How to do the chest press machine

The chest press machine gets written off as the beginner's bench press, and that undersells it. It trains the same muscles, the path is set for you, and if a rep doesn't go up you just let the handles come back. That makes it one of the safest ways to take a chest set close to failure, which matters more for muscle growth than whether the weight is on a barbell. It's a good first press if you're new, a good main press if the bench bothers your shoulders, and a good last press for anyone.

How to use the chest press machine

1. Set the seat so the handles line up with your mid chest. Sit down and hold the handles: they should be level with your nipple line or just below it. If they're at your collarbones, lower the seat; if they're at your stomach, raise it.
2. Set the back pad or start position, if the machine has one. Some machines let you move the handles forward or back. Choose a setting where the handles start just in front of your chest, not so far back that your shoulders are stretched before you've pressed.
3. Sit with your back flat against the pad. Feet flat on the floor or on the footrest, shoulder blades pulled back and down against the pad, chest up.
4. Grip the handles. Most machines offer a horizontal and a vertical (neutral) grip. The vertical one keeps your elbows closer to your body and tends to be easier on shoulders. If the machine has a foot bar, push it to bring the handles forward into your hands.
5. Press forward until your arms are almost straight. Keep your back on the pad and squeeze your chest at the end of the press. Stop just short of locking your elbows hard.
6. Let the handles come back over two seconds. Stop when your hands are roughly level with your chest and you feel a stretch across it, with the weight stack still just off the rest. Then press again.

You should feel it across your chest, with your triceps and front delts helping. If you feel it mostly in your shoulders, check the seat height first.

Form cues

"Shoulder blades stay in the pad." This stops your shoulders rolling forward at the end of the press, which is where people lose chest tension without noticing.

"Push yourself back into the seat." Instead of pushing the handles away, think about pushing your back into the pad. Same rep, but your upper back stays pinned.

"Elbows under the handles." Your forearms should line up with the direction you're pressing. If your elbows drift high and wide, the press starts pulling on the front of your shoulders.

Common mistakes

Skipping the seat adjustment. It's the most common mistake on this machine, because it's easy to sit down and press wherever the last person left it. Handles too high and the press turns into a half shoulder press that's hard on the front of the shoulder; too low and you're pressing down and forward in a way that shortens your range. Check it every time.

Doing half reps. Stopping the handles halfway back lets you load more, and it's tempting because the machine makes it so easy to do. It also cuts out the stretch, which is the part of the rep that does a lot for growth. Let the handles come back until your hands are level with your chest on every rep.

Arching your back off the pad. When the set gets hard, lifters often push their chest forward and peel their lower back away from the pad to find extra leverage. It tilts the press toward a decline angle and moves stress onto your lower back. Keep your back flat; when you can't anymore, the set is over.

Letting the stack crash. The weight slamming down between reps means you're resting on every rep and not controlling the return. Keep the stack hovering a finger's width off the rest until the set is done.

Rolling your shoulders forward at lockout. Reaching the handles further forward by lifting your shoulder blades off the pad feels like extra range but it's your shoulders, not your chest, finishing the rep. Stop when your arms are nearly straight and your back is still on the pad.

Breathing

Breathe in as the handles come back, breathe out as you press. This doesn't need the big brace a barbell bench does, but on heavy sets, a held breath through the hardest part of the press can make it feel steadier.

Sets, reps and weight

For muscle growth, do 3 or 4 sets of 8 to 15 reps. If it's your main press for the day, put it first and use the lower end of that range; if it comes after a bench press, stick to the higher end and push the last set to one rep short of failure. Rest about two minutes between sets. We'd go closer to failure here than on a barbell, since the worst outcome of a missed rep is letting go of the handles.

Pick a weight you could do 2 or 3 more reps with for the first few sets. To progress, stay on a weight until every set reaches the top of your rep range, then move up one plate on the stack. Machine increments are often 10 to 15 lb (5 to 7 kg), which is a big jump for some people, so expect to drop a few reps when you move up. That's normal.

This is also where writing things down matters most. The same pin number means different things on different brands of machine, and seat settings change between visits. Log the weight, reps and seat number together, and you'll always know what to beat next time. Helthy keeps your history for each exercise, PRs included, on that exercise's info screen, so last session's numbers are one tap away.

There's no strength table for this machine, because the numbers don't carry over between machines. A plate-loaded press with good leverage can feel half as heavy as a cable-stack one with the same number on it. Compare yourself only to your own last session.

Types of chest press machine

• Selectorized (pin-loaded): a weight stack with a pin. The one most gyms have, and the easiest to use.
• Plate-loaded: you load plates onto the arms. Often independent arms, so each side has to press its own weight, a little like dumbbells.
• Converging: the handles move slightly toward each other as you press, which follows your arm path and gives a harder squeeze at the end. If your gym has one, we'd choose it over a straight-path machine.

Variations and alternatives

• Single-arm machine press: on a machine with independent arms, press one side at a time. Useful for fixing a weaker side.
• Push-up: no equipment, and a good option for extra chest volume at home.
• Dumbbell bench press: the free-weight step up from the machine, with each arm finding its own path.
• Barbell bench press: the heaviest press you can do, and worth learning when you're ready for a spotter or a rack with safeties.
• Chest fly machine: a good pairing after the press, working your chest without your triceps.

Chest press machine questions

Is the chest press machine as good as the bench press?

For building muscle, it can be. The chest doesn't know whether it's pushing a bar or a handle, and machine sets are easy to take close to failure. The bench press is better for testing and building maximal strength, and it trains the stabilizing muscles more, but for most people's goals the machine is not second best.

What seat height should I use on the chest press?

High enough that the handles line up with your mid chest, around your nipple line, when you're sitting back against the pad. Write the setting down once you've found it.

Why does the chest press hurt my shoulders?

The usual culprits are a seat that's too low (handles too high), elbows flaring out, or letting your shoulders roll off the pad. Fix the seat first, try the neutral grip, and lighten the load for a week or two. If the pain keeps coming back even with those changes, get your shoulder looked at.