Machine Incline Chest Press

How to do it

1. Set the seat so the handles sit level with your upper chest, just below the collarbones.
2. Sit back with your whole back against the pad and your feet flat.
3. Take the handles with an overhand grip and set your shoulder blades back against the pad.
4. Press the handles up and forward along the machine's path until the arms are almost straight.
5. Stop short of locking out and hold briefly.
6. Let the handles come back until your hands are level with your upper chest.

Common mistakes

• Setting the seat low so the handles start level with your face. That turns an incline press into an overhead press and hands the movement to the shoulders.
• Letting the shoulder blades roll forward at the end of each press. The pad supports the back, not the shoulder blades; keeping them set is what keeps the load on the upper chest.
• Resting the stack down between repetitions. The pause lets the chest go slack and turns a set into a sequence of separate lifts.
• Assuming a machine incline replaces the free-weight version entirely. It fixes the path, which is useful when the path is the problem, and it removes the stabilising work, which is sometimes the thing worth training.

Muscles worked

Primary

• Clavicular HeadPecs

Secondary

• Shoulders
• Triceps