Incline Chest Press Exercise on the Hammer Strength Machine

This is one of my favourite machines at the new LA Fitness gym that I recently visited and worked out at with my free guest pass. It uses a close-grip or hammer grip to do the chest press exercise.

This incline Hammer Strength chest press machine has a greater angled incline than the Iso Incline Chest Press Hammer Strength machine that my gym has, but in essence, they are two different types of incline chest press machines, working the chest muscles a little differently and both are excellent to use to work out with. Good to have both at a gym, but most gyms carry only one and will supplement it with a similar machine or a middle-tiered type of machine. Of course, you can also do this exercise using dumbbells and adjust the incline angle of the bench, but the angle of movement will be a little different.

Here is my selfie video on how to do this exercise:

• Grab the two vertical handles on the machine with your palms facing each other - the starting position. Press upwards, breathing out as you do so. Go as far up as you can without locking your elbows.
• Lower back to the starting position slighly below chest level, breathing in as you do so.
• Do 4-5 sets of 10-12 repetitions.

For a well-rounded chest workout I suggest the following exercises including the above mentioned exercise:

• Wide Chest Press
• Iso Incline Chest Press
• Close-grip Chest Press

Not all gyms will have the 4 listed Hammer Strength chest machines, but should have at least 2. You can substitute for the missing machine options with dumbbells or a cable pulley chest press machine like this FreeMotion machine for a close-grip chest press.