Leverage Chest Press

Execution

1. Keep your head and chest up, back glued to the seat pad for the whole set.
2. Exhale and press the handles forward by extending your elbows until they are nearly locked out.
3. Hold a beat at full extension without locking the elbow joint hard.
4. Inhale and bring the handles back slowly to the starting position, without letting them rest on the machine's stops mid-set.
5. Keep the handles just off the stops so the chest never fully rests between reps, only letting them touch down after the set is finished.
6. When a rep will not go any more, do not fight to hold the load out there: bring the handles back under control onto the stops, let go, then get out of the seat.

Quick cues

• Back pinned flat to the pad.
• Don't lock the elbows hard at the top.
• Keep tension, don't rest on the stops.
• Set the seat before the first rep.

Common faults

• Fault: The seat set too high or too low so the handles miss the chest

  Fix: Reset the seat height until the handles line up with the lower chest before starting.

• Fault: Letting the handles rest fully on the machine's stops between every rep

  Fix: Stop the handles just short of the stops so the chest stays under tension.

• Fault: Lifting the hips off the seat to help push the handles out

  Fix: Drop one weight increment and sit deep against the back pad, bracing the core so the body doesn't lift.

• Fault: Locking the elbows out hard at full extension

  Fix: Stop just short of a hard lockout and keep a slight bend in the elbow.