Machine Overhead Press

The machine overhead press is a strength exercise targeting the shoulders, triceps, and chest muscles. It’s performed on a resistance machine, that guides the movement. This reduces the need for stability, making it ideal for beginners looking to get stronger.

In this blog, we walk you through its correct technique, sets and reps, and the benefits of the exercise. If you are looking to perfect your technique or start machine overhead presses, this blog is your ultimate solution.

How To Do

  1. Sit on the machine with your back against the backrest and the handles at your shoulder level.
  2. Grab the handles with an overhand grip (palms facing forward).
  3. Exhale, press the handles upwards until your arms are fully extended, but the elbows are not locked in.
  4. Pause on top for a few seconds.
  5. Inhale as you slowly lower the handles back to shoulder height.
  6. Repeat for the desired reps and sets.

Tips From Expert

  • Adjust the seat so the handles are level with your shoulders. This will help you execute the movement powerfully, and correctly.
  • Keep your feet planted on the ground for balance and stability.
  • Choose a weight, that allows you to perform the press with proper form.
  • Keep your wrist aligned with your forearm throughout the exercise to prevent wrist pain.
  • Engage your core, and push your back against the backrest to avoid lower back strains.
  • Maintain a slow and controlled phase, and avoid dropping the weights suddenly to prevent injuries.
  • Avoid flaring your elbows out as you press. This puts stress on your shoulder joints, leading to pain.
  • Complete the full range of movement to engage the shoulder muscles effectively.

Optimal Sets and Reps

You can adjust the sets and reps of the machine overhead press based on your fitness goal. Follow our chart below to achieve more power, endurance, strength, or muscle mass.

Training Type Sets Reps
Strength Training 3–5 4–6
Hypertrophy 3–4 8–12
Endurance Training 3–4 15–20
Power Training 3–5 1–5 (Explosive)
Optimal Sets & Reps of Machine Overhead Press

How to Put in Your Workout Split

The machine overhead press is a compound exercise engaging multiple muscles simultaneously. It’s an important exercise for building upper-body strength for beginners and advanced lifters.

You can incorporate it into the following workout days:

  1. Push Routine — This day focuses on pushing movement, just like the shoulder, and chest presses, or flies and triceps dips. The machine overhead press fits into your push-day routine, by working your shoulders, chest, and triceps.
  2. Full-Body Workouts — On a full-body day, you hit all muscle groups at once. The machine overhead press complements compound lifts, like squats, deadlifts, and rows on this day.
    Like split routines, a full-body routine can help you build muscle size and strength. The key is to keep the total exercise volume for each muscle group the same throughout the week.

  3. Upper-Body Workouts — This workout focuses on strengthening your upper-body muscles. Building strength can improve performance and sport-specific skills in athletes. Stronger athletes can exert force more effectively.

    For maximum results, combine overhead machine presses with pull-ups, lateral raises, biceps curls, and other upper-body exercises. If you do not have access to a gym, you can perform overhead presses along with your at-home shoulder workouts. You just need to switch to a resistance band or use a heavier water bottle, dumbbell, or kettlebell.

Primary Muscle Groups

Anterior Deltoid

Muscles located at the front of your shoulder region

Lateral Deltoid

Muscles located at the side of your shoulder which gives your shoulders a rounded appearance.

Anterior Deltoid

The deltoid has three heads: the anterior, lateral, and posterior. The anterior head, located near the chest, raises the arms forward, and sideways, and rotates them inward.

In the initial phase of the exercise, it lifts your arm away from your body and presses the weight upward. It also stabilizes your shoulder joint, providing safety throughout the exercise.

The handle position significantly impacts anterior deltoid activation. For instance, the back machine shoulder press activates the deltoid more than front presses, with muscle activation exceeding 50%.

During the pressing phase, its activation is 20–30% higher compared to the lowering phase. The machine overhead press is similar to the back press, indicating similar activation of the anterior deltoid.

Lateral Deltoid

The lateral deltoid sits on the side of your shoulders. It's the smallest out of the three heads. Yet, its role is important during overhead presses. It helps the anterior deltoid to maintain stability of the shoulder joint during movement.

