How to Do a Push Press

Dip a short distance and turn around fast. Weightlifting coaches teach a dip of about 10% of your height, which is 6 to 7 inches (15 to 18 cm) for most adults: a quarter squat or less. A deeper dip is slower to reverse and lets your chest tip forward, so the bar drives out in front of you instead of straight up. In studies of the jerk, which starts with the same dip and drive, the top-ranked lifters dipped shallower and stopped the dip in less time than the rest (Soriano 2019).

Bend at the knees, not the hips. Your knees travel forward over your toes while your torso stays vertical, like sliding down a wall with your back against it. Your heels stay flat until your legs are straight; they may come up a little at the very end of the drive. The bar should feel light as it leaves your shoulders. Your arms take over only to finish what the legs started.

Most guides say you can push press 20 to 30% more than you strict press. Gravitus logs show a much smaller gap. We compared the best estimated max of 1,800+ men and 260 women who log both the push press and the overhead press (Sep 2026). The median man's push press was only 103% of his strict press, and the middle half ran from 90 to 116%. The median woman's was 107%. Counting only sets of 5 reps or fewer, the median man's rose to 106%.

About 1 man in 5 pushed 120% or more, and 4 in 10 logged a push press lighter than their strict press. Part of the gap may be how lifters train it: many push press for speed with lighter loads or after their strict pressing. But a push press under your strict press means the dip and drive are not adding anything yet. Practise the dip with a light bar until it feels fast, then build up. The top quarter of men push press 116% or more of their strict press: 155 lb (70 kg) on a 135 lb (60 kg) press.

• You can push press 30% more than you strict press. That figure appears all over the web without a source. The median Gravitus lifter logs 3 to 7% more (see above). About 1 man in 5 reaches 20% or more, so treat 30% as a ceiling, not a starting expectation.
• The push press is a cheat press. The legs do real work. With 10 to 90% of their max, trained men produced as much peak power in the push press as in a loaded jump squat, with the most power at 75% of their push press max (Lake 2014).
• The push press makes you faster. Not on its own evidence. Six weeks of push press training at the load that maximised power did little for young soccer players' sprint or jump, while jump squats improved both (Loturco 2016). Push press power was only moderately linked to sprint speed (Loturco 2017).
• Deeper dip, more drive. A deep dip is slow to reverse and tips you forward. Keep it short and fast (Soriano 2019).
• The push press and the push jerk are the same lift. In a push jerk you dip a second time to catch the bar on straight arms. Trained men lifted about 10% more that way (Soriano 2022).

Push press first in the workout, while you are fresh, for 3 to 5 sets of 3 to 6 reps. That matches how Gravitus lifters use it: two-thirds of logged push press sets are 3 to 6 reps. Stop 1 to 3 reps short of failure. When the bar slows, the dip gets sloppy and the press drifts forward. Heavy loads build strength best, while muscle grows across a wide range of loads (Schoenfeld 2021), so save high reps for the strict press and dumbbells.

For power, use 2 to 3 fast reps at 65 to 75% of your push press max, where peak and mean power were highest (Lake 2014). For strength, add 5 lb (2.5 kg) when every set reaches 6 reps and drop back to 3. Press inside a rack with the safety arms just below your shoulders when the bar is heavy.