The Z press is an overhead press done sitting on the floor with the legs straight out in front and nothing behind your back. There is no bench, no leg drive and no back support, so the trunk has to hold you upright while the shoulders press.
It is named after the Lithuanian strongman Žydrūnas Savickas, “Big Z”. Ryan Horton says Savickas made the lift popular; BarBend’s guide says he invented it, and its video description adds that Derek Poundstone popularised it further. Brolic lists it as Z Press (Barbell), with “Barbell Z Press” and “Zydrunas Press” as aliases, and Z Press (Dumbbell), with “Dumbbell Z Press” as an alias, and logs both as two-sided exercises in reps.
Muscles worked
Brolic tags the lateral deltoids as primary on both entries, with the anterior deltoids, triceps and abdominals as secondary. Rob Kearney, a professional strongman, treats it as a core exercise: the trunk, not the heels or knees, keeps you upright. Ryan Horton, a collegiate strength coach, calls it an overhead press combined with core stabilisation, and says nine out of ten athletes trying it for the first time fall backwards.
No study measures it. A PubMed search on October 7, 2026 for “Z press” in titles and abstracts returned one paper, about muscle z-lines, and nothing on the lift, so nothing establishes that it builds more shoulder or trunk muscle than a seated or standing press.
Set up on the floor
Barbell: set the bar on safety pins at about chin height and sit under it with the legs straight. Kearney’s favourite setup is a bar on two pins in a rack, just above the shoulders, the easiest way into position.
Grip just outside shoulder width. That is Kearney’s general rule. Thumbs around the bar or thumbless are both fine; he prefers thumbless.
Roll the bar back until it nearly touches you, brace, and sit tall. Kearney engages the core and stays upright before the first press.
Dumbbells: sit with the legs straight, dumbbells on the hips, then bring them to the shoulders. Horton tightens the core before raising them and wants the posture upright first. Palms forward or turned slightly inward are both suitable.
Press and push the head through
Press straight overhead; as the bar passes the eyes, push the head through. Kearney’s image is looking through an open window. Getting the head through puts the bar directly over the body and makes the lockout stable. Horton’s dumbbell finish is the same: arms above the ears, dumbbells squeezed at the top, ears under the hands.
Do not press out in front and lean back. Kearney’s first mistake: if you can look up at the bar, it is not over you and the head did not come through quickly enough. Horton’s version of the fault is leaning back from the dumbbells until the lift becomes an incline bench press.
Keep the knees down and the heels quiet. Kearney’s second mistake is the knees rising and bending as the lifter digs the heels in for stability; the trunk is supposed to provide it.
Do not tilt the head to grind a rep. His third. It is an accessory lift done for a decent number of reps, not loaded so heavily that reps have to be ground out. Horton’s page suggests three to four sets of six to twelve reps.
How it differs from a seated or standing press
| Z press | Seated overhead press | Standing overhead press | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sitting on | The floor, legs straight | A bench, feet on the floor | Standing |
| Back support | None | Usually a bench back | None |
| What keeps you upright | The trunk alone | The bench | Legs and trunk |
Kearney does it on his overhead day after the main press, for higher reps and more sets. No trial compares the three presses; the table separates setups, it does not rank them.
Logging
Brolic has an entry for each implement. For Z Press (Barbell), enter the total on the bar, bar included (the barbell calculator adds it up); for Z Press (Dumbbell), the weight of one dumbbell. Note the pin height, the grip and the palm position, and keep the two histories apart. The free workout log holds the notes, and the weekly set tally shows how these sets add to your shoulder work.
Common questions
Barbell, dumbbells or kettlebells? All three are taught here. Kearney uses dumbbells when the rack is taken or a barbell bothers the shoulders, and kettlebells, bell against the back of the forearm, to force the head through. Brolic has no kettlebell entry; log it under Z Press (Dumbbell) and note the bell.
I cannot sit upright with straight legs. Horton’s page says the lift needs hamstring flexibility; BarBend’s Jake Boly suggests warming the hips up first.
How heavy? Lighter than you think. Kearney calls it not an ego lift and would never take it to a one-rep max; Horton’s three to four sets of six to twelve is the only rep figure here.
My lower back or shoulders hurt during the set. Stop. Next time lighten the load or switch implement; do not press through pain.
Sources and method
- BarBend: How to Z press, with Rob Kearney — pin setup, grip, head-through, the three mistakes, the dumbbell and kettlebell versions; automatic captions, with Savickas and Poundstone from the description.
- BarBend, Jake Boly: Rob Kearney on the Z press — the three tips, including warming the hips up.
- BarBend: Z press guide — Mike Dewar and Alex Polish; the statement that Savickas invented it.
- Horton Barbell: Dumbbell Z press — Ryan Horton’s setup, palm options and the fall-back mistake; captions and description.
- Horton Barbell: Dumbbell Z press guide — credentials, sets and reps, hamstring flexibility, Savickas.
- Brolic catalog — names, aliases, logging mode and muscle tags.
Grip, bar height and rep figures are the coaches’ starting points, not optima from a trial.
