Mar 11
22
The overhead press utilized to rank among the most common of strongman exercises, and was indeed an event in itself in the Olympics ahead of the ’70s when it had been delisted.
It is hardly seen anywhere today because of some bad press (no pun meant) over the amount of danger native to the movement.
But there’s nothing as viscerally exciting as lifting a bar with “full” plates on either side straight up over one’s head.
It’s visually striking like nothing else: obviously heavy weight over the head, a statement in itself – elegant, majestic, and (oftentimes) silent.
It is not just the athletic tape many guys wear on their wrists – the very joints upon which the weight first, most directly, rests.
It’s the whole package: at first, the eye can’t even decide know where to focus.
With something like the bench press, arguably America’s favorite lift today, your view quickly and quite naturally falls onto the upper-body area.
With the overhead press, one is more likely to scan in amazement from top to bottom, intuitively searching for signs of weakness such as buckling knees and an overarched back.
All of which is to acknowledge that a lot more is necessary of a successful overhead press.
Indeed, athletic tape will probably be discovered wrapping the knees as well, especially when the overhead press is preceded by a power clean.
The whole body is extremely involved in the successful overhead press: hands and wrists, arms, shoulders, upper and lower back, not forgetting the abs, hips, and legs, up to the ankles and the toes on each foot!
Yes, there’s nothing quite like it.
Do more than one and it even approaches the cardiovascular – athletic tape or no!
Add the aforementioned power clean to every set – otherwise every rep – for a workout like no other.
