Strict Overhead Press - weak off the shoulders

flak said:
Seriously? Like, put the j-hooks up at full extension height, load the bar with 1RM plus 10 or 20 lbs. and do controlled eccentrics?

That's intriguing, never thought of it.

Or are you kidding? Hard to tell.
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I was being serious. K-dubs has mentioned a similar approach, I believe.

Personally, rather than start high, I like to hit a heavy push press or jerk, often times with bands, before lowering it slowly. Doing this with a barbell tends to be pretty rough on the shoulders, though, so use dumbbells with a neutral grip or a viking press approximation if you have one. I use a plate loaded squat machine to simulate a viking press.
 
some good tips in here boys. im going to be concentrating on my SOHP for the next few months.
 
there is just something about a 225ohp that seems cool to me. dont worry, i'll still be doing jerks and push presses.
 
EZA said:
OHP is very hard on the shoulder joint, I wouldn't advise doing a whole lot of it, at least not very heavy, if you're also training in MMA. Over the long run it will increase your risk of impingement and it's not exactly a movement patter that is particularly important in MMA or many sports anyway.
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This is garbage. Shoulder work is NOT hard on the shoulder joints if done correctly, just like almost EVERY exercise. Although incline bench is notoriously harder to do proper form with, so it might have a higher prevalence of injuries for lifters.
 
Thanks for the tips guys.

The only movement I really do when I'm doing OHP is where I tilt my upper back backwards and then shoot forward and my ass back while pushing it up, I guess that would probably be hips.
 
EZA said:
OHP is very hard on the shoulder joint, I wouldn't advise doing a whole lot of it, at least not very heavy, if you're also training in MMA. Over the long run it will increase your risk of impingement and it's not exactly a movement patter that is particularly important in MMA or many sports anyway.
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This is absolutely ridiculous. The Press is the single-most important upper-body exercise in existence. There are VERY few sports that the press does not apply to and MMA is certainly not one of them. If anything, the Press is one of the top 3 most important lifts in MMA.

I would be curious to know why you are so much against the press. To me you're coming off as one of those people who quarter-squat because it's bad for your knees and half-bench because it's bad for your shoulders. Done properly, the press can condition your muscles to PREVENT injury. On an interesting note, I have had impingement. I've always had a torn rotator cuff. Interesting enough, that was before I got in to overhead pressing. When physical therapy was slow and showing little results - I turned to overhead pressing and it did more for me than any other exercise.

I am curious though, defend your points. I'd like to know why you shun one of the most important lifts when developing strength.
 
I've seen a few tips on here that compromise the "strictness" of a strict press. Like the shrugging or upper body push technique. Are you wanting to remain super strict and just use all shoulder/tricep strength to get the lift going?

If not, you could also try the olympic version of the press. Basically you just lean backwards right before you press. That way you don't have to press it as far and the weight has usually already moved beyond the sticking point. That particular technique puts a lot more of the load on your back.
 
Krossinc

I do not have time to get into the exact biomechanics of how exactly overhead pressing can lead to impingment but after working as a strength coach at D-1 level and in the NFL and talking to numerous orthopedic specialists I can tell you that it's well established that overhead pressing is very hard on the shoulder joint, especially for anyone in a contact sport like football or MMA. Most athletes lack the external rotation mobility necessary to correctly overhead press and the movement itself shoves the humeral head up into the socket. Do a search on google, there is plenty of information out there about it, it's not just my opinion.

I'd also be curious to know how exactly you can say "the press is the single most important upper body exercise in existance" I'd like to know how exactly a vertical pressing exercise that has little to no transfer in movement pattern for most sports (especially MMA) and whose prime movers are not even particularly large muscles could possibly be considered such a great exercise? Tell me how exactly the overhead press is one of the top 3 lifts in MMA, I'd like to hear your thoughts.
 
EZA said:
Krossinc

Translation:

You guys aren't smart enough to understand. Look at my credentials and take my word for it.

Not only am I not going to answer questions, but I'm going to attack what you say.
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Dude, whatever. I'm flexible enough to OHP twice a week with no problems. I don't care about anybody else's shoulders. LMS.
 
Or how about there is no point in getting into a lengthy biomechanical description when it's unnecessary? The overhead press shoves the humeral head up into the glenoid fossa, that's a fact. There is a lot of information already online about it, Buddy Morris brought it up a couple years back when he was working for the Cleveland Browns. When I worked at the University of Washington there was a rash of shoulder injuries and I spoke at length with several well known orthopedic specialists. It's not that you can never overhead press, it's that doing a lot of volume of it with heavy weight has more risk to it than it's actually worth. Back when I used to overhead press years ago I was pressing 285 for six so I know plenty about the movement. I haven't overhead pressed hardly at all in the last six years and yet all my upper body lifts are now stronger. I rarely use any heavy overhead pressing with any of my athletes, MMA fighters included, and it hasn't seem to hurt any of their performances.
 
My previous comment still stands. OHPing is cockdiesel. If you don't OHP you aren't.
 
Are you trying to convince me that not OHPing will make my "upper body lifts" stronger? Has your OHP gone up at all?
 
No I'm sure since I haven't overhead pressed heavy in years it's probably down, but obviously there isn't a huge transfer to other upper body movement patterns because my other lifts are still up. My point is overhead pressing in the long run isn't a great lift and it's unnecessary any doesn't transfer well anyway. The shoulder joint has more range of motion than any other joint in the body and there will always be an unavoidable risk of instability with increasing mobility. That is why there are so many shoulder injuries in general, especially in contact sports. If you want to have healthy shoulders in the long run, they need to be trained properly.
 
i feel more twing in my shoulders during bench press then overhead press


And i had a problem with my sohp, so i incorporated some alternating overhead dumbbell presses....and push presses both with dumbbells and barbells...i havent gotten any stronger, but ive been staying at the same level while ive been losing weight, so im happy
 
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