Challenge · 2026
100 Overhead Presses: Can You Stay Stacked?
Today’s RB100 challenge is 100 overhead presses, completed standing or seated in ten sets of ten. Use empty hands or light weights, rest between sets and keep your ribs over your pelvis. The aim is controlled shoulder and arm work, not speed or the heaviest load you can lift.
By Richard Branson ·
The challenge: can you complete 100 overhead presses?
For 12 November 2026, your RB100 daily challenge is ten sets of ten standing or seated overhead presses. Both arms move together, and one complete lift and return counts as one rep. Start with empty hands unless you already know a light load feels comfortable. This is a control test: keep the same steady technique from your first set to your last, with no race against the clock.
How to do it: what are the exact steps?
- Place your chair on a level, non-slip surface with clear space overhead. Sit with both feet supported and your torso upright.
- Prepare with five gentle shoulder circles in each direction and five slow, empty-hand practice presses. These do not count towards your 100.
- Bring your hands to shoulder height, palms facing towards each other. Keep your elbows slightly forward of your torso and wrists straight.
- Press both hands upwards over roughly one second. Reach towards straight arms only as far as you can without pain or leaning backwards.
- Lower your hands to shoulder height over roughly two seconds. That completes one rep. Repeat until you reach ten.
- Rest for 20–40 seconds, or longer if needed to regain comfortable breathing and steady technique.
- Complete ten sets in total. Record your reps, load and extra breaks; finish early if you cannot maintain control.
Scale it: which version suits you?
Make it easier by using empty hands, resting your back against the chair and splitting the target into twenty sets of five. Shorten the overhead reach if your comfortable range is limited, without forcing the movement. If 100 controlled reps is too much today, stop at a manageable total and record it honestly. For experienced pressers, use very light dumbbells while keeping several good repetitions in reserve at the end of each set. Do not turn this high-repetition challenge into a heavy lifting test.
Coaching tips: how do you keep each press controlled?
Keep your ribs over your pelvis rather than lifting your chest to gain extra height. Let your shoulder blades move naturally as your arms rise; do not pin them down. Breathe out as you press and in as you lower. If you start arching, shrugging or dropping your hands quickly, end the set and rest. Reduce the load before continuing. Stop the challenge for sharp or increasing pain, tingling, dizziness or unusual breathlessness. If an existing condition affects overhead movement, seek clinician guidance before attempting the test.