Why you need to master the push press for stronger shoulders

The shoulder press is part of the holy grail of upper body exercises. It is a foundational move from which many other exercises emerge, all with the aim of giving you wider, stronger, and bigger shoulders. One might think that the shoulder press does not have a worthy competitor, but if there is one which comes very close and might even be better for some fitness enthusiasts, then it is the push press.

In a 2022 story for Lounge titled How To Master The Shoulder Press For Greater Strength, where I wrote about the various kinds of shoulder presses and what they do, I also touched upon the push press. But this is a more detailed discussion on the exercise and why it should be given as much importance as the conventional overhead press. The push press is exactly the same move but with an explosive ending, where the athlete produces more power using their feet to lift more weight and learn a technique that will help them perform more complicated lifts.

Given that the overhead press is a hypertrophy (size building) exercise, it usually takes precedence over the push press when it comes to choosing which exercise to do. And while it makes sense that it could come down to goals, the push press is something that must be added to the routine. A detailed meta analysis study from 2023 concluded that, “…adding aerobic components to muscle-hypertrophy-focused training impacted the hypertrophy variables too. It led to thigh girth and chest girth improvements in the combined training group, proving that aerobic training does not oppose the effects of hypertrophy training and instead can facilitate these if resistance and aerobic training are combined in the right proportions.”

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The study, titled The Effects of Combining Aerobic and Heavy Resistance Training on Body Composition, Muscle Hypertrophy, and Exercise Satisfaction in Physically Active Adults, also added how combining two schools of thought in the gym influenced a number of different goals: “reduced body weight, body fat, and fat mass, and increased lean body mass.”

So once the problem of choice is solved, it comes down to ability. The equipment used is the same in both exercises so that isn’t really a problem. The overhead press is pretty basic—stand with a regular stance and use either dumbbells or a barbell to lift up from an upper chest level. The push press though, is where the other important joint groups join the party. First of them are the knees. And the first step of progression in learning this is to just hold the bar at the starting point of a conventional press and then take very small dips. The key here is to not fall too ahead or extend the back. Engaging the core is important in this case. You can also start with a dip and hold, just to get used to the involvement of the knee in the move.

The step after this would be to dip and drive the bar just a little off the chest. This is to learn the timing of the press. Once mastered, you can try dipping, and using the momentum of that dip to drive the bar all the way overhead and bringing it back to place with another dip to cushion the weight.

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As you progress, you will also bring the toes into the dip and drive, almost lifting the weight overhead with the help of toes and knees and then shoulders. It’s like a boxer’s punch does not start at the elbow, but at the toe, moves up to the knees, the hams and glutes and through the core and into the fist.

The American Sports & Fitness Association has a list of some of the best benefits of the push press. Some of them are fast-twitch muscle fiber activation, combining speed with strength, and increased athletic performance. All of these are very useful, especially if a part of your fitness routine also involves outdoor activity like running and swimming.

But the ones which really stand out are to do with shoulder health. Apart from increased shoulder mobility, the article states that, “the push press strengthens the rotator cuff muscles, which play a critical role in stabilizing the shoulder joint during pressing movements. A strong rotator cuff helps prevent common shoulder injuries, such as rotator cuff tears or shoulder impingement.” These are some of the most common injuries which can also happen due to inactivity.

Start by throwing in a few reps at the end of a workout or a set, before progressing to dedicating a full day just on the push presses. You will also find out how much more you can lift due to this explosive movement. With the right technique and practice, one could lift 1.25x of the weight they can in an overhead press. There also seems to be a limit in how much one can press up in the conventional lift, and the push press is so much more than just a plateau-pusher.

Pulasta Dhar is a football commentator and writer.

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