Dumbbell Z-press
A dumbbell overhead press done sitting on the floor with your legs straight out in front. No leg drive and no back support.
The movement
2 stages
Sitting tall
01 Sitting tall
Sit tall on the floor, legs straight out, weights at shoulder height.
02 Lockout
Press straight up to locked elbows without letting your lower back round behind you.
How to do it
Setup
- Sit on the floor with your legs straight out in front and spread into a wide V.
- Sit tall with a flat back and a dumbbell in each hand at shoulder height.
- Brace your trunk and press your heels into the floor.
Execution
- Press both dumbbells straight up until your elbows are locked.
- Pause for a moment with the weights stacked over your shoulders.
- Lower them under control back to shoulder height.
- Sit at the same height at the end of the set as at the start.
BreathingInhale at your shoulders, exhale as you press.
Getting it right
Form cues
- Sit as tall as you can and hold it between reps.
- Press up past your ears, not forward over your knees.
- Push your heels down to anchor your hips.
Common mistakes
- Leaning back to start the weights moving, which turns the press into an incline press.
- Letting the lower back round, which drops the ribs and takes the shoulders out of position.
Worth knowing
- Sitting upright with straight legs asks a lot of the hamstrings and hips. If you cannot get there with a flat back, press seated on a bench instead until you can.
General guidance, not medical advice. See how Setkit works.
Notes
The Z-press strips an overhead press down to the shoulders and the trunk. Sitting flat on the floor removes the dip, the leg drive and the bench to lean into, so the weight moves only as fast as your shoulders move it. Expect to press a good deal less here than you do standing.
The trunk usually fails before the arms do. Holding an upright torso with your legs straight out in front is hard work for the hips and the lower back. The back tends to round while there are still reps left in the shoulders. Once it rounds, you are doing a different exercise with a worse spine position.
Two dumbbells let each arm travel its own path, which helps when one shoulder is tighter than the other. Nothing steadies them for you though, so the weight that works standing will feel unmanageable here. Start lighter than you expect to, and add load only once you can sit tall for every rep of the set.