Overhead Press Hand-Arm Position

Before taking the bar out of the rack for the Overhead Press, be sure to have your hands and arms in the right position. The load should sit on the heel of your palm, placing your forearms directly under the bar; this puts the elbows just in front of the bar when looking down from above. When the bar rests on the meat of the hands which lie directly over the forearm bones, the ulna and the radius, you are able to better provide force to the weight and drive it upward. When the forearms are angled, the Overhead Press is not maximized due to poor leverage -- the weight, although being propped up by the forearms, hovers over open space without a pillar perpendicularly lining the bar to help fortify and drive it toward the ceiling. Although grip width will somewhat deviate based upon one's anatomical structure, the proper grasp is usually just outside the shoulders; this is more narrow than that of the hand placement on the Bench Press.