6 min read

This statistic shows that 28.79 million Americans own free weights (barbells) from 2011 to 2020. Weight lifting is one of the most popular exercises to stay in shape. Let me tell you that weight lifting exercises are well-known among athletes or gym enthusiasts. For someone who’s never indulged in any of the above-mentioned exercises, it’ll stress their shoulders while lifting weights overhead.
You might wonder what the difference is between military press and overhead press. Here’s a quick answer:
The common thing in both is that you lift the weight from your chest to overhead. According to the classical definition of military press, you must stand with your heels together when performing it. In the case of overhead press, you need to stand with your feet slightly apart. Interestingly, you won’t see anyone doing military press any longer. Both military press and overhead press are done the same way today.
You can perform military press only with a barbell. While overhead press can be done with either dumbbells or barbells.
If you’re interested in getting an in-depth comparison of both, this article might be helpful for you. So, stick around and keep on reading.
This type of weight lifting has numerous benefits.
You can watch this video for an in-depth tutorial on both lifts.
If you compare both exercises, you will find the overhead press an easier one. You can stand with open legs while doing it. On the other hand, when you are doing military press, less chest engagement is required and your standing position would be an “attention” one.
When you do a military press, all your muscles will not be activated. On the other hand, with the overhead press, all your muscles get activated. Military press being the strict one doesn’t benefit you the way overhead press does.
Military Press | Overhead Press | |
Body Parts Engaged | Neck Arms Shoulders | Knees Upper Chest Arms Traps Shoulders |
Let’s compare both;
Overhead Press | Military Press |
Weight lifting overhead | Weight lifting overhead |
Stand with feet shoulder-width apart | Heels together |
Parts you can move;Hips | Parts you can move Arms Shoulders |
Body is stabilized | Body is unstabilized |
In-front of head | Behind the head |
Doesn’t cause any danger with the right technique. | Wrong technique may cause shoulder injury |
Can do in two positions; standing or seated |
The muscle group engaged in OHP and military press are following;
Overhead Press | Military Press |
Anterior delts | Deltoids |
Medial delts | Abdominals |
Triceps | Triceps |
Chest |
The impact they leave on your body is considerably different.
Interestingly, you can perform these lifts both in front of your head and as well as behind the head. Therefore, like many individuals, you may have concerns regarding the effects this kind of lift might have on your trunk.
Traditional research indicates that this exercise isn’t dangerous to your shoulders. Keep in mind that it was thought that these lifts would only affect shoulders.
The latest work shows those with a stable trunk wouldn’t face any injury. Still, the great practice would be increasing your range of motion. The normal or ideal ROM for rotation should be 90°.
OHP doesn’t help build the chest. With this type of weight lifting, you won’t be targeting your lower chest and mid-chest. As discussed initially, the body parts this weight lifting targets include the shoulders and triceps.
If you want to build your chest and triceps, you should go for a bench press. Whereas, OHP builds your shoulders and triceps.
If you follow the right techniques, none of these will affect your shoulders. The position of the bar plays a significant role in keeping you safe from muscular and bone injuries.
Here’s where you should position the bar in both exercises;
Overall, both the liftings will not cause any problems if done properly. To avoid stressing your shoulders too much, you should never overdo any of these exercises. Also, these exercises are only suitable for those who’ve any sporting goals.
A web story that differentiated the two in a summarized manner can be found when you click here.
We appreciate you taking the time to share your feedback about this page with us.
Whether it's praise for something good, or ideas to improve something that
isn't quite right, we're excited to hear from you.