Today I worked chest. Unfortunately, I am unable to do barbell flat and incline presses due to an elbow injury. Every other variation of those pressing movements do not bother my elbow. For the last couple of years, I have been doing the flat bench press and incline bench press with a Smith Machine. But for my last two chest workouts I have begun using the flat bench press and incline press with Hammer Strength machines. I am interested to see if I make progress in my chest development with those machines as compared to the Smith Machine. Time will tell.

For my first exercise I did the Flat Bench Press with the Hammer Strength machine. I did 3 sets of 5 reps. The last rep of each set I did a slow negative in order to get the most out of that set. Basically to failure. This movement is for developing size and strength to the middle to lower chest, and for overall general development. Right now I am in the strength building phase, so my reps are low and weight is high.

For my second exercise, I did the Hammer Strength Incline Press. I did 3 sets of 10 reps. This exercise is for developing the upper chest. This machine seems good because I felt it work my upper chest. The only thing I do not like about this machine is that the handles do not come back far enough in order to get a better stretch on the pec muscles.

For my third exercise, I did Low Dips. I did 3 sets of 10-12 reps. I have always liked low dips because I feel a really good stretch on my low pecs. I think it works the lower chest better than a decline bench press.

And for my fourth and final exercise I did the Pec Deck. I did 3 sets of 8-10 reps. The pec dec isolates the pecs really well. It stimulates the outer pecs in order to develop the shape of the chest. At the end of each set I like to do a couple of very slow negative reps in order reach failure of the muscle.