Wide Grip Smith Machine Bench Press

How to Perform the Wide Grip Smith Machine Bench Press

1. Position a flat bench inside the Smith machine so the bar aligns with your lower chest when lying down.
2. Lie on the bench and grip the bar with a wide overhand grip, hands significantly wider than shoulder-width.
3. Retract your shoulder blades and set your feet firmly on the floor.
4. Unrack the bar by rotating the hooks and hold it at arm's length above your lower chest.
5. Lower the bar in a controlled manner to your lower chest, allowing your elbows to flare to about 75-80 degrees.
6. Touch the bar lightly to your chest, feeling a full stretch in the pectorals.
7. Press the bar back up to full lockout, squeezing your chest at the top of the movement.
8. After completing your set, rotate the bar to re-engage the safety hooks.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Muscles Worked

Benefits

• ✓Isolates the chest muscles with minimal stabilizer involvement due to the guided bar path
• ✓Allows safe training to failure without a spotter by using the built-in safety hooks
• ✓The wide grip maximizes pectoral stretch and activation for chest hypertrophy

Pro Tips

• ●The Smith machine's fixed path makes this exercise well-suited for high-rep sets, drop sets, and training to failure.
• ●Use the safety stops as a built-in spotter to train heavy with confidence.
• ●Slightly adjust the bench position forward or backward to optimize the bar path for your body proportions.

Variations

Recommended Sets & Reps