Why Is Military Press So Hard?

So if you’ve tried this challenging weightlifting exercise before, you might be asking yourself, “Why is the bench press so hard?” The overhead press is a great move to commit to – it’s all or nothing.

 Either you carry your weight above your head or you don’t. It’s a challenging move and it’s very easy to get stuck. The gains from overhead presses are much slower and with much more effort than the gains from squats or deadlifts.

Adding up to 2.5 pounds to your overhead when you reach the top means you’ve hit the max and increased your shoulders, chest, traps, and arms. You improve, but…

But why does it seem like such an uphill battle?

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Why Is Military Press So Hard?

Presses use every muscle in your body. Unfortunately, this makes its shortcomings more obvious, which means its numbers will inevitably be much lower. You can’t change the basic anatomy – your arms aren’t as strong as your legs. Remember that the prime movers used in the bench press are small muscles.

Realistically, you can expect to max out much less on your press than on other lifts. Depending on whether you are an experienced lifter or just starting, your bench press will average between 62-69% of your bench press.

For example, someone who can bench press 175 pounds may only be able to lift 120 pounds. This is normal and you can expect the actual numbers to be much smaller.

5 Reasons Why Military Press is Hard

Impaired shoulder flexion can be caused by short or stiff shoulder blades.

• Limited external rotation of the shoulder, possibly caused by short/stiff sternum or lats
• Insufficient upward rotation of the scapula
• Insufficient expansion of the thoracic spine
• Lack of anterior core rigidity

Most likely, focusing on and improving one or two items from this list of potential problems can lead to the expected results, especially since they all interact in different ways. For example, if you reduce stiffness in your lats, your anterior core doesn’t have to compensate for that stiffness, so the stiffness you feel improves.

The press premise is simple: press the bar directly above your head.

For the ascending path to be straight and clear, several points must be remembered:

1. The bar should go up in a vertical line as high as possible. Try holding the bar close to your face so it passes almost without touching your face.
2. Don’t lean back too far, just start the movement with your hips and push your hips so that the lean is very light.
3. Keep your chest up, shoulders slightly bent, and core tight. Loosening your core can start the problem.
4. Keep your eyes straight ahead throughout the lift, don’t look up or down.

To Recap – Why Military Press is Hard

Developing overload is indeed difficult, but if you focus on correcting some of your posture flaws and other small adjustments, you’ll be amazed at the long-term progress you can make.

Remember, to achieve ultimate success in your training program, you must train smart, listen to your body, and be aware of your limits.

Now we know why overhead presses are difficult to execute and why it’s worth adding this movement to our routines. The overhead press is an important exercise for shoulder health, overall strength, and toned delts.

However, maintaining shoulder health and preventing further injuries is important and something we should always keep in mind. The overhead press is not for everyone.

It can be helpful to make a simple “screenshot” to help decide if overload development is appropriate and explore different ways to increase shoulder mobility before proceeding. Remember to protect your back from lifting heavy weights.