Decline Smith Machine Press

How to do it

1. Set a decline bench under the Smith machine so the bar lands over your lower chest.
2. Hook your legs under the pads before you lie back.
3. Set the safety catches just below your chest.
4. Take an overhand grip a little wider than your shoulders and twist the bar to unhook it.
5. Lower to the base of the chest under control, then press back up to almost straight arms.
6. Re-hook the bar before letting go, and do not unhook your legs until you have.

Common mistakes

• Getting the bench position wrong and adjusting mid-set. The bar's line is fixed, so where it meets your body is decided entirely by where the bench is — and on a decline, sliding the bench while hooked in is not an option.
• Skipping the safety catches. The head is below the hips and the bar is above the throat; the hooks catch only if you can still twist the bar, which is the thing a failed repetition prevents.
• Lowering to the mid-chest as on a flat press. The decline puts the bar low, and forcing it higher takes the shoulder into the position the angle was chosen to avoid.
• Unhooking the legs first at the end. The pads are what stop you sliding head-first, and they matter right up to standing.

Muscles worked

Primary

• Abdominal HeadPecs

Secondary

• Shoulders
• Triceps