I did 100 overhead presses a day for a week – Here are the four things I learned

ActiveI did 100 overhead presses a day for a week – Here are the four things I learnedIs there a benefit to doing so many overhead presses a day for a whole week? I had to give it a try…When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

Is there a benefit to doing so many overhead presses a day for a whole week? I had to give it a try…

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

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Attractive red-haired fitness woman trains shoulder muscles doing overhead dumbbell press in a modern gym. Bodybuilding and Fitness

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Jump to category:BenefitsHow to do it100 overhead presses a day for a week

Sounds easy, but there’s a lot that can go wrong with this exercise - especially if you don’t perform it with the correct form, use a weight that’s too heavy, have some kind of shoulder injury, or don’t have excellent shoulder mobility - as I found out to my own detriment. So, without further ado, here’s what happened when I tried to do 100 overhead press exercises a day for a whole week.

What are the benefits of the overhead press?

The overhead press recruits the deltoid muscles of your shoulders, specifically the anterior deltoid at the front of the shoulder. As an effective upper-body compound move, it also works your chest (pectorals), upper back (trapezius), and the back of your arms (triceps).

If you perform the overhead press standing up – as opposed to sitting down with your back supported – you will also need to recruit your core muscles, such as the obliques, transverse abdominal muscles, lower back, and spinal stabilizers, to help you maintain your balance and stability.

As with any weight baring activity, lifting heavy loads can help you to strengthen your bones as well as your muscles, increasing your bone density over time to reduce the risk of osteoporosis.

Regularly incorporating the overhead press into your workouts will help you to keep your upper body in shape, counteract the effects of slouching and bad posture, and assist you with daily tasks such as placing objects on a shelf or high cabinet.

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Additionally, it can help you to perform other exercises, such as a push-up or bench press while improving your sporting performance and making you less likely to pick up injuries.

How to do the overhead press

There are many variations of the overhead press, and they all have their pros and cons. For this article, we are focusing on the standing overhead press with dumbbells, for which you’ll need a pair of thebest dumbbells.

I did 100 overhead presses a day for a week – Here’s what I learned

1. Go slowly if you have a shoulder injury

The downside was that I totally overworked my right shoulder – sports masseuses regularly point out the difference in size between my left and right delts – and I developed a shoulder impingement, which still twinges from time to time and wakes me up at night if I fall asleep on my right side.

The point is this: shoulders aren’t as tough as they seem. In fact, they are one of the most commonly injured joints in the body because they have the greatest range of motion but the least stability, which makes them more susceptible to strain and repetitive injury.

So, if you’re injury-free, start with a lighter weight and build up gradually. If you have an existing shoulder injury, seek approval from a medical professional before attempting an overhead press - and maybe don’t attempt this challenge of 100 overhead presses a day.

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Strong healthy toned woman training, holding dumbbells, preparing for workout in urban industrial gym.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

2. Choose your equipment carefully

As a result of the muscle imbalance in my shoulders, the barbell overhead press is out for me right now. That’s because when you have one side that’s stronger than the other, your stronger side can often overcompensate for your weaker side when using a barbell.

That said, if you’re looking for serious strength and size gains in the shoulder department, using a barbell can be a better choice, namely because you can often lift much heavier loads.

3. Doing the same exercise gets boring

This is because it adds a rotation in the movement which helps to hit all three heads of the shoulder: the front (anterior deltoid), middle (lateral deltoid), and back (posterior deltoid), and I found focusing on the rotation of the movement and my form really helped to break up the monotony.

I also threw in a few sets of my usual dumbbell squat to overhead press exercises to feel like the rest of my body was getting a look in and even tried alternating my arms with the basic overhead press because it apparently helps to better activate the core muscles.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Dumbbell exercise overhead press

(Image credit: Getty Images)

4. There’s safety in numbers

I’m not talking about needing lots of people around you when doing the overhead press (although having a spotting partner can be useful if you’re going really heavy in the gym).

Rather, I’m talking about why it can be a good thing to stick to the recommended number of reps and sets that qualified exercise coaches and PTs suggest if you want to weight train for increased strength and hypertrophy (muscle growth gains)

For hypertrophy, this usually means 3 to 4 sets of 6 to 12 reps, using a heavier weight, while training for muscular endurance usually involves doing 2 to 3 sets of 12 to 20 reps, often using a lighter weight to help you complete all the reps with good form.

Moreover, these sessions are usually split across a training week, with rest days in between workouts to allow the muscles to recover, repair, and come back stronger (with the aid of a nutritious diet).

Clearly, doing 100 reps of an overhead press every day for a week is way beyond the usual tried-and-tested strength training advice, and you should know that going against this advice and pumping out more reps doesn’t necessarily equal bigger, faster strength and size gains.

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