Vertical chest press machine

The vertical chest press machine focuses on your chest muscles, with additional emphasis on your triceps and shoulders. Most vertical chest machines have more than one grip so that you can work your chest muscles in different ways.
Use caution if you have shoulder or elbow problems.

Getting set
Sit in the machine so the center of your chest lines up with the set of horizontal handlebars. Press down on the foot bar so that the handles move forward. Grip the horizontal handles. Straighten your arms, pushing the handles forward.
Keep your abdominals tight so your upper back remains on the pad.
See photo A.

The exercise
Remove your feet from the foot bar — you’ll feel the weight of the stack transfer into your hands. Slowly bend your arms until your hands are just in front of your chest, and then push the handles forward until your arms are straight. When you’ve completed your set, put your feet back on the foot bar and let go of the handlebars before you lower the weight stack all the way down. See photo B.

Do’s and don’ts

• DO keep your neck against the backrest.
• DON’T press so quickly that your elbows snap shut and your shoulders come up off the backrest.

Other options
Different angles: You may find chest machines that position you horizontally and at many angles between horizontal and vertical. Other machines work the left and right sides independently of each other; in other words, the left and right levers of the machine aren’t connected to one another, so when you raise the weight, both sides of your body have to fend for themselves. Machines with independent action are a good alternative for those with leftright muscle imbalances or those who want to combine the safety of using a machine with the feel of using free weights. Try them all for variety to challenge your chest muscles differently.
Vertical grip (harder): Use the vertical handle of your chest machine. This grip factors out a lot of the help you get from your shoulders when using the horizontal grip.