I would like to present The Press for your consideration.

Hopefully, you have a consistent routine that is recorded carefully in a logbook with each exercise performed to help you achieve your athletic goals, whatever they may be. Realistically, you are using pre-made routines, which do not include the standing overhead press using the barbell for a variety of reasons. No matter what your circumstance, please allow me the time to tell you why you should Press.

If you love the bench press, then you should Press and you should Press as often as you bench. Basically, you should bench press one day and overhead press the next time you do your upper body and shoulders. One reason for doing this is that the bench press and the overhead press act as auxiliary lifts for one another. Auxiliary lifts are lifts that help you get stronger for another purpose then just doing that lift again.

The second reason is that when you begin putting up the numbers for your bench press, your shoulders could become imbalanced as the front of your shoulders become stronger than the back of your shoulders. This muscular imbalance could possibly lead to injury if you are not careful and neglect strengthening your shoulders evenly, which the Press can be used for.

If you love sports, particularly football, then you should Press and you should emphasize the Press perhaps more so than the bench. How could I suggest this madness? Well, the kinetic chain of the Press most closely resembles that of the tackle. If you want to play harder, then Press harder.

Finally, if you love being manly or Amazon-like, the Press is as manly or Amazon-like as it gets. The Press is often your weakest lift, because it uses the smallest muscles in your body. When you begin to Press a lot (maybe even work up to bodyweight), it’s impressive.

Now, that I’ve made my case, allow me to point you to three places where you may go to learn how to better execute a Press. The first is Stronglifts.com, which comes with a free e-book on programming. The site also has a page called How to Master the Overhead Press.

If you are looking for more information, consider picking up the book Starting Strength, if only for the long, detailed descriptions of how to perform major compound lifts, especially the Press. If you are looking for someone to evaluate your form, consider scheduling a personal training session to get an appraisal for how you’re doing the Press and other lifts as well.