Floor press for non-athlete lifters

[SaulGuzman]

Do you think the floor press is actually safer than the BP and would be a better option for non-athlete lifters?

Do you see any advantages or disadvantages in using the floor press instead of BP?

Assuming you have an adjustable rack for floor press.

[paulinkansas]

Do you think the floor press is actually safer than the BP and would be a better option for non-athlete lifters?

No. Floors are dirty. Whenever I'm doing plumbing, electrical or mechanical work from the floor I set down a piece of carboard to lay on. Cardboard from an appliance or HDTV box.

[air2fakie]

What's unsafe about a bench press (especially if you have a rack), and what does being an athlete have to do with it?

[SaulGuzman]

What's unsafe about a bench press (especially if you have a rack), and what does being an athlete have to do with it?

Risk of shoulder injuries. By athlete I mean competitors.

[SaulGuzman]

No. Floors are dirty. Whenever I'm doing plumbing, electrical or mechanical work from the floor I set down a piece of carboard to lay on. Cardboard from an appliance or HDTV box.

lol assuming you have an adjustable rack and something clean to lay on.

[TolerantLactose]

Risk of shoulder injuries.

And instead, you risk elbow, forearm and wrist injuries. There's always risk when you lift heavy objects.

[SaulGuzman]

And instead, you risk elbow, forearm and wrist injuries. There's always risk when you lift heavy objects.

I know there is always a risk. But not everything has the same risk.

Why does the floor press increase the risk in the forearm and wrist? I thought the floor press is a BP with less range of motion.

[BeginnerGainz]

I know there is always a risk. But not everything has the same risk.

Why does the floor press increase the risk in the forearm and wrist? I thought the floor press is a BP with less range of motion.

Because of the supramaximal weights involved.

But as he said, lifting heavy sh!t has an inherent risk regardless of the person.

A floor press is a fine barbell horizontal push to rotate in and out as your training dictates.

[SaulGuzman]

Because of the supramaximal weights involved.

But as he said, lifting heavy sh!t has an inherent risk regardless of the person.

A floor press is a fine barbell horizontal push to rotate in and out as your training dictates.

Thank you. Your comments are always informative.

How much weight is considered heavy? Maybe I'm asking about BP's safety when I'll never lift that much to consider heavy.

[air2fakie]

Thank you. Your comments are always informative.

How much weight is considered heavy? Maybe I'm asking about BP's safety when I'll never lift that much to consider heavy.

Close to or beyond whatever you’ve trained yourself to be capable of lifting. If you train properly, BP is inherently “as safe” as any other lift.

[TolerantLactose]

I know there is always a risk. But not everything has the same risk.

Why does the floor press increase the risk in the forearm and wrist? I thought the floor press is a BP with less range of motion.

Come down too fast and you can get traumatic compression on your forearm between the weight and the floor. Even under control, there's some stress on the forearm that doesn't occur with bench.

[BeginnerGainz]

Thank you. Your comments are always informative.

How much weight is considered heavy? Maybe I'm asking about BP's safety when I'll never lift that much to consider heavy.

As far as a floor press goes? I’ve seen guys get as much as 50 lbs over what they can normally bench for a given amount of reps.

Bench press is perfectly safe. Most injuries are from fatigue management vs any particular movement causing it.

Heavy is relevant. If it’s heavy to you, it is heavy. Plain and simple.

[TheShadowMan]

If I can, I prefer to stick to floor presses(you also get additional benefit from barbell glute bridging to get the bar into position). I like that it's range of motion stops before it becomes injury risking, and it's quite a challenge to perform each rep from a dead stop. Sometimes it's better to use less rom if it means more longevity in the long run, so stuff like floor presses and chest supported rows have become more attractive to me lately. Hackenschmidt was onto something when he invented this exercise.

[SaulGuzman]

I like that it's range of motion stops before it becomes injury risking, and it's quite a challenge to perform each rep from a dead stop. Sometimes it's better to use less rom if it means more longevity in the long run

That's what I thought. What other exercises did you find to be a good option for longevity?

[air2fakie]

That's what I thought. What other exercises did you find to be a good option for longevity?

Dude you're approaching lifting the wrong way if you're just starting out and picking all of your exercises for longevity. Longevity becomes an issue when you get a lot of wear & tear on your joints, lift objectively heavy weights, and/or feel the effects of getting old. I guarantee you TSM above mastered BP before he preferred to do limited ROM floor presses.

Presumably you're looking to build a base level of muscle & strength, and the most effective way to do that is to have the fully array of exercises available in your arsenal. We all make adjustments as we get older, but there's no need to start out that way. Not saying there's anything wrong with floor presses, but don't avoid all the bread-and-butter lifts because you think they're "unsafe". That mentality will hold you back no matter what exercises you pick.

Train properly & use proper form, and everything will be fine.

[BeginnerGainz]

Dude you're approaching lifting the wrong way if you're just starting out and picking all of your exercises for longevity. Longevity becomes an issue when you get a lot of wear & tear on your joints, lift objectively heavy weights, and/or feel the effects of getting old. I guarantee you TSM above mastered BP before he preferred to do limited ROM floor presses.

