Smith Machine Bench Press

Chest
Shoulders
Triceps

Equipment: Smith Machine

New to this

Your first smith machine bench press

What weight should I start with on the smith machine bench press?

Start with the bar plus one 10 lb plate per side. Smith machine bars are counterbalanced and most weigh 15 to 25 lb rather than 45, so the empty bar is lighter than it looks.

Do 2 sets of 8. The bar runs on rails, so you don't need a spotter and you can push closer to failure than you would with a free barbell.

Your numbers here will be higher than your free-weight bench and the two don't transfer cleanly. Track them as separate lifts.

What usually goes wrong on the smith machine bench press?

You set the bench so the bar lands on your throat. The rails are fixed, so you move the bench, not the bar. Lie down and check where the bar sits before you load it: it should come down to the bottom of your sternum.

You forget to twist the hooks and can't rack it. Practice the wrist twist with the empty bar a few times first.

You let the bar bounce off your chest. The fixed path makes this easy to do and hard to notice. Pause for a beat at the bottom of every rep.

If the Smith machine is occupied

The free-weight versions train the same push and ask more of your stabilizers. Expect to use 15 to 20% less weight when you switch, which catches most people off guard.

How to do it

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. As you breathe in, come down slowly until you feel the bar on your middle chest. 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. Repeat the movement for the prescribed amount of repetitions. When you are done, lock the bar back in the rack.