The machine chest press is a classic workout technique. This exercise helps you focus more on the upper part of your body. It mainly involves your chest or pectoral muscles, shoulders or deltoids, and the triceps on your arms.
The machine chest press is very effective in enhancing the muscles involved. However, like every other exercise, you must do it correctly. For that, you need to learn the best practices first.
Thus, this article will discuss how to get the most out of machine chest press exercises. Let’s get right into it!
How to Perform Machine Chest Press?
The machine chest press isn’t complicated at all. Still, to ensure you got the form right, we’ll lay out the position for you.
Firstly, you’ll need to adjust the height of the seat. Keep the size at such a level that it keeps the handles around your chest level. So, this is the primary position. Now, you’ll have to hold and stretch the handles upwards but at an angle. Keep stretching until your hands are straight.
Then, slowly retract back to the position where you’ve started to do so with control. You can also do this slowly, as doing it fast may be dangerous.
This should be the primary form of performing any machine chest press. One thing to note here is that machine chest press benches can come in different forms. So, specific machines come with weight plates, while others come with weights you can change with a pin.
Also, there can be variations in the seating as well. Some offer fixed benches, while others come with benches that allow you to customize the inclination.
Irrespective of these features, the primary form of the exercise should be the same. However, an upper incline of the bench will improve your upper chest, while a decline will strengthen your lower chest.
Benefits of Performing Machine Chest Presses
The chest press is one of the best exercises for those who want to improve their chest and shoulder muscles. However, they are more than just that. In this section, we’ll look at the various benefits you can expect from performing machine chest presses. So, let’s get started!
Not Difficult to Learn
The faster you can learn the form of an exercise, the more value you will be able to take from it. This is where the machine chest press shines. So, despite being highly effective, this exercise doesn’t take much time for you to learn.
Then again, it’s not supposed to because the workout involves stretching your arms as much as possible. We aren’t saying that you’ll be able to perfect it from the first try, but you should get the hang of it in a few sets.
Lets You Focus on What’s Important
From the get-go, the chest press doesn’t require much technique. So, while performing machine chest presses, you won’t have to stay conscious about the method or what you’re not doing right. Instead, you’ll be able to invest all your time in focusing on the right muscles.
This is one of the most critical parts of the exercise. You don’t perform them but ensure those specific muscles work correctly. Hence, machine chest presses will help you do just that.
Safer
The machine chest press is safer than regular bench presses. A typical bench press would either require an extra pair of hands. So, this will help you when you can’t finish a rep or safety racks where you can keep the bar when you’re out of energy.
With machine bench presses, you won’t have to suffer any similar consequences. So, these are much better in comparison.
Lets You Do More
The machine chest presses are great for exhausting your muscles quickly. As you don’t have to install new plates or take some off the bar, you’ll have more time to perform drop sets. This will allow you to focus more on the exercise than the preparation.
Beginner Friendly
Most beginners fail to complete bench presses correctly. The main reason behind this is the high entry bar of this equipment. This is another aspect where the machine chest press is just better. It lets you start with low weights to climb the difficulty setting slowly.
Also, the machine chest press is easier to control. So, it allows the user to utilize the equipment without having to overexert him or herself. Thus, anyone with minor injuries can also use it as they can pull back whenever they feel a strain.
Top Variations of Machine Chest Press
This section will discuss some of the top machine chest press variations. These variations will help you emphasize different muscles for a holistic workout.
Cable
This variation is focused on improving your core strength and not your chest muscles. Unlike the other variations, this one is slower. So, it offers more control than the rest.
Incline
You’ll need an inclined bench for doing this. This puts less strain on your rotator cuffs but focuses more on the upper chest muscles.
Seated
Seated chest presses can help you enhance your latissimus dorsi and your biceps. The main benefit of the seated chest press is that it lets you lift more weight at a time, also with more control. However, this requires a proper form as it’s easy to do this exercise wrong.
Standing
Lastly, we have the standing chest press. This one helps you improve your balance by focusing on your balance stabilizers. However, you should already have a decent form before starting this variation.
Conclusion
Performing machine chest press workouts twice or thrice a week can help improve your muscles. This is why we highly recommend incorporating it into your fitness routine.
Also, look for a machine press bench that you can incline. While this may not benefit you early on, it’ll let you try more variations down the line.
You can also read: Is Low-Intensity Cardio A Waste of Time? Listen To The Surprising Truth
