Everything about standing military presses seems like they would be great for building size, strength, and raw power, plus they seem like they would require using secondary muscle groups and / or stabilizer muscle groups such as core for balance and stability, and legs in general, especially if you're adding in some forced reps, and of course upper pecs, tri's, traps, even lats (also for stability), as well as lower back to help support the abs and core in balancing the lifter during the lift and stabilizing the bar with the lifter maintaining good form. However, in my personal experience, they just don't seem to deliver the results I hope for. I find them much more useful as a secondary press with seated dumbbell overhead presses as my main press. Although, when I throw in cleans, they stimulate my traps and rear delts and generate results in those areas fairly quickly.
Unfortunately, even with that approach, I have to be careful because I hurt my lower back years ago squatting and it flares up again whenever my form isn't perfect. But even aside from that, I think one reason why I wasn't getting the benefits I was hoping for was because I was pressing the bar straight up like a seated press and ending with the bar a little bit in front of me rather than directly over me head as would be the objective on most Olympic or CrossFit style lifts. It turns out that my shoulder mobility sucks. I can get the bar in the air and over my head, but not directly above my head which is how a lot of the core stability and power gains benefit from this lift. At least that is how I understand it. I was basically told that I was performing a push press which pretty much relies solely on the delts, mostly front delts, with some help from the legs, chest, and tri's, but that I was severely limiting myself by transforming an explosive power lift into a semi-isolation style press that relies on strength, but because I'm standing, allows me to incorporate various other muscle groups as needed, and therefore, I wasn't doing much. I def don't want to highjack the thread, but if anyone knows any shoulder mobility exercises, I'd appreciate any insight.
But most of what I'm saying has already been said. They are not ideal for bodybuilding but, if done right, they're like another compound lift. You gotta be careful with the weight because you're standing and your back arches which can be dangerous. The tough part is not so much the press, that can actually be easier since you can cheat a little. It's the clean that is really tough, as someone already said. My humble suggestion is to stick to seated or dumbbell variations for heavy lifts, or even high volume sets if the reps are gonna get tough. However, I'd continue to perform the standing overhead press but spend most of your effort perfecting your form and trying to establish some sort of mind-muscle connection. I think it could be a very useful addition to any program for a variety of reasons, but, again, in my personal experience, it's not great for body building. Out of curiosity, when you perform standing military press, where is the top point for the bar? Is it directly over your head as I've been told it generally should be? Is it more above your nose / chin / maybe a half-inch ahead of your forehead like the way I tend to finish (I also think finishing like this makes it easier to not lock out the elbows and therefore keep constant tension on the muscle(s))? Finally, do you perform the lift with your elbows in front of you or more out to your sides? I'm just curious because I've been told different things by different people (usually with different goals). If you get a chance, let me know, nothing urgent, thanks bud.
