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Push Press

An explosive overhead press using leg drive to move heavier loads than a strict press allows.

Setup

Set up exactly like a strict overhead press. Bar at your collarbone, grip just outside shoulder width, feet hip-width apart.

Movement

Dip slightly at the knees. A short, controlled dip — not a full squat — loading your legs to generate upward drive. Drive up explosively. Extend your legs forcefully as you press the bar overhead, using the leg drive to help move the bar past the hardest part of the press. Finish the press with your arms. Once the legs have done their part, finish locking the bar out fully overhead with the shoulders and triceps.

Return

Lower with control. Bring the bar back to your collarbone deliberately, resetting your stance before the next rep.

Common Mistake to Avoid

Turning the leg dip into a full squat. The dip should be short and controlled — a full squat changes the exercise into something else entirely and can throw off the timing of the drive.

Equipment Barbell, rack
Primary Muscles Shoulders (deltoids)
Secondary Muscles Triceps, legs, core

Why it matters

The push press intentionally adds a small leg dip and drive to the start of the movement, letting you use more weight than a strict overhead press while still loading the shoulders heavily through the rest of the range of motion. This makes it useful for building overhead strength and power together, and for training the shoulders with more weight than a strict press would allow, which can drive strength gains that carry back over to your strict press too.

How to do it

  1. Set up exactly like a strict overhead press. Bar at your collarbone, grip just outside shoulder width, feet hip-width apart.
  2. Dip slightly at the knees. A short, controlled dip — not a full squat — loading your legs to generate upward drive.
  3. Drive up explosively. Extend your legs forcefully as you press the bar overhead, using the leg drive to help move the bar past the hardest part of the press.
  4. Finish the press with your arms. Once the legs have done their part, finish locking the bar out fully overhead with the shoulders and triceps.
  5. Lower with control. Bring the bar back to your collarbone deliberately, resetting your stance before the next rep.

Common mistakes

  • Turning the leg dip into a full squat. The dip should be short and controlled — a full squat changes the exercise into something else entirely and can throw off the timing of the drive.
  • Relying entirely on the legs and not finishing with the shoulders. The legs help initiate the bar's movement, but the shoulders and triceps still need to complete the lockout.
  • Pressing the bar forward instead of straight up. Same bar-path principle as the strict press applies here, even with the added leg drive.
  • Using leg drive to handle weight your shoulders genuinely can't press. The push press should still load your shoulders meaningfully — if you're using so much leg drive that your shoulders barely engage, the weight is likely too heavy for the intended purpose.

Sets & reps by level

Beginner

Not typically a beginner movement — master the strict overhead press first before adding the leg-drive component.

Intermediate

3–4 sets of 5–6 reps at a weight moderately heavier than your strict press max, focusing on timing the leg drive with the press.

Advanced

4–5 sets of 3–5 reps at higher intensity, often used to build power and overhead strength beyond what strict pressing alone develops.

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