Problem Setting Up Floor Presses

Just wondering if anyone else has come across this problem. I’m planning to start floor presses for the first time this week. The only problem is that the lowest pin in the power racks at my gym is too high when my elbow is on the ground during the press, so I can’t use it in case I miss the lift. I lift alone at my gym and don’t really trust anyone to spot me from bad experiences in the past.

I was thinking of maybe placing some 45 pound plates on the ground to rest on so it could elevate me to the lowest pin but I don’t think this would be too comfortable. The other option is to place a couple of plates on either side of the bar that I can lay the bar down on in case I miss, like at the end of this clip: - YouTube

Any suggestions?

Dumbbells

just drop the bar across your neck if you fail, i’m pretty sure you can lay your neck under the bar with 45s on it.

Agreed with Joe84. I’ve missed floor presses and just let the weight fall towards my waist or my neck, then just slide out.

Easy suggestion. Set the weight on the bench press pad where your butt would normally be. Lie on the floor with your head where your feet would normally be when you bench press. Now, take your grip, lift the bar off the pad and do the floor press, and then rerack it on the pad (make sure it is on enough to not roll off). Does that make sense?

[quote]Tim Henriques wrote:
Easy suggestion. Set the weight on the bench press pad where your butt would normally be. Lie on the floor with your head where your feet would normally be when you bench press. Now, take your grip, lift the bar off the pad and do the floor press, and then rerack it on the pad (make sure it is on enough to not roll off). Does that make sense?[/quote]

That’s what I was going to suggest…just be careful when you’re taking the weights off to not send the bar flying up into the air.

Or you could use dumbbells. Just as effective. Only thing I don’t like about DB’s is that it’s difficult getting that first rep started when you go heavy.

You could get a similar (though not identical) training effect from sliding a bench into the rack and setting the pins up to where the weight stops at about the same level above your chest as it would off the floor.