Strength Exercise of the Week: 1-arm Dumbbell Floor Press
Written on March 12, 2012 at 2:53 am, by Eric Cressey
I’m out of town for a few days, but fortunately, Ben Bruno was kind enough to write up this guest blog. I enjoy Ben’s writing – particularly his ability to constantly innovate – and I’m sure you will, too.
Common sense tells us that the one arm dumbbell bench press is an upper body exercise (duh!), but if you’ve ever done them with considerable loads, then you know that the legs aren’t just passive players in the mix. They don’t just help to provide a little bit of leg drive; more importantly, they help to create a stable base so you don’t tip clear off the bench.
Don’t believe me? Try doing a set with your feet in the air and you’ll see exactly what I mean. Just make sure to put padding on the floor around you first.
To mimic this effect in a safer fashion, try one arm dumbbell floor presses with your legs straight.
You’ll find there’s a tendency for your torso to want to rotate towards the arm pressing the weight and for the contralateral leg to want to shoot up off the floor as the weight gets heavier or you get further into a set. As such, you have to be cognizant of that and squeeze your glutes and brace your core to prevent that from happening since you can’t rely on your feet to provide the base of support.
It’s a great exercise because it’s self-limiting and reflexively teaches you how to create total body tension—no cueing needed.
It’s also a nice shoulder-friendly alternative for people who might experience pain with full range of motion dumbbell pressing, or for people with lower-body injuries that won’t allow them to push through their feet.
Start with your legs wider and move them closer together as you feel more comfortable. Similarly, you can start with the non-working arm resting at the floor at first to give some additional stability, but work towards placing your hand over your abdomen as you improve.
You’ll need to start with a substantially lighter weight than you’d use for regular dumbbell presses (I’d say 60% would be a good starting point), but your numbers will climb back up quickly as you get the hang of it.
Is there a way to safely get a heavy DB into position (and back down) by yourself. That has always confused me about DB floor press variations. Thanks!
Thanks for the article Ben. I don’t do any more barbell bench work and almost all the db bench off a bench with half my body off the bench. This requires lots lots of leg, core, and off hand arm and lat work.
March 12th, 2012 at 4:03 pm
Great exercise and a fantastic method of injecting some core training into what is typically considered an upper body movement!
What are your thoughts on executing this exercise in a half-crook lying position to enable improved neutral spine positions compared to supine?
March 13th, 2012 at 10:06 am
Anthony Mychal posted an entire article on this exercise in October http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/dumbbell_floor_presses_for_strength_size_and_health
March 13th, 2012 at 10:08 am
Is there a way to safely get a heavy DB into position (and back down) by yourself. That has always confused me about DB floor press variations. Thanks!
March 13th, 2012 at 10:24 am
Brad, refer to the link I posted above.
March 13th, 2012 at 11:08 am
@Brad, See the link that Craig posted above you. Anthony Mychal demonstrates how to safely get the DB into position and back down.
March 13th, 2012 at 11:20 am
Thanks for the article Ben. I don’t do any more barbell bench work and almost all the db bench off a bench with half my body off the bench. This requires lots lots of leg, core, and off hand arm and lat work.
March 13th, 2012 at 11:45 am
Hi, what would it mean if this exercise caused me pain in my shoulder? Does it point to a specific weakness/imbalance? thanks!
March 15th, 2012 at 11:15 am
No bench? No problem! Talk about making the effort even more challenging. Nice.
-Mitchell
March 18th, 2012 at 8:23 am
Thanks guys. The link answered my question.
August 2nd, 2017 at 8:27 pm
Suzanne – Maybe try a different browser?