Overhead press 1RM test
The strict overhead press is the honest measure of overhead strength: no leg drive, no dip, nothing to hide behind. It is the upper-body test in the netball battery because the pass and the intercept are overhead actions.
Strict means strict: standing, no dip, no leg drive. Adding leg drive makes it a push press, which is a different lift with a different number.
It is the upper-body test in the netball battery because the pass and the intercept are overhead actions.
The point of the test
Maximal strict overhead pressing strength and the shoulder stability to express it.
Why it is in the Train Smart battery: Overhead strength for the pass, the intercept and the contest.
How to run it
Strict, standing, no leg drive. Work up in singles. A 3RM entered here is converted for you.
- What you need
- A barbell · A rack to take the bar from · Full rest between singles
What is a good score?
We are not going to publish a precise-looking table for this test. Reported ranges vary too much with protocol, equipment, level, age and sex for a single table to be honest, and most of the tables in circulation for it are uncited copies of each other.
The comparison that actually changes your training is against your own last score. That is not a consolation prize — it is what the monitoring literature supports, and it is what Train Smart does: re-test every four weeks under the same conditions and let the trend, not the percentile, drive the program. The papers behind that are here.
What people get wrong
Most of the variation between two tests is protocol, not fitness. These are the faults that make one score incomparable to the last.
- Using leg drive.
- That is a push press — a different lift with a different number. Strict means strict.
- Over-arching the lower back.
- Ribs down, glutes on. A big lean-back turns it into an incline press and puts the load somewhere it should not be.
How to actually move the number
Overhead pressing improves with upper-back strength as much as with pressing volume — the shoulder can only press from a base that holds. Program pulling at roughly twice the volume of your overhead pressing, and add direct triceps work for the lockout.
The movements that build a overhead press 1RM
Testing tells you where you are; these are what change it. Each one carries the coaching cues, the sets and reps Train Smart prescribes it at, and ranked alternatives — and in the app the weight is calculated from your own last top set.
| Movement | Why it is programmed |
|---|---|
| Incline DB Press | Upper strength for shielding the ball |
| Cable External Rotation — end-range hold | The rotator cuff loaded where it actually fails — at the end of the range, decelerating the arm after the ball has gone |
| Seated DB Shoulder Press | Overhead strength for contests, marks and intercepts |
| Weighted Dip | Heavy pressing that loads the triceps and lower chest together |
| Bench Press | Pushing strength in contests |
| Dip — bottom stretch hold | Pec and front-shoulder length under real load — the range a press never visits and a fall or a hand-off finds immediately |
| Med Ball Chest Pass | Upper-body power with no deceleration phase — you release instead of stopping |
| Pike Push-Up | Overhead pressing strength for handstands |
More: shoulder exercises · tricep exercises
overhead press 1RM — questions
Push press or strict press?
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