight I used to warm up with! Is it normal for such a large disparity to exhist between the two lifts?

FTR, I plan to go back to standing military press (in addition to pushpress, clean and press etc), to try and bring my numbers back up.
 
I imagine there's a lot more stability work involved with doing it standing. Think of the torque your body has to compenstate for when you have 165 pounds raised above your head.
 
+ what klotz said about stabilizing your back standing up.

Also, when doing seated OHP with support behind your back, all OHP Ive seen turns a slightly into incline benchpress, that you can use chest to lift the wiegth, therefore, more weight is lifted.
And also, the elbow tends to come out, making it a more "over face press" instead of over head.
 
It's normal me and a guy had this debate before about the exact same thing. SOHP whether strict or not requires much more stabilization and muscle fiber recruitment from a number of places, very much more so than seated. The carry over in strength from standing to seated will always be greater than vice versa. It's like SOHP as a main lift over bench. Show me a guy that can SOHP 225 and I guarantee he can bench 225. Not everyone that can bench 225 can even do 150 on SOHP, see my point. That's why. but when you go back the numbers will even out immensely.
 
Dude that's fuckin weird, it should be the other way arround.
What kinda angle did you set the bench at... maybe it's like Lard-ass said. You might be doing more of a realy high incline press as oppose to an exact overhead press.
 
It's not weird. Seated press strength DOES NOT carry over to SOHP strength. Simple as that.
 
STWACOACH said:
It's not weird. Seated press strength DOES NOT carry over to SOHP strength. Simple as that.
Click to expand...

I know that
What I'm saying is that if he was doing them perfectly errect then he of course would be handling less weight then if he were standing.
If he could ohp 200lbs from a perfectly errect seated position, then it should be easier from standing...unless of course he isn't perfectly errect which is usualy the case, in which case of course then no there wouldn't be any carry over.
 
How do you think it is easier to do a strict standing press, than a seated press?
 
Easier from standing? Ummm ya it is easier dude. That's why Seate dpress trength does not equate SOHP strength. But if I take a strong OHP client they will always do more on seated press than someone that does strictly seated press. i fail to see how that could confuse you really, when i explained it in laymans terms.
 
Hmmm, while I would like to think I had perfect form on seated press, there is no way to know for sure (to be honest, I would always look up and drive my legs into the ground pushing me tight against the seat).
 
To brampton boy, I guess you do them on a adjustable bench supporting your back against the bench right??? Doing them seated without any support would be as I guess Universal was talking about, making OHP harder to do.
 
Seated OH press causes more compression on the spine. That is why I like it standing.

Standing the 165lbs or so, the weight is on the whole body. Seated, the same amount of pressure is on half the body.
 
Lard-ass said:
To brampton boy, I guess you do them on a adjustable bench supporting your back against the bench right??? Doing them seated without any support would be as I guess Universal was talking about, making OHP harder to do.
Click to expand...

Thanx...
but I assumed he was doing them with a back rest
I've always had alot of trouble with this lift and have always found it easier to do them standing.
 
Fedorable said:
Seated OH press causes more compression on the spine. That is why I like it standing.

Standing the 165lbs or so, the weight is on the whole body. Seated, the same amount of pressure is on half the body.
Click to expand...

Exactly
 
STWACOACH said:
Easier from standing? Ummm ya it is easier dude. That's why Seate dpress trength does not equate SOHP strength. But if I take a strong OHP client they will always do more on seated press than someone that does strictly seated press. i fail to see how that could confuse you really, when i explained it in laymans terms.
Click to expand...

Then keep on not getting it :icon_chee
 
snigg said:
standing overhead press means no bending of the knees correct?
Click to expand...
No bending and then straightening - that would be a push press.
 
The standing ohp is definetly harder in my experience. You need a lot more stability to press the weight overhead. The seated ohp is kinda like a verticle bench press whereas people tend to "cheat" the same way they would incline benching (bending their back sticking their chest out). When you bend back standing it hurts your back in a bad way and the only way to get that extra help getting it up is by using leg drive. Anyhow the point im trying to get at is its all about stability its kinda like that bowflex commercial when they got that bodybuilder doing a seated bench press and he has to put the weight down because its so much harder to stabalize than a regular bp. btw bowflex sucks and im sorry for rambling on.
 
I just did OHP today. Did some standing w barbell and some sittin' w dumbbells. I did more w the dumbbells than with the barbell.. Of course, I hadn't done standin' for awhile, and I'm sure that affected as well...
 
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