Preparation
Place a decline bench under the smith machine and set the barbell at a height that you can reach with almost fully extended hands. Secure your legs/ ankles at the padding and slowly lay down on the bench. Grasp the bar with overhand grip (palms facing forward) with your hands at wider than shoulder width (the right grip is those who creates a 90-degree angle between your forearms and upper arms in the middle portion of the movement). Unlock the bar from the rack and hold it above your lower chest. This will be your starting position for decline smith press.
Execution
As you breathe in start of decline smith press lower the bar in controlled manner until you reach the lower chest. When you touch the chest carefully change the direction of the movement and bring the bar back to the starting position as you exhale. Contract the pecs at the top, hold for a second and repeat the movement for desire reps.
Recommendations
- To prevent yourself from injury and achieve maximum development in your lower pecs set a decline bench to an angle between 20-30 degrees. Any lower inclination will overload your rotator cuff and reduce the work of pectoralis muscles.
- Before you draw near to execution of exercise make sure you’ve positioned the bench so that the bar is exactly above your lower chest (slightly above the sternum).
- Grip the bar with your thumbs around the front, to prevent it from slipping.
- Don’t lock your arms at the top of the movement, this would help you to keep the tension in the chest muscles.
- Don’t bounce the weight of your chest, to perform the decline smith press safe and correct the negative phase of the movement should be twice long than the positive.