all posts post new thread

Barbell Floor Press Believer

Status
Closed Thread. (Continue Discussion of This Topic by Starting a New Thread.)
Guess I'm in the minority here, I don't much care for it opposed to PU variations or pretty much any other horizontal push.

The short ROM almost completely eliminates contribution from the lats and deep stretch on the pecs at the insertion. Unlike bench or PU it also fails to encourage overall tension, posterior or anterior aside from what little is needed for balance.

Admittedly I've never taken a deep dive, but using it for 6-8 week cycles always left me glad to be done with it.
 
North Coast Miller said:
Guess I'm in the minority here, I don't much care for it opposed to PU variations or pretty much any other horizontal push.
Click to expand...
I wonder if it's a limb-proportion thing? It could be that the benefits are accentuated in certain individuals and diminished in others. When I would occasionally play around with KB floor presses, I'd lift my hips off the ground and do them in a sort of bridge position: Got more ROM that way but it turned into a decline press.

It's definitely a vastly different exercise from PU variations. I've found surprisingly little carry over from bench press/floor press to push-ups and vice-versa.

@North Coast Miller Are you still training kettlebell 'bench presses' on a sandbag?
 
Chrisdavisjr said:
I wonder if it's a limb-proportion thing? It could be that the benefits are accentuated in certain individuals and diminished in others. When I would occasionally play around with KB floor presses, I'd lift my hips off the ground and do them in a sort of bridge position: Got more ROM that way but it turned into a decline press.

It's definitely a vastly different exercise from PU variations. I've found surprisingly little carry over from bench press/floor press to push-ups and vice-versa.

@North Coast Miller Are you still training kettlebell 'bench presses' on a sandbag?
Click to expand...

I stopped those a few years back, the challenge of stacking multiple kbs and getting into and out of position became a real bother.

Currently I use sandbag loaded PUs either off of a pushup board or a pipe, I can't do them palms flat on the floor. These are far and away my favorite horizontal push, lots of lat activation, anterior chain tie-in, closed chain.
 
Chrisdavisjr said:
I wonder if it's a limb-proportion thing?
Click to expand...
From my reading, anthropometry has a great deal of influence on what can be achieved, or what difficulty. And not just limb length. But the particular process and bone/ligament/tendon termination locations greatly control the net forces applied at an angle.

I'm no expert, but for myself: I like to focus on stability of the torso and spine , the finishing stance, and desired depth, and let the chips fall where they may, on the in-between details.

Anthropometry: It is the terrain, upon which the battle of form, and technique is fought.
 
Last edited:
@North Coast Miller @Chrisdavisjr This week I focused more on a shoulder-width grip with tucked elbows. It's definitely harder to retract the shoulders down and back into the floor with the narrower grip. However the contraction in the upper pectoral area was very strong (needless to say the triceps). In terms of feel, I still prefer a more medium grip where I can really set the back and stay tight.
 
88NKB said:
@North Coast Miller @Chrisdavisjr This week I focused more on a shoulder-width grip with tucked elbows. It's definitely harder to retract the shoulders down and back into the floor with the narrower grip. However the contraction in the upper pectoral area was very strong (needless to say the triceps). In terms of feel, I still prefer a more medium grip where I can really set the back and stay tight.
Click to expand...


When doing loaded PUs I get pretty far out over my hands - they might even be lower than my armpits. I'll have to check, I went so far as to attach a second board to my PU board with measured cord so my feet are always the same distance from my hands. My hands are also in pretty tight to my ribcage. Between these two I wind up pushing more resistance at a given loading, and at the bottom 1/4 of the ROM my lats are heavily engaged.

Lastly, I'm able to align my hands at about a 45° angle instead of a 90. Times when I have to use a pipe I wind up pushing less weight than I can on my board, even though spacing and height off the ground are the same.
 
I used to do a lot of floor pressing as part of BP training. I liked it a lot, but eventually developed elbow issues with it and that was that.

I don't do it at all now because my garage gym floor is gross. If I was in a nice gym, I might throw it into the mix from time to time but it wouldn't be my primary pressing movement.
 
