Lying Chest Press

Also known as: Lying Chest Press Machine, Lying Bench Press Machine, Lay-Down Chest Press

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Body Part: Chest

Description

Lie on a lever machine's flat pad and press two handles from your chest to nearly straight arms: a bench press for your chest with no bar to balance. The muscles worked are mainly the chest, its middle part most, with the triceps taking over in the top third and the front delts helping off the bottom. The handles rest on stops, so a missed rep needs no rack or spotter. That suits training alone, sets close to failure and shoulders that prefer a neutral grip to a barbell. Unlike the seated chest press, you keep the bench-press position: shoulder blades pinned, feet driving into the floor.

How to Perform

Load the same plates on both weight horns, then lie back on the pad with your head toward the frame.
Slide up or down until the resting handles sit beside your mid-chest, around the nipple line, not at your neck or over your stomach.
Plant your feet flat and wider than your hips, knees bent about 90°. Hips, upper back and head stay on the pad.
Take the handles with your palms facing each other and thumbs toward your head, wrists straight over vertical forearms.
Pull your shoulder blades back and down into the pad. A small natural arch in your lower back is fine; a big bridge is not.
Exhale and press both handles up until your arms are nearly straight over your shoulders. The levers' arc carries your hands slightly toward your head.
Lower for about 2 seconds along the same arc, elbows 30–45° from your sides, until the handles are back beside your chest and you feel a stretch.
Touch lightly and press again before the plates settle on the stops. After the last rep, set both handles down on the stops, then let go.

What Muscles Work

Primary Muscle:

Secondary Muscles:

Tips

Take 3–4 sets of 6–12 reps close to failure, because a missed rep just ends on the stops.
Add reps before weight: once you hit 12 on all sets with your shoulder blades still down, add the smallest plate to each side (usually 1.25 or 2.5 kg) and build the reps back up.
Log the plates per side. The levers change the real resistance, so the plate total won't match what you bench with a bar.
Most of it should land across your chest, with the triceps kicking in near the top. If the front of your shoulders does most of the work, the handles start too close to your neck: shift toward the frame until they sit at mid-chest.
New to pressing? Use lighter plates and stop a little short at the bottom, or start on the seated Machine Chest Press. To make it harder, lower for 3–4 seconds, pause 1–2 seconds at your chest, or press one arm at a time on the independent levers.
Substitutes: Hammer Grip Dumbbell Bench Press for the same neutral grip on free weights, Barbell Bench Press for heavy low-rep work, Smith Bench Press when no lever machine is free.

Common Mistakes

Starting with the handles at your neck or collarbones, so your shoulders take over. Before the set, shift toward the frame until the resting handles sit beside your mid-chest.
Reaching the handles higher at the top until your shoulder blades peel off the pad. Stop at almost straight arms with the blades still pinned.
Elbows flaring straight out to the sides. Keep your forearms vertical under the handles and your elbows 30–45° from your torso.
Parking the plates on the stops, or bouncing off them, between reps. Lower over about 2 seconds, touch lightly and press straight back up.
One handle running ahead of the other while the stronger arm does more of the work. Keep them level; if one arm keeps lagging, end the set when it slows and add a few one-arm sets for that side.