Why dumbbell floor press

Raise your game with the Zercher Squat. The dumbbell floor press is not harder than a regular bench press because your range of movement is limited. Try the Bulgarian Split Squat. Everything that a fitness fan is searching for.

Sign in. Forgot your password? Get help. Privacy Policy. Password recovery. Because the floor gets in the way, each rep basically starts from scratch.

There is no opportunity to hover and take it easy. Because of this you are working at full power with each lift, making the floor press the perfect addition to an explosive strength circuit. The dumbbell floor press provides an explosive power and triceps-isolating exercise in its short range of movement. While from afar it may seem an easier version of the bench press it is actually a useful addition to help to improve the lockout and one rep max of your bench press.

We cannot search for an empty value, please enter a search term. What is a dumbbell floor press? Correct dumbbell floor press form Lie down on the floor and hold two dumbbells on either side of your body.

What muscles does the dumbbell floor press work? Benefits of dumbbell floor press Building muscle You will see great results in terms of increased triceps and pectorals hypertrophy.

Improves your lockout In competitive lifting and powerlifting, one of the causes of a missed lift can be a weak lockout due to elbow tension. Good for sore shoulders The floor press is easier on your shoulder joints than the bench press. How to incorporate dumbbell floor press into your workout The dumbbell floor press perhaps serves best as an exercise that you perform as part of a broader plan consisting of similar exercises.

The proper set up of the dumbbell floor press reduces both the risk of shoulder injury and the pain associated with preexisting shoulder issues that regular bench pressing is known to aggravate. Another normal function of the bench press that can cause shoulder pain is simply having to hold the bar with hands that are in line with their shoulder joints and wrists rotated outwards.

The other potential pain generator within the regular bench press exercise occurs when the bar is fully lowered and close to the chest. The elbows are so far below the torso that the rotator cuff is in a compromised, hyperextended position. There are a lot of people with existing pain in their shoulder joints who have a tough time bench pressing without discomfort.

This is often due to rotator cuff misuse, overuse, or impingements caused by bone on tendons or bursa. The hands are allowed their natural, neutral-grip position with the palms sort of facing each other. All this allows people with existing shoulder impingement or pain to perform the dumbbell floor press without issue. The wrists benefit from the neutral grip and the elbows benefit from both the 45 degree angle of the arms and the range of motion restriction provided by the floor.

When properly performed the dumbbell floor press insures the focus of the exercise is on the chest. By keeping the legs straight during a dumbbell floor press — or if bent, then totally quiet — you eliminate any typical bench press cheating help from leg drive or an arched back. This increases the use of stabilizing muscles but more importantly, it also puts the focus of the work squarely on the chest muscles.

Perform five reps, followed by a five-second isometric hold in the bottom portion of the rep with the arms just off the floor. From there, go straight into four reps followed by a four-second hold, then three, then two, and finally one.

In all it comes out to 15 reps and 15 grueling seconds of isometric holds. To make it even harder, lower the last rep as slowly as possible.

Beware: These burn! This a great drill for people who struggle to feel their chest working with most bench pressing variations. It also works great as a finisher after your regular pressing workout.

Set up just as you would for a normal neutral-grip dumbbell press. The only difference: Squeeze the dumbbells together so that they're touching. From there, press the dumbbells inches off your chest and hold that position for seconds, making sure to keep the dumbbells pressed together the whole time. This is a great mechanical dropset, where you transition from a harder version of a movement to an easier one. Start by performing dumbbell squeeze presses, and then transition directly to dumbbell floor presses when you fatigue.

I like to do reps of each exercise, but you can play around with the reps. If that combo looks like another great finisher on a long push day, you're right. But it can be more than that.

As I mentioned in " 8 Moves For A Crazy-Strong Core ," you can also cycle through all of these advanced variations one-by-one, making each one the centerpiece of your routine for a while until you feel like you've conquered it, then moving on to the next. Ben Bruno lives and trains clients in West Hollywood, California.