Presumably you're looking to build a base level of muscle & strength, and the most effective way to do that is to have the fully array of exercises available in your arsenal. We all make adjustments as we get older, but there's no need to start out that way. Not saying there's anything wrong with floor presses, but don't avoid all the bread-and-butter lifts because you think they're "unsafe". That mentality will hold you back no matter what exercises you pick.

Train properly & use proper form, and everything will be fine.

Money.

[MyEgoProblem]

Everyone in here with supra-max partial rom floor press..

My floor press is lower than my regular bench. Eek.
I also sink the bar into my chest to get the triceps to deload into the floor.

Prob 10-15kg less than my comp on any given day.

Floor press is no safer than any other version really...
It beats quite a lot of people up MORE than normal due to the broken con/ecc chain and having to break it from a dead stop after relaxing your self.

Let's remember the floor press is the original version. The bench came later.

I love it me. Brings a lot to the table but like everything has positives and negatives if we discount that you should prob have variation regardless

[BeginnerGainz]

Everyone in here with supra-max partial rom floor press..

My floor press is lower than my regular bench. Eek.
I also sink the bar into my chest to get the triceps to deload into the floor.

Prob 10-15kg less than my comp on any given day.

Floor press is no safer than any other version really...
It beats quite a lot of people up MORE than normal due to the broken con/ecc chain and having to break it from a dead stop after relaxing your self.

Let's remember the floor press is the original version. The bench came later.

I love it me. Brings a lot to the table but like everything has positives and negatives if we discount that you should prob have variation regardless

Good point about floor press being the original.

Y’all can thank Georg Hackenschmidt for the bench press as we know it.

Also, you have short arms. That factors in. For like 99% of people their floor press is gonna be stronger than their bench.

[SaulGuzman]

Dude you're approaching lifting the wrong way if you're just starting out and picking all of your exercises for longevity. Longevity becomes an issue when you get a lot of wear & tear on your joints, lift objectively heavy weights, and/or feel the effects of getting old. I guarantee you TSM above mastered BP before he preferred to do limited ROM floor presses.

Presumably you're looking to build a base level of muscle & strength, and the most effective way to do that is to have the fully array of exercises available in your arsenal. We all make adjustments as we get older, but there's no need to start out that way. Not saying there's anything wrong with floor presses, but don't avoid all the bread-and-butter lifts because you think they're "unsafe". That mentality will hold you back no matter what exercises you pick.

Train properly & use proper form, and everything will be fine.

Let me explain.

I'm not exactly looking for a BP replacement. From what I've seen in my time training, shoulder injuries are fairly common in people who have been lifting weights for years.

I'm not looking for athletic performance or maximal hypertrophy/strength. So I was wondering if it would make sense for a non-athlete to do a few different things to avoid injury.

I mean getting strength like this is what I would probably need to get healthy and gain as much muscle I want: 225BP & 275SQ (185 body weight).
They don't seem like very heavy weights and I'm in no rush to get them.

I try to do the lifts with good technique, stop and fix if something hurts, run a proper routine, train compounds 2-3 days a week and keep my ego at bay. It occurred to me that perhaps I could benefit from exercise selection and one of the changes that seemed most promising to me was to include the floor press.

But you all have opened my mind. The floor press is fine and as safe as BP. I should continue doing BP and maybe rotate with floor press.

And thank you all for the advice. Maybe I was worrying too much lately about the risks of training.

[radrd]

Assuming a bench is available, I would probably do dumbbell BP before floor presses so you get full ROM. Oftentimes, people with shoulder issues have an easier time with DB presses than barbell as well.

[BeginnerGainz]

Assuming a bench is available, I would probably do dumbbell BP before floor presses so you get full ROM. Oftentimes, people with shoulder issues have an easier time with DB presses than barbell as well.

I can confirm, since adding higher rep DB presses to my training, my nagging shoulder injuries have dissipated a lot by taking injured tendons through a large range of motion.

[TheShadowMan]

That's what I thought. What other exercises did you find to be a good option for longevity?

There's a ton of answers for that haha

[air2fakie]

Let me explain.

I'm not exactly looking for a BP replacement. From what I've seen in my time training, shoulder injuries are fairly common in people who have been lifting weights for years.

I'm not looking for athletic performance or maximal hypertrophy/strength. So I was wondering if it would make sense for a non-athlete to do a few different things to avoid injury.

I mean getting strength like this is what I would probably need to get healthy and gain as much muscle I want: 225BP & 275SQ (185 body weight).
They don't seem like very heavy weights and I'm in no rush to get them.

I try to do the lifts with good technique, stop and fix if something hurts, run a proper routine, train compounds 2-3 days a week and keep my ego at bay. It occurred to me that perhaps I could benefit from exercise selection and one of the changes that seemed most promising to me was to include the floor press.

But you all have opened my mind. The floor press is fine and as safe as BP. I should continue doing BP and maybe rotate with floor press.

And thank you all for the advice. Maybe I was worrying too much lately about the risks of training.

Again, if you don't currently have any issues, it'll more likely be your program detail over time than your specific choice of exercises that create the risks. You're focusing on the wrong aspect given your concerns.

Along those lines, there's no point in setting your target goals & timeframe so low. If you did any halfway decent program with honest effort, at 180 you'd hit those numbers in <6-12 months regardless of whether it was a specific goal or not.