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The overhead press is one of the most popular exercises among fitness enthusiasts and bodybuilders alike. The overhead press works the deltoids, triceps, and trapezius muscles, as well as many smaller stabilizing muscles of the shoulder and back. It's an incredibly effective exercise for building upper-body strength, size and power.
Shop The Collection: BarbellsIf you're looking to increase your strength and muscle mass in the shoulder and upper-back area, including overhead press exercises in your training routine is essential. But how do you ensure that your overhead press workouts are truly challenging? Read on to find out how to train harder with overhead press exercises.
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Before attempting more complex and challenging exercises, it is important to establish a good foundation with the basics. When it comes to overhead presses, this means mastering the basic standing barbell overhead press, or the seated dumbbell overhead press.
Shop The Collection: DumbbellsThese two exercises can be performed with either a barbell or dumbbells, depending on your preference and equipment availability. They are great exercises for developing shoulder, arm, and back strength, as well as improving posture. Make sure you practice good form when performing these exercises, and start with light weights until your form is perfect.
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Once you have mastered the basics, you can move on to other variations of the overhead press. These include the push press, the landmine press, and the Arnold press. All of these variations target the same muscles as the standard overhead press, but they also incorporate additional movements to make the exercise more intense.
For example, the push press involves pushing the weight up with an explosive jump, while the landmine press involves lunging forward to lift the weight. The Arnold press is a unique variation that rotates the dumbbells around the body as you press them up. Incorporating one or more of these variations into your workout routine can help to make your overhead press exercises more challenging.
Increasing the weight you use for your overhead press is perhaps the most obvious way to make the exercise more challenging. As with any exercise, it is important to increase the weight gradually over time. Start with lighter weights and focus on perfecting your form before increasing the weight.
It is also important to note that your body may need time to adjust to the heavier weights, so don’t expect overnight results. Increase the weight gradually and take regular breaks from the exercise to rest and recover.
Rest time plays an important role in any exercise routine. If you want to train harder, reducing your rest time is an effective way to do so. Shortening the amount of time between sets will increase the intensity of your workouts, as your body will not have enough time to fully recover before the next set.
Start by reducing your rest time by 10-15 seconds and observe the effect it has on your workouts. You may need to further reduce your rest time if you find that you are still able to complete all of your sets without difficulty. However, be careful not to reduce your rest time too much or you risk overtraining and risking injury.
Tempo training is a great way to add intensity to your workouts. This type of training involves controlling the speed at which you move the weight during the exercise. For example, you may slow down the eccentric (lowering) phase of the exercise, or pause for a few seconds at the bottom of the movement.
By changing the tempo of your exercises, you can increase the intensity of your workouts and challenge your muscles in new ways. This can help to break through plateaus and improve your overall strength and endurance.
Changing the grip you use for your overhead press exercises can also be an effective way to make them more challenging. For example, using a narrow grip puts more emphasis on the triceps and chest, while a wider grip increases the range of motion and targets the outer head of the deltoid muscle.
You can also experiment with different hand positions such as pronated (overhand), neutral (palms facing each other), and supinated (underhand). Each of these positions will target the muscles slightly differently and can help to make the exercises more challenging.
The overhead press is an incredibly effective exercise for building upper-body strength, size, and power. To make the exercise more challenging, try incorporating variations such as the push press, landmine press, and Arnold press. You can also increase the weight, reduce your rest time, use tempo training, and change your grip.
Just remember to start with the basics and master the form before attempting more advanced exercises. With the right techniques, you can train harder and get the most out of your overhead press workouts.