It has an activation rate of 27.9% MVIC during shoulder presses. Significantly higher, than during the bench press (5%), yet lower, than during lateral raises (30.3%).

MVIC stands for maximum voluntary isometric contraction. It’s a measure of how much force a muscle can generate when it's contracted as hard as possible without moving.

Secondary Muscle Groups

Clavicular Head of Pectoralis Major

Muscles located at the top of your chest, running from your armpit to collar bone. Smaller portion of your chest muscle.

Serratus Anterior

Small, fan shaped muscle that lies deep under your chest and scapula.

Upper Trapezius

Triangular shaped muscles located between your neck and shoulder blades.

Triceps Lateral Heads

Muscles located on the back of your arm between your shoulder and elbow.

Triceps Medial Heads

Small muscles located at the back of your arms. Deep to the triceps long heads between the shoulder and elbow.

Triceps Long Heads

Large muscles located at the back of your arms between your shoulder and elbow. Most outside portion of the tricep.

Clavicular Head

The clavicular head is the top portion of the pectoralis major muscle. It sits close to your collarbone. It helps lift the arms, especially in the initial phase of pushing the weight up.

As it inserts into your arm bone (humerus), it also provides stability to the shoulder joint. This prevents excessive movement and controls the pressing motion. As you get more tired, the clavicular head engages more to support the deltoid.

Serratus Anterior

The serratus anterior is a fan-shaped muscle on the sides of your chest, right under your armpit. It helps move and stabilize the shoulder blades, especially during overhead movements. It pulls the scapula forward and keeps it against the rib cage, preventing winging.

During overhead presses, it helps move your shoulder blade upwards and outwards, allowing smooth movement and stability.

Using a 70% 1RM kettlebell overhead press increases serratus activity by nearly 30% compared to dumbbells. 1RM (one-rep max) is the maximum amount of weight you can lift for one complete repetition with proper form.

Performing overhead presses on a machine offers more stability since the movement is guided. This suggests that serratus anterior activity is lower compared to kettlebells or dumbbells. Yet it still plays a significant role in the exercise.

Triceps Brachii

The triceps sit at the back of your upper arm. It has three heads: the long, medial, and lateral heads. The long head starts from your shoulder blade, while the medial and lateral head starts at the humerus.

All three meet at the elbow as a single tendon. During the machine overhead press, they extend the elbow and push the weight up.

The incline shoulder machine press activates the long head of the triceps more than the lateral head. The lateral head showed lower activity than other muscles at all intensities. This suggests that during machine overhead press, the long head of the triceps activates to a higher degree.

Upper Trapezius

The trapezius is a large muscle that covers your upper back and neck. It is divided into the lower, mid, and upper traps. The upper trap starts from the base of your skull and runs down to the middle of your back.

During the machine overhead press, it stabilizes and elevates your shoulders as you lift the weight. It upwardly rotates the scapula, allowing for a smoother arm movement.

The upper trap activation is higher during free-weight overhead presses. That’s because machine presses require less stability and balance compared to other overhead press variations.

Equipment

Shoulder Press Machine

Shoulder Press Machine

This is an effective upper body machine to work your shoulders. Ensure the handles are at shoulder-height.

Alternatives

Exercises that target the same primary muscle groups and require the different equipment.

Cable Lateral Raise

Squat To Overhead Press

Barbell Military Press

Dumbbell Front Raise

Dumbbell Arnold Press

Alternating Dumbbell Press

Barbell Front Raise

Pike Push-Up

Arm Circle

Dynamic Arm Swing

Who Should Do?

Beginners

One advantage of the machine overhead press is its fixed position. It reduces the need for core stability and balance, minimizing fatigue on the stabilizing muscles, like the rotator cuff. 

The machine offers stability and control, guiding the path of the press, which enables beginners to concentrate on proper form without the need to balance. 

This focus allows them to effectively strengthen their shoulders and triceps while minimizing fatigue in other muscle groups. This helps beginners to complete their full routine without exhaustion.

Older Adults

Resistance training has been shown to improve physical function in older adults. It increases fat-free mass, bone density, and strength. It can also reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. 

Therefore completing machine overhead presses regularly can result in these benefits. Additionally, the stable and safe nature of the machine reduces the risk of falls during pressing for seniors. They can safely strengthen their shoulders and improve their functionality in everyday life.

