Form check
Overhead press form check: lock it out, stand still.
A strict overhead press is the simplest lift to describe and one of the hardest to do honestly: press the weight from your shoulders to straight arms overhead without the rest of your body helping. A coach watches three things: whether the arms finish straight, whether you lean back under the bar, and whether the legs sneak in. Here they are, with the words the coach in Loopform AI uses.
What a good rep looks like
- Lockout. Elbows straight overhead, the weight stacked over the shoulders and hips, head pushed through so the ears are in front of the arms. The camera reads the elbow angle opening to straight.
- Trunk upright. Ribs down, glutes squeezed, no arch. A little lean to get the bar past the face is normal; staying leaned back is not.
- Legs still. Knees locked throughout. Any dip and drive is a push press, which is a fine exercise, just a different one.
- Bar path. As close to a straight vertical line as your face allows.
The three faults and what the coach says
No lockout
The elbows never straightened overhead. Often the weight is a touch heavy, or the rep was cut short to get to the next one. Finish every rep; a press that stops short is not counted by a strict judge, and the coach treats it the same way.
The coach says: "Finish it. Lock the elbows out overhead." · "Press all the way up, arms straight, head through."
Leaning back
The trunk tips back under the bar to turn the press into an incline press. It loads the lower back and hides a weak overhead position. Squeeze the glutes before the rep, tuck the ribs, and press slightly back and up rather than forward.
The coach says: "You're leaning back under it. Squeeze your glutes and brace, ribs down." · "Chest is drifting back. Lock the hips, tuck the ribs, press straight up."
Leg drive
The knees dipped and drove before or during the press. The camera sees the knee angle change against how you stood at the rack. Lock the knees and let the shoulders do the work; if the weight won't go without the legs, it is too heavy for a strict set.
The coach says: "Legs are helping. Keep the knees locked, it's a strict press." · "That was a push press. Stand still and let the shoulders do it."
How to check yourself
- Phone at chest height, 8 to 10 feet back, side-on, with room above your head so locked-out hands stay in frame. The filming guide has the rest.
- Pause at the top. The wrist, elbow and shoulder should stack over the hip. If the hip is in front of the shoulder, you leaned.
- Watch the knees in slow motion. If they move at all, it was a push press.
Variations the same rules cover
Barbell strict press, dumbbell press standing, landmine press (which allows a forward lean by design, and the coach knows it). Seated presses take the legs out of it but still get judged on lockout and lean.
How Loopform AI coaches it
Side-on to the phone at chest height, the coach reads the elbow angle of the arm nearer the camera from the rack to lockout and counts the rep when it gets there, compares your trunk angle and knee angle through the press with how you stood at the rack, and calls a lean or a leg drive once it has shown up for real. One cue per rep, out loud.
Rep counting and form cues are free, with or without a subscription. Video never leaves your phone unless you share a clip. Android arrives in January.