How to Use Gym Exercise Machines
Exercise machines are a popular choice of muscle-building equipment at the gym. They come in all shapes and sizes and target every part of the human anatomy. On the average, gym exercise machines are not hard to operate, but there is somewhat of a learning curve involved with finding out what each machine does. Other than a few cases, most machines also come with multiple adjustments or attachments which can be used to change angles and resistance.
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Instructions
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Work the chest and back. To work the chest and back, use the chest press, back-row machine, lat pull down and a machine called a pec deck. This machine is used for doing pec fly's. On the back-row machine, you are in a seated position and pull the weight towards your chest. In the lat pull down, you are seated and pull the weight down from an overhead position.
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Work the shoulders. There are a few different machines that work the shoulders. There is the shoulder press, rear delt machine and shoulder shrug. In the shoulder press, you sit in a chair and push the weight straight above your head. In the rear delt machine, you sit facing inward in the chair with your chest up against a pad. The handles are directly in front of you, about shoulder level. Grab the handles and then push them back until your arms are in a straight line.
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Work the arms. The biceps and triceps can be worked with a triceps push down and a biceps curl machine. They are both done in a seated position. For the triceps machine, your elbows are fixed on a pad and you grab the two handles. You then push the weight straight down. For the biceps curl machine, your arms are fixed against a pad and you reach down and grab the handle. You then curl the weight up towards your body.
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Work the quads. The quads can be worked on the leg press and leg extension machine. To use the leg press, you sit in the chair, place your feet on a platform and push the weight up. Make sure your feet are placed on the platform where your knees won't extend past your toes when you lower the weight. On the leg extension machine, you sit in an adjustable chair with pads on the lower part of your shins, near the ankles. You push the weight straight up while extending your legs at the knee.
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Work the rest of the upper legs. There are also machines to work the hamstrings, adductors and abductors of the legs. These are the hamstring curl, adductor machine and abductor machine. For the hamstring curl, lie face down, place the lower part of your legs under the pads and curl your legs toward your body. For the adductor machine, sit in the chair, place your legs in the pads, adjust your width, then squeeze your legs together. The abductor machine is set up the same way, except you start with your legs close together and push them outward. There is also a universal machine that can be adjusted to do both exercises.
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Lift your heels. There are a few different machines to work the calves. There is a seated calf raise, a standing calf raise and you can also use the leg press. To use the leg press, place your feet on the bottom of the plate, with your heels hanging off. Then push the plate up with your toes.
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Work your abs. To work your abs, there is a seated ab crunch machine, a torso rotation, a leg raise machine and a lying ab crunch machine. There is also a decline bench where you lay on your back and hook your feet under a pad and then perform decline crunches.
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Tips & Warnings
When doing calf raises on the leg press machine, you can also do the front of the shins by placing your heels on the top of the plate with the top of your feet hanging off. Then lift your toes back towards your shins. These machines all have variations to them. For example, they may have one universal handle for both hands or have unilateral handles so you can work each arm independently. This would be seen in the chest and shoulder press, biceps curls and triceps push down. The leg extension machine may also have this option.
Make sure to take caution when using machines with safety pins and catches. Always make sure they are locked before stepping out from the weight. An example of this would be the leg press machine.
