The floor press actually predates the bench press.
Floor press exercise benefits.
The floor press is a solid chest exercise that preps for bench press gains and takes strain off of your shoulders by limiting your range of motion.
Using the trap bar for the floor press can really hit the pecs hard due to the neutral grip.
Since the floor press eliminates the lower half of the shoulder range of motion the floor press works to compress the shoulder back in to its socket.
Great exercise for beginners or coming back from an injury.
So why bother with this version of the press.
Floor presses are popular in powerlifting and as a strength or accessory lift in crossfit.
Or maybe everybody s doing it but i just can t see them because they re down on the ground over next to the rack.
Unfortunately as the bench press grew in popularity interest in the floor press outside of.
The floor press is a fantastic exercise to target this weakness as you can handle heavier loads with undue strain on the rest of your body.
At one time lifters attacked the lift with gusto putting up some impressive numbers including george hackenschmidt s 361 pound strict floor press back in 1899.
The floor press is an upper body exercise similar to a bench press.
I am a big fan of variability and anytime you can add new exercises to your program build a wide range of motion and improve training protocols is a good idea.
Personally i love the floor press.
Improving long term shoulder health.
The floor press is a simple and highly effective pressing variation that can be used as a primary pressing movement accessory lift or even with injury prone lifters.
The floor press is the original horizontal barbell press even predating the bench press.
People learned to bench a barbell off the floor before benches were even invented.
But i kinda doubt it.
It s a great exercise for developing power and strength in a very specific range of motion.
Because the range of motion is shorter than a traditional bench press floor presses are good for overloading or for someone with shoulder injuries or limitations.
I could go on for a while.
The exercises are obviously similar.
It is a similar feel to the reverse grip barbell press but it much easier on the wrists as are many exercises with the trap bar.