Machine Bench Press

Chest · Machine

How to do it

Sit down, set the seat until the handles are at chest height and use the foot lever to bring them forward so you can grab them without straining the shoulder. Palms down, elbows at shoulder height. Press as you breathe out and squeeze the chest for a second; come back slowly, breathing in, until you feel the stretch but without the plates resting. The machine stabilises you, so this is where you can genuinely grind the last reps. The classic mistake is setting the seat too high: if you are pressing upwards, it is a shoulder press.

Variants

The drawing shows one way of doing it, and the technique above describes that one. Almost every exercise has variants — standing or seated, the grip, the bench angle — and is still the same exercise: if you do it another way, write it in the exercise note and you will have it every time you train it.

Also works: Shoulders, Triceps

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