Smith Machine Bench Press

ChestMachineBeginnerCompound
Smith Machine Bench Press — start position
Start
Smith Machine Bench Press — finish position
Finish
Muscles worked
PrimaryChest
SecondaryShoulders, Triceps

How to do it

  1. 01

    Place a flat bench underneath the smith machine. Now place the barbell at a height that you can reach when lying down and your arms are almost fully extended. Once the weight you need is selected, lie down on the flat bench. Using a pronated grip that is wider than shoulder width, unlock the bar from the rack and hold it straight over you with your arms locked. This will be your starting position.

  2. 02

    As you breathe in, come down slowly until you feel the bar on your middle chest.

  3. 03

    After a second pause, bring the bar back to the starting position as you breathe out and push the bar using your chest muscles. Lock your arms in the contracted position, hold for a second and then start coming down slowly again. Tip: It should take at least twice as long to go down than to come up.

  4. 04

    Repeat the movement for the prescribed amount of repetitions.

  5. 05

    When you are done, lock the bar back in the rack.

In the app

Smith Machine Bench Press appears when you own the machine and the day's window has room for it. Loads come from Rule 3 (Loads rise when earned, read from RPE, graded strong) and climb on the reps you actually did.

If a machine is taken the engine swaps a same-pattern movement and says why.

If you don't have the machine

Same movement pattern, same primary muscles — swap by what you have.

With barbell
With bodyweight
With dumbbell
With machine

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