Bodybuilders

Shoulder pressing on a machine can also be beneficial for bodybuilders. The machine targets the deltoid and triceps, without tiring other muscles. This can allow bodybuilders to train with more intensity and get some extra reps and sets in. 

They can also complete machine presses as a superset (two exercises back-to-back without rest) or other training methods. This can break plateaus and monotony in their workouts, further promoting strength and muscle growth. The controlled path of the machine helps them maintain proper form and reduce the risk of injuries.

Who Should Not Do?

Advanced Athletes After Functional Strength

Both machine and free-weight exercises can effectively promote strength and muscle growth. However, free weights require more coordination between the muscles, due to the increased instability. They require more engagement from the stabilizing muscles, improving functionality. 

They also mimic real-life activities more, as there isn’t a machine to guide the movement. Therefore advanced athletes may benefit more from functional movements and free weights. It can make them think more about body control, which can translate to better sports performance. 

People With Chronic Shoulder Pain

Chronic shoulder injuries like frozen shoulder result in joint stiffness and a lack of range of motion. They also cause muscle weakness, pain, and later muscle wastage. This can be even worse with abduction (moving the arms sideways) and lifting the arms overhead.

These can limit your ability to lift the weight over your head. Even if you can, it may result in additional strain or worsen your pain. Other muscles may compensate to help you perform the movement.

If you’re experiencing these symptoms, it’s important to consult your doctor or healthcare professional. They can accurately diagnose your pain and recommend safe exercises tailored to your condition.

People With Poor Mobility

Several reasons can lead to limited shoulder range of motion. Key factors include overhead work, heavy lifting, repetitive movements, and poor posture. These issues can result in stiffness and reduced mobility.

If you already have shoulder mobility limitations, performing overhead presses may be challenging. This exercise requires adequate mobility to reach for the handles and press the bar overhead with proper posture. 

Attempting it with stiffness can lead to compensatory movements and altered technique, which may hurt your shoulders. Before starting overhead presses, incorporate mobilization techniques and stretches to improve your range of motion.

Benefits Of The Machine Overhead Press

Builds Muscles

You may be wondering how to get bigger shoulders. One method could be performing machine overhead presses. Resistance training is a proven way to increase muscle size, especially in the moderate to high repetition range (8–12 repetitions per set). 

Overhead machine presses do this by targeting the shoulders, chest, and triceps. The controlled movement allows you to use heavier loads, safely, further encouraging muscle growth. 

Increases Range Of Motion 

Resistance training is an effective method for improving range of motion. While static stretching is also a good strategy for improving flexibility, with resistance training you can achieve similar results. 

The machine overhead press targets the shoulders and triceps. It moves the shoulder joint through its full range of movement as you press the bar overhead. It does it while providing you with a stable and controlled movement path. This can lead to improved joint range of movements and overall better functionality. 

Improves Strength 

Resistance machines and free weights are equally effective for improving strength, especially for beginners. Novice athletes can gain up to 43% in one-repetition maximum (1RM) strength. This improvement occurred after 10 weeks of resistance training which included a shoulder press.

 The machine overhead press isolates the shoulders and triceps, promoting strength in these areas. This makes it the ideal choice for building targeted upper-body strength. 

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the height of the overhead press machine?

When seated, the handles should be around shoulder height. Adjust the seat so the handles match this height requirement. This way, you can press safely and powerfully.

What is the height of the shoulder press machine?

To set up the shoulder press machine, adjust the seat height so the handles align with your shoulders. Keep your back supported and feet flat on the ground.

Is the machine overhead press effective?

Yes, the machine overhead press is effective for building strength and size in the upper body. The fixed bar path provides stability, making it easier to progress the weight and maintain proper form.

Who should not overhead press with a machine?

Those with chronic shoulder pain should avoid overhead presses until their injury heals. Overhead pressing may exacerbate their condition.

Resources

Endomondo.com refrains from utilizing tertiary references. We uphold stringent sourcing criteria and depend on peer-reviewed studies and academic research conducted by medical associations and institutions. For more detailed insights, you can explore further by reading our editorial process.

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