11. Importance of the floor press

ORIGINS

The floor press is my favorite variation. Historically the first one too. Thanks to the great George Hackenschmidt who decided to press the bar above his chest instead of pressing it overhead at a time when a bench didn't yet exist. 

Hackenschmidt could press 165kg/363lbs from the floor around 120 years ago. Wrap your head around this, as I’m doing the same. Before this turns into an article about Hack I’m going back to talking about the exercise itself.

From a personal standpoint, the floor press is one of those exercises that have helped my bench go up through the years. It has accompanied me through hard times, when chest and shoulder issues were making it difficult for me to bench with full ROM. When my constantly aggravated elbow screamed as I was trying to bring the bar down to my chest, it was there for me.

I rotated it with the teams I was part of and I prescribe it in people's programs consistently.

ANALYSIS AND APPLICATION

The floor press is one of those exercises (much like the box squat) which allows you to practice, check and correct your form more easily with lighter weight. Plenty of sets I did where I realized my forearms were slightly backwards which is a recipe for disaster. Especially at maximal weights, you can get injured. Sometimes in a regular press we tend to not mind WHERE the bar touches, as long as it touches. This happens a lot with beginners where the touches in a set of 5 are all at a different spot on the chest.

If you pause slightly at the bottom, it breaks the eccentric/concentric chain and keeps the weight on the triceps primarily. My regular bench fails at the top, never at the bottom. So it helps me to a lot.

Louie Simmons talked about reversal strength regarding the bounce we utilize when the bar hits our chest and we press it back up. That's great for explosive power development during dynamic/speed work. It's speed-strength.

Try and develop your strength-speed by pausing and trying to explode from the bottom position with heavier weights.

Important to go a bit heavier once you've mastered it. Within reason of course. If I'm getting crushed by the bar on the eccentric, I put too much weight on it. So you need to auto-regulate properly. Try it at 70% and above for slow, calculated reps and reap the benefits.

Your bench press lockout demands serious tricep involvement. And there’s nothing better than this ingenious variation. Make sure every step is slow and deliberate. I tend to pause for 1-2 secs before I push the bar back up. It needs to be controlled. I can’t stand seeing people bounce the damn bar off the floor. DON’T. 

The better control you apply on a heavy set, the more chances you give yourself to handle a near max weight with the same control. You can be quick during the eccentric, that's fine. But try to pause a little and see how it works for you.

Another reason I pause is because I compete in the bench press. And the habits that we create in the gym are the habits that will be with us at the contest.

If you never pause your floor presses (or any type of presses for that matter) try and do so but take the weights down. Say around 65-70% at first. See how it feels. When you get stronger thank me. You're welcome by the way.

So I’ll do all my sets with a small pause and slow descent, from an empty bar to my current max at 365lbs. Not super important to have your legs straight, I used to have them bent and it doesn't make a big difference although pressing your feet against the floor provides stability. It all goes down to not lifting your butt up. With your legs out of the equation you’re working on your upper body stabilization more. I've seen people who lifted their butt with their legs straight so... Try to drop this bad habit if you have it.

*Try it after your main bench work for a basic 3 x 8 with lighter weights ranging from 60-70% of your current max (your floor press max, not your flat bench max). I rotate exercises so I’ll usually start with it and do my heavy work there. You can also do dumbbell floor presses once you're done with your barbell sets.

BENEFITS

1. The range of motion is less, unless you're a very big person so if the bar touches your chest you might want to switch to board presses instead or pin presses. Pin presses are purely concentric though, thus harder.

2. It's more "generic" (less sport specific) compared to a bench press. It can benefit athletes from various sports with development of explosive power.

3. You don't need a bench to do it. As long as you can put weight in your hands, you can floor press. And if you can elevate a barbell somehow (on blocks is a good example) so you can use for un-racking, you're golden.

