Bench Press (Smith Machine)
The Smith Machine Bench Press is a compound upper-body exercise that targets the pectorals, shoulders, and triceps using a fixed vertical or near-vertical path. By removing the need to balance the bar, this variation allows you to focus purely on pushing strength and muscular contraction with added safety.
Since the Smith machine creates a fixed path, stability demands are lower, allowing you to often push closer to muscular failure safely. The AI analyzes your RPE and rep performance to distinguish between true muscular fatigue and simple coordination breakdown, ensuring you are working at the right intensity for growth. Additionally, if you have flagged shoulder instability or previous injuries in your profile, the AI prioritizes this stable variation over free weights and monitors your recovery data to prevent joint overuse.
Form Cues
- Position yourself so the bar aligns with your mid-chest
- Retract your shoulder blades and pin them flat against the bench
- Drive your feet firmly into the floor to create full-body tension
- Lower the bar under control until it lightly touches your chest
- Press the bar up smoothly while squeezing your pecs
- Don't let your elbows flare out to 90 degrees
- Don't bounce the bar off your chest at the bottom
- Don't lift your hips or glutes off the bench
- Don't unrack the bar with loose or protracted shoulders
- Don't lock your elbows aggressively at the top
Common Mistakes
- Misaligning the body under the fixed bar path
- Flaring elbows excessively wide
- Bouncing the weight off the sternum
- Arching the lower back excessively (lifting hips)
- Using an uneven grip width
Muscles Worked
This exercise primarily targets the pectoralis major (middle chest), allowing for high-tension contraction due to the machine's inherent stability. It heavily recruits the anterior deltoids and the triceps (medial and lateral heads) as secondary movers to assist in the lockout. Because the machine handles stabilization, the focus shifts almost entirely to the prime movers.
Primary
Secondary
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