To perform this exercise, you'll clearly need two benches, so this one won't be appropriate for a crowded gym where you can't hog two benches. For a home gym, it's excellent.
The ones I have are actually different heights by about two inches, which I found actually made this exercise work even BETTER for building power.
This height difference created a slight decline angle for the press, which gives you a bit better leverage. I found it to be very easy on the shoulders and it really hit the chest nicely.
If your benches are the same height, that will work just as well, too, though.
Floor presses are fantastic for building power out of the bottom, because at the bottom of every rep, you rest your upper arms fully, release tension in the chest. Then you're forced to press from a dead stop...but in a fairly good leverage position...so you can use a heavy weight.
Why Not Just Do Floor Press On The Floor?
That's the real question.
And the answer is the ease of getting into and out of position for the exercise.
When doing presses on the actual floor, if you're using heavy weight (which you should be using for the exercise), it can be very awkward to try and wrangle the dumbbells into position either while sitting down already, or by actually holding them in your hands and then sitting down.
You're limited in weight by how much you can get into position.
If you have a partner to hand them to you, no problem. I train alone, so I don't have that.
This method gives you the exact same benefits of floor press while making it much easier to use heavier dumbbells...and I mean MUCH easier.
How To Do T-Bench Floor Presses for Bench Press Power
Start by setting two benches in a T formation.
If they're different heights, you have the lower one for the shoulders (which hits a decline angle) or have the higher one for the shoulders, which gives you a bit of an incline.
Practice with light weight first, so you know where to sit on the bench.
Hold a pair of dumbbells on your lap, just like you normally would. You can see the height difference in my two benches pretty well here.
Now lie back, bringing the dumbbells with you.
Swing your upper arms around until they're resting on the bench. Don't flare them out too wide to the sides. You should have a bit of a "downward pointing" angle at the shoulders.
As you can see here, I have my feet on the bench. While I don't normally do this for bench press (nor recommend it for regular bench pressing), the reason I'm using it here is that the lower bench has created a decline. If I were to set my feet on the floor, it would crank my lower back into too big of an arch.
In terms of stability, I'm not worried because at the bottom of each rep, my back and both upper arms are resting fully on the bench, which great for balance. So there's no issue there.
If both benches were the same height or I had set the higher bench under the shoulders, I would set my feet on the floor for better chest positioning.
Now before you press up, gather up tension in the chest, then "squeeze" the arms off the bench. Don't pop the dumbbells up quickly. Develop tension, then press.
Lower back down, let your upper arms rest fully on the bench, relaxing the chest. Then repeat.
I recommend this one for lower reps (e.g. 3-5 reps set) because it's more appropriate for power training and not tension-based training.
To get out of position, on the last rep, bring the dumbbells down onto the thighs.
Let the weight of the dumbbells pop you back up to the seated position.
Set the dumbbells down and you're done.
Overall, this is a GREAT exercise for hitting the chest with power training. It's pretty much exactly the same as doing floor presses in terms of benefits but it's SO much easier to get heavier weights into and out of position than trying to do these on the floor.
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Want more unique and challenging exercises to work your entire body with simple equipment? All you need is just a barbell, dumbbells and a bench. Check out The Best Home Gym Exercises You've Never Heard Of!
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