If you want an exercise that adds size and strength to your upper body while also challenging your core strength and stability, the overhead press reigns supreme. Not only will mastering this exercise help you day-to-day, but the strength you’ll gain can skyrocket PRs on other upper-body moves like the bench press and clean. 

When done improperly, however, this upper body staple can cause unwanted stress on your shoulders, become a source of lower back pain, and more. There are several cues you need to learn to ensure you’re doing it correctly–keeping your wrists stacked, bracing your core, and pushing your elbows slightly forward. 

“When you’re setting up the overhead press, you want the points of the elbows (the olecranon process) to be slightly in front of the barbell,” says strength coach Claire Zai, MS.

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While this might feel awkward at first, Zai suggests watching yourself in a mirror or taking a video during the first few reps to see yourself performing it correctly. 

“This ensures the joint itself and the loading bone of the arm is directly under the barbell, Zai explains. “This reduces the torque necessary to hold the bar in position during the setup. You can set this up before you take the bar out of the rack, then again in between reps if you notice your positioning has changed.”

Although you might think an overhead press is a straightforward movement, small deviations in form can make the movement more difficult and less effective. 

“The importance of this positioning is multifold. First, it puts you in a position to deliver the most efficient force to the barbell because your force is being applied directly through the bone; you’re not using strength to fight torque,” Zai adds. 

If you’re working against gravity and holding the bar up at an angle, it’s going to make the lift feel harder.

“Secondly, this allows you to keep the bar closer to your body, another aspect that makes this lift easier.”

So, how will you know if you aren’t following Zai’s simple hack correctly? You might start to feel the bar drifting away from your body. 

“You want to make sure there’s as little space between the bar and your face as you press up,” she says. “Obviously we don’t want it so close that you clip your nose, but generally the closer to your body the better. If your elbows are not in front of the barbell, the barbell will be further from your face so this can be an easy tell to see if you set up correctly.”

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