Intermediate

Floor Press

Pressing from the floor stops your upper arms at the ground, cutting off the deep stretch of a bench press and emphasizing the mid-range and lockout, where the triceps and mid chest drive. The limited range is easy on the shoulders and useful for building pressing power without a bench. Barbells or dumbbells both work well here.

Equipment
Barbell
Body part
Chest
Type
Strength
Browse by movement
Horizontal Press
Muscles worked
Target
Pectoralis Major Sternocostal
Secondary
Deltoid Anterior, Triceps Brachii Long Head, Triceps Brachii Lateral Head, Triceps Brachii Medial Head
Tertiary
Pectoralis Major Clavicular

How to do it

  1. 1

    Lie on your back on the floor under a barbell in a rack, or with dumbbells at your sides.

  2. 2

    Bend your knees with feet flat, retract your shoulder blades, and grip the bar slightly wider than shoulder width.

  3. 3

    Unrack or press the weight up to a locked-out start over your chest.

  4. 4

    Lower under control until the backs of your upper arms lightly touch the floor.

  5. 5

    Pause briefly, then press back up to lockout.

Tips

  • Use the brief pause when your triceps touch the floor to kill momentum and build starting strength.
  • Keep your elbows tucked around 45 degrees to protect the shoulders.
  • Set the rack pins low, or use dumbbells, so the bar is easy to reach at the bottom.

Variations

Common mistakes

  • Slamming the elbows into the floor and bouncing out of the bottom spikes load through the elbow and throws away the dead stop the floor is there to create.
  • Bridging your hips up and driving with the legs defeats the point. The floor press exists to strip leg drive out, so if the hips leave the ground you are doing a worse bench press.
  • Rack pins set at bench height force you to reach up and pull the bar out over your face with no leverage. Set them low, near where your locked-out arms sit on the floor.
  • Grazing the floor with the upper arms and pressing straight back up gives you a short bench, not a floor press. The brief pause at the bottom is the whole exercise.
  • Do not roll a loaded bar over your body to get into position. Load it on low pins or use dumbbells, because getting under a barbell on the floor is the awkward part of this lift.

Frequently asked

How many sets and reps of the barbell floor press should you do when you are new to the exercise?
Four sets of 5 to 6 reps suits the movement, since the dead stop at the bottom rewards heavier, lower-rep work. Reset your position and your breath between reps instead of running them together. Add weight when all four sets move at the same speed. If you want size rather than lockout strength, three sets of 8 to 10 works, but keep the pause on every rep.
What can I do instead of the barbell floor press with no rack?
Dumbbells on the floor are the obvious substitute and much easier to set up alone: same cut range, no rack needed. A close-grip push-up with your chest stopping a few inches off the floor trains a similar mid-range and lockout with no equipment. If a sore shoulder is the reason you are floor pressing, a neutral-grip dumbbell version is usually the friendliest of the three.
What is the floor press for, and when should I not use it?
It builds mid-range and lockout pressing strength, gives the triceps a bigger share of the work, and lets you press without a bench or around a shoulder that dislikes deep positions. Powerlifters use it to attack a sticking point above the chest. It is not the right pick when you want a full chest stretch and maximum pec growth, because the range stops at the floor, and it is a clumsy lift to load heavily on your own unless you have low pins or a pair of dumbbells.

Related exercises

Other movements among FitRay's 2,000+ exercises that load the same target muscle — same equipment and level first.

All Chest exercises