Instructions

  1. Adjust the seat so the handles are in line with the middle of your pecs (roughly nipple-height, for most people).
  2. Sit up straight and pull your shoulder blades together and down.
  3. Grip both handles and press forward until your arms are straight.
  4. Reverse the movement and return to the starting position.

Expert Tips

  • Before your first set—especially if you haven’t done any other chest exercises in your workout—take a moment to activate your chest muscles. The key is to think about pulling your upper arm across your chest, rather than pressing your hands forward. Read this article to learn more: How to Set Up for the Bench Press in 5 Simple Steps.
  • Experiment with different seat heights to find what’s most comfortable for you.
  • Try using a thumbless grip (aka false-grip or monkey grip) and avoid gripping the handles harder than you have to. This can help keep the focus of the exercise on your pecs rather than fatiguing your forearm muscles.
  • Keep your butt on the seat, your back against the pad, and your shoulder blades back and down during the entire rep. The only parts of your body that should be moving are your arms.
  • Avoid letting the handles rest on the machine between reps—try to keep tension on your muscles during the entire set.

Workout Programming

A good default is 3 sets of 6–8 reps with 2–3 minutes of rest, taking each set 1–2 reps shy of failure.

Program it as part of a chest, push, upper-body, or full-body workout.

This can be your primary chest exercise, or a secondary exercise after compound pressing like the barbell bench press, dumbbell bench press, or incline barbell bench press.

Mike’s Take

After the bench press, the machine chest press is my favorite chest exercise. It’s easy to learn, doesn’t require much balance or skill to perform, and allows you to safely push very close to muscular failure without risk of dropping a weight on your chest or neck.

And from a pure muscle-building standpoint, you could argue it’s just as effective as the barbell bench press. In general, research shows that you can gain just as much muscle and strength using machines as free weights (barbells and dumbbells).1

Remember, your muscles don’t care whether the resistance comes from a barbell, dumbbells, or a machine. What matters is choosing an exercise that activates your chest muscles and lets you keep adding reps or weight over time.

The machine chest press primarily trains your pectoralis major, the large muscle across the front of your chest. It trains both the clavicular head (upper chest) and sternocostal head (middle and lower chest).

Your triceps and anterior deltoids (front delts) assist.

Another reason I’m such a big fan of the machine chest press is that it’s so easy to set up and perform. Just load some plates onto the machine, set the proper seat height, and you’re good to go.

Because the machine chest press relies less on stabilizer muscles, it can be easier to perform later in your workout when your upper body is already somewhat fatigued.

For example, a typical upper-body workout might look something like this: bench press, T-bar row, chest press machine, and pulldown.

After the first two exercises, you may find the chest press machine easier to perform with proper technique than the barbell or dumbbell bench press. It still relies on your chest, front delts, and triceps, so fatigue in those muscles can limit your performance.

The main downside of the machine chest press is that you have less freedom to adjust the movement to suit your body. The machine determines the path your hands follow, and the handles limit your grip options. That said, you can usually shift your hands along the handles to find a comfortable position.

Personally, I’ve never found these drawbacks to be a major issue.

Machine Chest Press Alternatives

  • Barbell Bench Press. Can be less effective for training your chest if you have very long arms.
  • Dumbbell Bench Press. Allows you to use whatever grip and movement pattern is most comfortable for you, but also requires more balance and can be awkward to set up and perform with heavy weights.
  • Incline Barbell Bench Press. Works just like the barbell bench press, except you set the bench on an incline, which helps emphasize your upper chest.
  • Incline Dumbbell Bench Press. Works just like the dumbbell bench press, except you set the bench on an incline.

3 Machine Chest Press Workouts

Here are three sample workouts that show how to program the machine chest press on a chest day, a push day, or an upper-body day.

Chest Workout with the Machine Chest Press

Machine Chest Press: 3 sets | 6–8 reps | 2–3 min rest
Incline Dumbbell Bench Press: 3 sets | 6–8 reps | 2–3 min rest
Cable Chest Fly: 2 sets | 8–10 reps | 1–2 min rest
Cable Lateral Raise: 3 sets | 8–10 reps | 1–2 min rest

Push Day Workout with the Machine Chest Press

Incline Barbell Bench Press: 3 sets | 6–8 reps | 2–3 min rest
Machine Chest Press: 3 sets | 6–8 reps | 2–3 min rest
Dumbbell Lateral Raise: 3 sets | 8–10 reps | 1–2 min rest
Triceps Pushdown: 3 sets | 8–10 reps | 1–2 min rest

Upper-Body Workout with the Machine Chest Press

Incline Dumbbell Bench Press: 3 sets | 6–8 reps | 2–3 min rest
Chest-Supported Machine Row: 3 sets | 6–8 reps | 2–3 min rest
Machine Chest Press: 3 sets | 6–8 reps | 2–3 min rest
Lat Pulldown: 3 sets | 6–8 reps | 2–3 min rest
Dumbbell Lateral Raise: 3 sets | 8–10 reps | 1–2 min rest

To progress these workouts, use double progression: use a weight that allows you to work within the given rep range, take each set 1–2 reps shy of failure, and once you hit the top of the range for your first set, add weight.

More Chest Exercises and Workouts

Scientific References +