Standing or seated miltary press?

butrybench555

New member
I always wonder which one I should do and why. Should I switch it up a lot or stick with just one? Which one? And why?

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better for what?

i prefer standing as i can use more musculature to support and stabilize my spine, including my glutes and hamstrings.
 
butrybench555 said:
I always wonder which one I should do and why. Should I switch it up a lot or stick with just one? Which one? And why?

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I like switching it up from time to time (every three weeks or so). I find I progress better in my pressing strength and shoulder size that way.
 
I always do barbell standing. When i feel my shoulder specifically need more work i do dumbbells seated as assistance.
 
Barbell work should always be used for compound, functional lifts, not for isolation. If you want to isolate, there are better ways. Just use dumbbells.
 
You should definitely work towards the standing being a strong lift. Mine is horrible and I have been taking the steps to make it better. I can't do much weight with the standing yet so I knock those out first and then follow that with a seated exercise with heavier weights so the delts get worked harder. The stronger standing press will carryover well with many other exercises.
 
I agree. I never sit for OH/military press anymore. I don't think the traps and full delts get hit properly anyhow when doing seated OH press. I've never seen people go 'through the window' on a seated press, most lean back a bit and press in front of them, which is bad form.
 
The big problem with seated military presses is that they turn into a high incline press. The spine hyper arches, the but slide out, and the ROM is not finished with elbows aligned with ears.

When standing, if you keep your glutes and core engaged, this will not happen. This will also ensure greater delt activation versus what I described above.

Br
 
ZiR RED said:
The spine hyper arches, the but slide out, and the ROM is not finished with elbows aligned with ears.
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Maybe it's the setups at my gym, but you can usually push your head back over the chair and allow the bar to descend to your chest on seated work. I just don't go to my chest because my forearms go numb if I go too low on seated BB press (I don't have this problem standing, though).
 
When I switched from seated OH press to standing, with proper form, my traps and delts took off to a whole new level.

ZiR Red is right about seated military press basically turns into a high incline press. It will only really hit your front and side delts.
 
Jethro52185 said:
Maybe from a powerlifting standpoint, but as far as hypertrophy goes, sitting overhead press is much better.
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I disagree, for the reasons everyone else posted in this thread.

There are a few lifts I feel everyone should do, no matter what you goal is (be it physique, strength, whatever). The standing press is one of them. If a person is going to bust his butt in the gym, why not get stronger and be more functional? Your shoulders will still grow and look good and there are other movements to isolate if you want to.

To put it more simply, most people who can standing press a lot of weight have just as good shoulder build as someone who presses seated, if not better. But the person who does it standing is probably has a lot more "real world" strength.
 
Switch them up. Always keep your routine fresh. Try to maintain good posture when doing the seated variety. I personally prefer the standing press.
 
Xerxes said:
Switch them up. Always keep your routine fresh. Try to maintain good posture when doing the seated variety. I personally prefer the standing press.
Click to expand...

I always do barbell standing, and dumbbells seated (when I have them in my program). I feel this is a good all around middle ground.
 
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