floor press

[Q.]

From Mike Mahler's newsletter:

Incorporate The Floor Press Into Your Routine

One way to get the benefits of the bench press without any of the
negatives is to utilize the floor press. With the floor press you avoid
the extreme range of motion of the bench press and the injuries that come
with it. Your shoulders are not stressed as much and rotator cuff problems
will most likely not occur. I enjoy doing floor presses with kettlebells
or dumbbells. Here is how you get two kettlebells into place to complete
the floor press. Lie on the floor between two kettlebells. Use two arms to
get the kettlebell into place on your weaker side. Then use the weaker
side as an anchor to pull the kettlebell on the opposite side into place.
Keep your triceps close to your body when doing the floor press for more
sports specific strength. Football players and boxers for example keep
their arms in rather than way out like a wide grip bench press. To make
the exercise even more effective apply a technique from legendary strength
coach Louie Simmons. Louie has his trainees start the floor press really
loose and then tighten up and explode the weight up. This technique will
help you with increasing your regular bench press numbers if that is one
of your goals.

This article implies that a full ROM bench press is inherently bad for your shoulders. While I've heard that heavy BP with full ROM can injure your shoulders (one of these testimonials was from JP), I was just wondering what y'all thought about this limited ROM floor press. Is it just another tool for the toolbox or is it too limiting to use very often?

[Craig]

It's another exercise.


Here's a thread from this message board about bench press range of motion.


POST -

Hi all, especially Bill. I orginally made this post on the Men's Health Fitness Forum. Danny King (DKing) recommended I ask you (specifically Bill Hartman) over here:

guys, i need professional answers to this question:the "range of motion for bench pressing" debate.

I was talking to a friend of mine who's a phsyical therapy major. He told me that once your arms go past parallel while doing benches, your chest is no longer involved; your shoulders are. As a result, you shouldn't bring your arms below parallel to your back, he argues, as you could severely damage your shoulder.

He also promotes stereotypical body-builder routines with lots of isolation work, 1 body part per day, per week. He does, however, have the body to show for it (no vitamin S, just great genes!).

Here's the link to my original post: http://forums.menshealth.com/thread....hreadID=123352
I'm hoping to get some responses from certified and trained people on this one, as I'm concerned that I could be setting myself up for a nasty shoulder injury.

Is it better to perform bench presses in a more limited range of motion, or in a full range of motion with good form and control of the weight? Also, define full range of motion: Bar/dumbells to the chest, etc.



BILL HARTMAN REPLY -

Bench Press range of motion will depend entirely on the individual.

Assuming normal range of motion is available, the "full range" of the barbell bench press rarely exceeds the active/passive range of motion of horizontal abduction of the shoulder girdle.

There are other factors such as thoracic spine mobility, posterior shoulder capsule length changes, scapular stabilizer strength, and shoulder external rotator length which will influence shoulder girdle positioning and function and potential for injury.

Certainly, if you have any factor that will negatively affect shoulder function during any pressing movment, modifications should be made. That's something we can't really diagnose via the net. If shoulder function appears normal, then any potential for injury is usually self-inflicted due to too much weight, reps, sets; too frequently; crappy programming, and crappy technique.

Not sure where your buddy gets the idea that the pecs aren't involved at the bottom of the bench press. If there's a study that agrees with him, I'd like to see it.

Keep in mind there is a risk to benefit ratio for every exercise you perform.

Bill



POST -

Bill, Thank you for your response. I have another quick question:

quote:


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Assuming normal range of motion is available, the "full range" of the barbell bench press rarely exceeds the active/passive range of motion of horizontal abduction of the shoulder girdle.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


What is the active/passive range... of the shoulder girdle? When I bench, I bring the bar to just above my chest. This is farther than i would pull my arm/shoulder back in everyday life, though I thought as much range as possible was preferable.




BILL HARTMAN REPLY -

quote:


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


What is the active/passive range... of the shoulder girdle?


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


This is how far your shoulders will move. If you pull your shoulders back and squeeze the shoulder blades together while you simulate a bench press, that will give you a ballpark estimate of how far down you can safely lower a bar.

Keep in mind that it's just an estimate as there may be other factors involved that may allow or limit further range of motion (grip width, tissue stiffness, spinal mobility, etc.)

Bill



POST -

ok, so as a basic guideline, don't bring your shoulder blades together/shoulders back closer/farther than they normally, comfortably go?



BILL HARTMAN REPLY -

You're misunderstanding...

The shoulder blades should be pulled back (retraction) and down (depression) throughout the bench press.

Doing this actively with a stick or empty bar will show you roughly what your range is based on the grip used?

Bill


Craig