Floor Press Exercise Benefits
When talking about the floor press we need to make sure we are all on the same page. Floor press is not a press-up; it is a pressing movement using a barbell or dumbbell pressed from the floor with back resting on the floor. This means using a heavy weight without a spotter doing a floor press with a barbell is impossible.
But doing the floor press using a pair of dumbells has a few advantages, it is not just the poor cousin of the bench-press. The floor press allows you to push a weight above your chest without full flexion of the shoulder girdle. This could be a blessing for all the people with rotator cuff injuries.
There are also plenty of people who suffer from lower back pain when doing a normal bench-press on a normal bench. For the person who naturally raises their feet to the bench level when pressing, the floor press will make them feel much more stable when pressing.
Another reason to consider doing a floor press would be if you get pain in your elbows when doing a movement like skull-crushers or triceps extensions. The floor press would work all three heads of the triceps without the pain getting into the insertion of the lateral tricep.
Finally, the floor press is able to offer many movements like the single arm dumbbell press that works directly on strengthening your core. This movement can be improved upon by progressing to a one-arm floor press with both legs raised at the same time.
Floor press is able to create a negative leg drive because you are resting on the floor, creating a clean upper-body push. This means that when doing the movement all the stress of the weight is directly focused on the chest, the triceps and shoulders.
When doing the floor press it can be done using your max effort lift or in a dynamic movement. If you are using the floor press training reps as a dynamic movement then try and stick between 40% 1RM and 70% of your 1RM with the main focus/emphasis on maximum bar-speed.
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