If your ribs flare and your lower back arches every time you press overhead, the problem is rarely weak shoulders — it is a stiff position upstream and downstream. Work through the tests and drills below in order, and retest often: mobility you cannot measure is mobility you cannot keep.
Test your overhead position first
Stand with your back flat against a wall, heels, glutes, and shoulder blades touching. Raise both arms overhead and try to touch your thumbs to the wall without letting your ribs lift or your back arch away. Note how far you get and what compensates first: flared ribs, shrugged shoulders, or bent elbows.
Film the test from the side so you can compare later. Repeat it every week or two under the same conditions — same warm-up, same time of day — and log the result in Bulky alongside your pressing sessions.
Open up the thoracic spine
A rounded upper back pushes the shoulder blades forward and steals overhead range before the arms even move. Start each session with two minutes of thoracic extension over a foam roller or a rolled towel placed across your mid-back, hands supporting your head, extending back over the roller one segment at a time.
Follow that with quadruped thoracic rotations: on all fours, one hand behind your head, rotate that elbow toward the opposite arm and then open it to the ceiling. Move slowly through eight reps per side, breathing out as you open.
Stretch the lats and pecs
Tight lats pull the arms down and forward at the top of every press. Kneel in front of a bench, place your elbows on it shoulder-width apart, and sink your chest toward the floor until you feel a long stretch from your armpits down your sides. Hold for 30 seconds, breathing deeply, and repeat twice.
Then open the chest in a doorway: forearms on the frame, elbows at shoulder height, step gently through until you feel the stretch across the pecs. Avoid forcing the shoulder into pain — a strong pull you can breathe through is the right dose.
Strengthen the end range
New range without strength to control it never sticks. Finish every mobility session with light end-range work: prone Y raises lying face down, thumbs to the ceiling, lifting with long arms and pausing at the top. Keep the ribs heavy on the floor so the lower back cannot take over.
Add wall slides as a second drill — back against the wall like the test, sliding the arms up and down with the backs of your hands brushing the wall. When both drills feel easy for two sets of twelve, your overhead position is ready for load. Read how to overhead press before adding weight, and keep the shoulder press light while the new range settles in.
Program mobility into your training
Mobility improves fastest in short, frequent doses. Spend five to ten minutes on this routine before upper-body days and once more on a rest day, rather than one long weekly session. Pair each stretch with its strengthening drill so every session both opens range and teaches the body to use it.
Keep pressing while you mobilize — just choose forgiving variations. A neutral-grip push-up and landmine presses let you train hard without demanding the full overhead position you are still building.
Track progress and stay patient
Real change takes six to twelve weeks, and the first gains are often better control rather than visibly more range. That is progress: an overhead position held without rib flare is worth more than a few extra degrees borrowed from the lower back.
Retest against the wall, compare your videos, and log which drills you did and how your shoulders felt. When the test passes cleanly on both sides, shift from daily mobility work to a short twice-weekly maintenance routine and put the extra energy into pressing.