Floor Press with Chains
Also works: Chest · Shoulders
A barbell press done lying on the floor with chains draped over the sleeves. The floor caps the range at the point where your triceps take over, and the chains unload at the bottom and pile weight back on at lockout — so the hardest inch of the rep is the one your bench press usually fails at.
Own the movement
Set up first, then execute. Every cue below is something you can check on your next set.
Before the first rep
- Drape the chains over the sleeves inside the collars so they hang clear of the plates and cannot slide off mid-set.
- Set the chain length so roughly half the links are still on the floor when the bar touches down, and all of them are airborne at lockout.
- Set the j-hooks low — around 40-50 cm off the floor — so you can unrack without pressing from an already-extended arm.
- Lie with your head just inside the rack uprights, knees bent, feet flat, so the bar path runs over your lower chest.
- Pull your shoulder blades together and hold them there; on the floor you have no bench to arch against, so the retraction is all you get.
Every rep
Breathing & tempo — Big breath at the top, brace, hold it through the descent and the pause, exhale after lockout. Two seconds down, one-second dead stop on the floor, then maximal speed up.
Before you load it
- Press inside a rack with the pins set just above your chest. Lying on the floor you cannot roll a failed rep off you the way you can on a bench.
- Never let a chain rest on top of a plate. It can cantilever the plate outward and unload one side of the bar mid-rep.
Sets, reps & load
Where to start, and what to change when it stops being hard.
Start with bar weight at about 50-60% of your competition bench and chains adding 10-20% at lockout — a pair of 5-7 kg chains is the usual first step. The marker of a good set is identical bar speed on the last rep and the first. Add chain before you add bar weight; once the top set feels grindy rather than fast, you have crossed out of the intent of the lift.
What goes wrong
The errors that show up most often, and the cue that fixes each one.
Pause a full second with your triceps resting but the bar still under tension, then press. Count it out loud on the first few sets until the pause is habit.
Shorten the loop with a leader chain until every link is off the ground when your arms are straight. If they still puddle at the top, the chains are too long for your press height.
Log the bar weight and the chain weight separately, and rate the set by bar speed rather than by the total. Chain loads do not convert cleanly to a straight-weight one-rep max.
Hang them over the sleeve first, then load your plates and clamp a collar outside them. Check the hang after every set — a chain that walks onto a plate can lever it off the bar.
Why bother
Two modifications stack here and they solve different problems. The floor stops your upper arm before the shoulder reaches deep extension, which removes the stretch reflex off the chest and forces the triceps to start the rep cold. The chains do the opposite job: at the bottom half the links are pooled on the floor, so the bar might weigh 80 kg, and by lockout you have picked up another 10-20 kg of steel that was on the ground.
That accommodating resistance matches the strength curve of a press, which is weakest near the chest and strongest at extension. On a straight-weight bench the top of the rep is nearly free, so you never overload it. With chains, the weight arrives exactly where your leverage does, and the lockout you have been missing in competition gets trained under real load.
Where it fits
This is an accessory or a speed-day main lift for someone who already benches, not a first press. Run it for 3-6 weeks in place of your second weekly bench, then rotate off — chain work goes stale faster than straight weight. One session a week is enough. Do not pair it with heavy competition bench in the same session; the triceps will be cooked for whichever comes second.
If this one isn't it
No kit, too hard, or too easy — here's where to go instead.
Same job, different kit
Start here instead
Asked and answered
How much chain should I use?
Enough that the chains add 10-20% of the bar weight at lockout, and no more. Beyond that you have to strip so much bar weight to finish the rep that the bottom half stops being trained at all. Two chains of 5-10 kg each covers almost everyone who is not benching over 150 kg.
Is this better than a normal bench press?
No, and it is not meant to be. It is a fix for a specific fault: a press that stalls at lockout, or a shoulder that does not tolerate a full-range bench. If you have neither problem, your time is better spent adding weight to a flat bench.
Can I do it without a rack?
You can roll the bar into position over your hips and pull it back one plate at a time, but it is awkward with chains attached and it wastes energy before the set. Use a rack with low hooks if you have one; if you do not, use dumbbells for the floor press instead.
Why does my bar weight feel so light compared to my bench?
Because it is — you have stripped the bar to make room for the chains, and the floor has cut the range by 10-15 cm. Judge these sets on bar speed and lockout difficulty, not on the number on the bar.