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Overhead

Your Scaps Are Loose Overhead

The fault

No upper back engagement supporting the bar overhead.

Why it happens

Overhead stability is an upper back job as much as a shoulder job. If the scaps are not set and the traps are not engaged, the bar has nothing underneath it.

The fix

Keep the scaps tucked and tight, rotate the arms in slightly, and push up hard to bring the traps and upper back into the position.

About this fix
Originally published as "Get Stable Overhead!", part of The Lifting Fix, the free weekly technique series Danny Lehr started filming over a decade ago. He gave every episode away then, and they are still free here. Danny Lehr competed in Olympic weightlifting from 2010 to 2019 and won the 2019 Masters World Cup. More about Danny Lehr.
Transcript

Danny Lehr with The Lifting Fix I've got David Meller my teammate in California Strength here we're outside Midtown strength conditioning I know it looks like we're in the ocean all right but we were actually just outside Midtown all right now what we're going to talk about today is overhead stability I did a video earlier we talked about while overhead it's important to get these armpits forward all right so we're locked in there now that is true we want that to be true

but at the same time in that position we can't really stack and recruit the musculature of the back like we need to so you want to work overhead stability you want to get this locked in nice and tight the scap locked in while that scap is locked in maintain that we then rotate rotate and push up now in this position we're get the traps involved the rhomboids involved the entire back scaps are still locked in where they need to be then this

is rotated up very strong overhead position so a way to drill that is he's going to grab the bar put it behind his neck and a snatch grip come over here all right now he's just going to do a snatch grip push press and then hold overhead and while I hold it there scaps locked in scap little forward rotated pushing up good strong position all right so going do two of those two or three of those snatch push press hold that and

then once he feels comfortable in that position a couple uh heaving snatch balance so you're just going to pop and then go down the overhead squat the entire time scaps tucked in and then twist and press up all right this good overhead position you watch high level lifters that's where they all are scaps tucked shoulders turned pushing up to the sky there we go you need to get better overhead stability couple push presses overhead squats and that's how you get it going.

More overhead fixes

See all

Your Overhead Squat Is Weak and Unstable

No solid overhead position under a loaded squat.

Overhead1:22

The Bar Finishes Out Front, Not Actually Overhead

Leaving the bar in front of the body and calling it locked out.

Overhead2:17
With Garret Fisher

You Cannot Find the Strong Overhead Position on Your Own

Not knowing what a reliable overhead position feels like when nobody is watching.

Overhead1:37

Want the rest of this category?

Every overhead fix I've filmed, one a day for five days, in the order I'd work through them with you. Not the order they got uploaded. The order that actually fixes it.

Plus the snatch pull checklist. One page, nine points, floor to hip.

Free, and these videos are free on this site whether you do this or not. This is just me putting them in the right order and sending them to you, so you don't have to guess where to start.

Or just download the checklist, no email needed.