1. Mr. Smith Goes to the Gym
The Smith Machine is one of the most polarizing pieces of equipment in the gym, as gym rats either love it or hate it. In truth, the Smith Machine has very valuable properties, one of which is that it can teach you good form for challenging exercises like the chest press. The key to bench pressing correctly is to position the bench in relation to the bar so you get the proper range of motion. Do this with an unweighted bar and move the bench back or forward so the down motion of the press has your elbows coming down by your sides, not your head.
2. Inclined to Decline
One major advantage of the Smith Machine when it comes to chest presses is that you can more comfortably do heavy weight incline or decline presses, especially without a spotter. Since both the incline and decline press have a tendency to pull the weight away from you, having the bar connected to the machine provides a great deal of stability and, more importantly, confidence for you to do heavier lifts in these positions.
3. Gain by Lifting a Lot of Nothing
A very simple, quick and no-impact chest exercise that you can do on the Smith Machine is an isometric chest workout that implements the time-under-stress principle of exercise instead of the mechanical loading principle. Simply lie on a bench underneath the bar of the Smith Machine. Without unhooking the hooks of the machine, push the bar up. The bar will likely raise until the hooks hit the next pegs. Keep pushing against the pegs so that you're straining against an immovable force. Do this for thirty seconds to one minute, rest and repeat.
4. Getting Closer to Your Grip
The stability the Smith Machine bench press provides also allows you to do one other very neglected form of chest press--the close grip bench press. The close grip targets your triceps and the inner part of your chest that usually get less hit on the traditional bench press. Since using a close grip on a free bar invites a toppling disaster, switch to the Smith Machine to square out your pecs and rip up your tris.
5. Don't Wait to Add Weight
Getting a spotter to help you on the barbell bench press is sometimes such a pain that many people simply go with a more manageable weight on the exercise. Since this deliberately has you under-performing, it's a much better decision to turn to the Smith Machine and load the bar to get past mere hypertrophy and into some heavy weightlifting. Keep in mind that you can always rotate your wrists forward to catch the bar on the pegs if you feel like you can't push through another rep.
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