If you’re in need of an exercise that will get your chest pumped up, the machine chest press may be exactly the exercise you are looking for.
During my early weightlifting days, I loved using this exercise as a finisher to my chest workouts and push workouts.
There are times you’ve already completed your strength-based chest exercises, or your hypertrophy-focused exercise, and you just want one more way to somewhat isolate the chest.
The machine press does exactly this. The fixed machine range of motion also allows you to load the weight up ever so slightly so you can focus on pushing serious weight mostly with the muscles of the chest.
Many of my best chest pumps have come off the heels of 2-3 sets of chest presses using the chest press machine.
Needless to say, I am a big fan. And there are certainly more use cases than simply the bro who wants a skin-tight muscle pump at the end of their workouts.
Some lifters simply feel more comfortable performing chest presses using a machine.
Whatever your goals for the exercise, in this article I am going to provide you with instructions on how to perform the exercise, how to add it to your workout routines, and provide some variations you can go and explore if you want to spice up your workouts in the future.
Keep in mind this is all for information purposes. Please consult with your health care provider before beginning any exercise program.
Let’s get started.
How to Perform the Machine Chest Press
The machine chest press is an isolation exercise and is performed on a commercial piece of gym equipment. One of the fundamental steps of doing this exercise is having it available in the gym you work out at.
Before performing any machine exercise, ensure you read the manufacturer’s instructions and warnings.
- Select the weight you would like to use during the exercise and move the weight pin accordingly.
- Adjust the seat to best fit the structure of your body and in accordance with the manufacturer’s guides.
- Sit in an upright position with your back firmly against the back pad.
- Firmly grasp the handles with an overhand and shoulder-width apart grip.
- Brace your core.
- Press the weight by flexing your chest and pushing through the palms of your hand.
- Extend your arms until they are fully extended while maintaining a slight bend of your elbow. Do not fully lock out your elbow during the exercise.
- Slowly reverse the movement and lower the weight back to the starting position.
- Repeat for the desired number of repetitions.
What Muscles Are Worked During the Machine Chest Press?
The machine chest press targets the muscles of the chest also known as the pectoral muscles.
As an isolation exercise, it does not directly target any other muscle groups. However, it may indirectly hit the muscles of the triceps and front deltoids of the shoulder. Albeit this will be to a much less extent when compared to a compound free weight chest exercise.
How to Add Machine Chest Press to Your Workout Routine
Machine chest presses are often seen as a mid-late workout exercise. Those who are new to lifting weights may utilize the exercise as a primary chest exercise. However, there is much debate among fitness experts whether it is best to begin new lifters on machine-based lifts or free weight lifts. Most generally recommend free weight lifts, however, certain circumstances may make the machine variations more appealing.
Set ranges will generally be anywhere between 2-4 sets and rep ranges have a wide variety depending on the goals of the lifter. Most will perform between 6-12 repetitions.
If you primarily use full body workouts, you may not include this exercise into your programs at all. If you do, it may be used on more of an isolation full body workout day to focus on lagging muscle groups.
If you perform upper/lower workouts, the exercise may be used during your upper body workout days and will likely be one of the lifts used after your main compound lifts of the session.
If you perform push/pull/leg splits, the exercise will be utilized during your push workouts and will likely be performed after your main compound lifts of the session.
Similarly, if you perform bro split style workouts, the exercise will be included during your chest workouts and will be performed after your main compound lifts. Possibly as the finisher exercise of the training session.
Machine Chest Press Variations
- Incline Machine Chest Press
- Decline Machine Chest Press
- Barbell Bench Press variations
- Dumbbell Bench Press variations
- Push Ups
Conclusion
The machine chest press is great for anyone looking to build the muscles of the chest without taxing other muscle groups to the extent that a free weight variation might.
It is a popular exercise among those who workout in commercial gyms. Especially those who perform higher frequency training styles such as bro split workouts, PPL splits, and Upper/Lower workouts.
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