Machine Chest Press

How to do it

1. Set the seat height so the handles sit level with the middle of your chest when you sit down.
2. Sit back with your whole back against the pad and your feet flat on the floor.
3. Take the handles with an overhand grip and set your shoulder blades back against the pad.
4. Press the handles forward until the arms are almost straight.
5. Stop just short of locking out and hold for a moment.
6. Let the handles come back until your hands are level with your chest, then press again.

Common mistakes

• Setting the seat too low, which puts the handles level with your face and turns the press into a partial incline press with the shoulders doing more of it.
• Letting the shoulder blades roll forward off the pad at the end of each press. Keeping them set is what keeps the load on the chest instead of the front of the shoulder — the machine will not stop you, so it has to be a decision.
• Letting the weight stack touch down between repetitions. The pause at the bottom lets the chest go slack and turns a set into a series of separate lifts.
• Assuming the fixed path means position does not matter. The machine chooses the path; you still choose where your shoulders sit on it, and that is most of what decides where the load lands.

Muscles worked

Primary

• Pecs

Secondary

• Shoulders
• Triceps