Smith Machine Incline Bench Press

What it is

This compound push exercise targets your upper chest, building strength and definition. It also engages your shoulders and triceps as secondary muscle groups. You use the Smith machine to perform this movement, which guides the bar along a fixed vertical path.

Technique tips

• Align your upper chest directly under the bar for proper engagement.
• Use a pronated grip slightly wider than shoulder-width apart.
• Control the bar's descent, taking at least twice as long to lower it.
• Breathe in as you lower the bar, then exhale forcefully as you press up.
• Ensure your arms are almost fully extended at the top of the movement.
• Pause briefly at the top and bottom to maximize muscle tension.

How to track your progress

Log the weight and reps of each set. Straddly turns every set into an estimated one-rep max, so a heavier single and a strong set of eight both count as progress, and it flags a personal record the moment you beat your best.