*during Covid, I used to place the dumbbells on my bed, right at the edge. I'd hold them, roll out slowly and do my heavy dumbbell floor presses in my bedroom. There's no excuse really.

4. It recruits less muscles due to the limited range of motion, which means you won't be as exhausted unless you're doing a max lift or sets above 90% for a few sets and reps.

5. Great for lifters with longer arms and/or bigger chest. In both cases, you need more tricep work. A long arm will create a longer range of motion, longer range needs more tricep involvement. (triceps extend the elbow and straiten your arm) But don't feel like you're being judged. We all need more tricep strength. Always.

6. Great for people with a chest injury since the stretch isn't as big as in the regular bench. The arm stays parallel to the floor.

7. Demands less shoulder recruitment due to the limited ROM. It really is primarily an "arm pressing" movement. Or arm extending... If you will. Some chest and shoulder is involved of course.

8. Scapular retraction is more stable during a floor press since there's no padding underneath you. If you got upper back or shoulder instabilities, it'll help.

VARIATIONS AND RELATED EXERCISES

1. Concentric floor press

Like a bottom-up squat or a deadlift, this variation requires muscle tension only at the concentric portion of the lift. Making it one of the hardest. Make sure your elbows aren't elevated from the floor. They should touch softly.

2. With a fat/axle bar

This might be closest to my heart than the rest of them. Fat bar floor press for max effort is what I'll rotate during my contest preps. Less bicep involvement due to the thumb-less grip, I feel like I can generate the most force in this exercise.

If your wrists hurt since you have to bend them back a bit, switch to a regular bar and wrap your thumb around it. If you have smaller hands this also might be a challenge.

3. With dumbbells

Unilateral exercise, great for shoulder and scapular stability. Corrects muscular imbalances as well.

4. With kettlebells

Also unilateral, same benefits as the dumbbells and a bit harder since the weight isn't centered in your hand. It enhances wrist stability.

Try to warm up with kettlebells and switch to dumbbells as you go heavier. Feels great.

5. With Swiss/football bar

If you're having bicep pain or forearm pain and you're not very familiar with the reverse grip or palms facing grip (Jimmy Kolb calls it the Talon grip), a Swiss bar will save you.

Forearm pronation isn't something everybody can do pain free, so neutral hand position will allow you to train your floor press without issues.

6. With bands from the top (future method)

Amazing strength developer, the band stretch will be a bit less due to limited ROM but there's definitely some benefit to it. Bands loosen as you lock out, making the weight heavier.

7. With a bench band or soft equipment

Very similar to the future method but for people who don't have a way to attach bands at the top of a rack or power cage. If you have a variety of bench bands, you want to use the hardest ones for heavier loads.

8. Against bands

This one is brutal. If you're not used to bands pulling you down, use a pair of mini bands and see how it feels. Be very careful and condition your tendons and connective tissue for a few weeks. Mostly for intermediate to advance lifters. Run them single looped. If you're experienced, double loop them. Measure the tension at the lockout height with a luggage scale so you know how much weight they add to the barbell.

9. With chains

Chains are definitely less violent, they get lighter as you descend and progressively heavier as you lock out. This is called abrupt loading. They also tend to oscillate so be careful. Beneficial for shoulder stability.

10. Pin press

One of the hardest bench variations. Purely concentric and brutal. Watch how you place the elbows under the bar as you start to press up. Many people tend to flare the elbows out and it ends in a failed attempt.

11. Spoto press

Great variation for muscle and strength building. Keeps the tension on the muscles involved at all times. A difficult exercise and tricep developer.

12. Board press

Another exercise I rotate often. You can have boards with different thickness therefore different heights from which you can press the weight up. Raw or equipped, it's a must-do tricep builder.

I hope I've convinced you to incorporate this old yet amazing exercise to your regimen. The floor press should be used frequently by all those who want to increase their pressing power!

Terry Eleftheriou for Conjugate Iron August 2023

https://linktr.ee/terryconjugateiron