barbell push press

The Barbell Push Press is a powerful compound exercise targeting both your upper and lower body in one fluid movement. This exercise is great for building overall strength and explosive power.

Here we will delve into the muscles worked, how to perform the Barbell Push Press, benefits, common mistakes to avoid, reps and sets, how to progress this exercise, how and where to fit it into your workout plan and finally other exercises targeting the same muscle groups.

Muscles Worked When Doing the Barbell Push Press

The Barbell Push Press actively engages several muscle groups, see below:

Quads (Front Thigh Muscles): Your quads are one of the primary muscle groups targeted during this exercise.

Glutes: Your glutes are engaged during the quarter squat part of this exercise.

Deltoids (Shoulders): The deltoid muscles are prominently involved in lifting the barbell up over your head.

Traps: The trapezius muscle is engaged from a secondary perspective during this exercise.

Triceps: The triceps play a supportive role in extending your arms as you press the barbell overhead.

Core: Because this exercise is performed standing and involves a quarter squat, your core muscles are engaged from a secondary perspective.

You can use the muscle highlighted image at the top of this page for a visual guide of the muscles worked.

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How to Perform the Barbell Push Press

Master the Barbell Push Press with these simple steps:

1. Start Position: Begin by holding a barbell just above your chest, with your wrists facing outwards, elbows tucked in, and a grip around shoulder-width apart.

2. Stance: Keep a slight bend in your knees with your core tight and chest held high and your bum out.

3. Execution: Quarter squat down, and with explosive power, drive through your legs and press the barbell overhead in one fluid movement. Fully extend your arms at the top, pausing briefly before bringing the barbell back down through the same smooth and controlled movement.

4. Go for reps.

Other Weight Types You Can Use to Perform This Exercise

While the barbell method is preferred (because it allows you to move the most weight), you can also perform a push press with a dumbbell, kettlebell or sandbag. Just make sure you have a firm grip on your weight of choice from start to finish.

Benefits of the Barbell Push Press

The Barbell Push Press has a lot of benefits to support your progress in the gym and in everyday life:

Strength and Power: This exercise will help you build strength and explosive power, which is transferable to a number of other gym exercises.

Compound Exercise: This compound exercise works multiple muscle groups simultaneously, and uses a barbell, which means you can continue to load this exercise as you get stronger, and there is no limit to how far you can progress.

Functional Movement: The Barbell Push Press also translates into functional strength that you can use in your everyday life.

Barbell Push Press: Common Mistakes to Avoid

To reap all the benefits of the Barbell Push Press and avoid injury, watch out for these common mistakes:

Barbell Instability: Keep the barbell under your control throughout the exercise. Don’t allow it to tilt forwards or backwards at any point throughout the exercise. If you can’t control the barbell, go lighter.

Sloppy Form: Pay attention to your form and posture throughout this exercise. Poor form can lead to acute or repetitive strain injury which comes on slowly over time when you are consistently performing this exercise incorrectly.

Reps and Sets

The number of reps and sets you perform depends on your current strength with this exercise.

Beginners: Start with simply mastering the move. Keep in mind that if you’re just starting out, 3 reps is a valid set.

To determine how many reps/sets of the Barbell Push Press you should start with, you first need to figure out how many reps you can comfortably perform. Then add 2, and perform that number of reps for 3 sets.

For example; let’s say you can perform 4 reps comfortably. Add 2 to make 6 reps. Perform those 6 reps 3 times over, allowing yourself sufficient rest inbetween.

Experienced lifters: You know your body and its abilities better than anyone, use your own judgment.

We recommend that you avoid performing more than 12 reps per set. If you’re comfortably performing 12 reps for up to 6 sets, it’s time to make the exercise more challenging.

How to Make the Barbell Push Press More Challenging

To make this exercise more challenging you simply need to add more weight to the bar.

How to Incorporate the Barbell Push Press into Your Workouts

The Barbell Push Press will fit nicely into any upper body, full body or Back Shoulders and Triceps Workout Plan. You should always prioritise compound exercises, the exercises that work the most muscle groups, use the most weight and expend the most energy. Work your way down to smaller isolation / lighter weight exercises from there.

Because this is a compound exercise, using a barbell that is pressed overhead, we recommend performing this exercise towards the beginning of your workout.

You can learn more about exercise order here.

Exercises That Target Similar Muscle Groups to the Barbell Push Press

Similar exercises include the Dumbbell Push Press, which is the exact same movement performed with dumbbells instead. You may also want to consider the Military Press, or the Single Arm Kettlebell Push Press. For isolation exercises you can include the Dumbbell Shoulder Press, Front Raises or Lateral Raises.

A combination of compound and isolation exercises is recommended for well rounded results.

You can find more Shoulder Exercises at the bottom of this page. Or you can check out our entire exercise database broken down by muscle group here.

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