I was never a great bencher (bw + 100#) and bench always left my shoulder aching. Floor presses improved it and i used it as my main horizontal push with similar weights as my old bench for several years. I sold my barbells last year & have used only kb press, weighted dips & ring pushups. My shoulders feel even better (no issues, which is first in 20 years). Ive recently re-purchased new barbells & may try again and see how they feel.
 
I'm in the middle of a bench cycle accessory work right now as part of pre-competition weightlifting prep.

Flat, incline, barbell, dumbbell, kettlebell are in the rotation right now. While the novel stimulus is a nice change of pace, and giving me some extra shoulder girdle meat which is helping make heavy cleans more comfortable, it's also reminding me why I find the whole family of bench/floor presses to be over-rated (unless you're a powerlifter or bodybuilder).

I just don't feel as 'athletic' when doing a bench/floor press as when I'm doing push up variations (e.g. spider man, gymnastic ring push ups, etc), or dips.

Heck, even landmine presses feel more athletic than lying on my back pushing weights.
 
Last edited:
North Coast Miller said:
I stopped those a few years back, the challenge of stacking multiple kbs and getting into and out of position became a real bother.

Currently I use sandbag loaded PUs either off of a pushup board or a pipe, I can't do them palms flat on the floor. These are far and away my favorite horizontal push, lots of lat activation, anterior chain tie-in, closed chain.
Click to expand...

Are you tossing a sandbag over one shoulder or placing it horizontally across the middle of the back?
 
watchnerd said:
Are you tossing a sandbag over one shoulder or placing it horizontally across the middle of the back?
Click to expand...

Lengthwise. I get it to one shoulder, take a knee, and shift it to my back as I go prone. The bag runs from base of skull to belt. Putting my hands on a scale it winds up almost perfect 1:1 increase in load.
 
North Coast Miller said:
Lengthwise. I get it to one shoulder, take a knee, and shift it to my back as I go prone. The bag runs from base of skull to belt. Putting my hands on a scale it winds up almost perfect 1:1 increase in load.
Click to expand...

Sand bag is missing from my toy box / tool kit.

Do you have a particular brand / size you recommend?
 
watchnerd said:
Sand bag is missing from my toy box / tool kit.

Do you have a particular brand / size you recommend?
Click to expand...

I have a couple of older Cerus bags, pretty sure the current production are even better. I have a couple of RepFitness V2 bags that are a good design and have really good quality filler bags - probably the best of the cheaper bags. GoRuck are expensive but have a very solid reputation for durability. Dingo is another with a good reputation.

I've come to the conclusion that they all will fail at some point, I'll just repair whatever bags I'm using with an automatic awl as needed, they should last forever.

If you like pushups, sandbag loading them is fantastic. With a 130lb bag I'm pushing about 275lbs resistance at the bottom, 260 at the top.
 
watchnerd said:
Do you have a size you recommend?
Click to expand...
For conditioning and some accessory work a 1/3 bodyweight bag works, for strength work something closer to 2/3 bw or heavier.

Generally I recommend 1/3, 1/2 & 2/3. Bigger is better, you can pack extra space with rags or use a mix of sand and rubber mulch. Pack them too tight and it really does cause them to burst more easily.
 
North Coast Miller said:
If you like pushups, sandbag loading them is fantastic. With a 130lb bag I'm pushing about 275lbs resistance at the bottom, 260 at the top.
Click to expand...

I feel like I get better sports carry-over from pushups (decline, ring, banded) than I do with bench/floor presses.

I don't know if it's because I'm moving my body in space, as in weightlifting, or because of a stronger feet-floor connection.

Or some neural stimulation thing.
 
watchnerd said:
I feel like I get better sports carry-over from pushups (decline, ring, banded) than I do with bench/floor presses.

I don't know if it's because I'm moving my body in space, as in weightlifting, or because of a stronger feet-floor connection.

Or some neural stimulation thing.
Click to expand...

I noticed as the bag got heavier the amount of anterior chain lock up increases noticeably. It also runs in a different movement pattern than benching. You get to decide what angle your hands are at. Its a closed chain, which also makes it feel more stable in some respects. Ultimately it is about the safest horizontal push you can do, the worst that can happen you get pinned and have to slough the bag off to the side with no harm to you, the floor or the gear.
 
Status
Closed Thread. (Continue Discussion of This Topic by Starting a New Thread.)
Back
Top Bottom