Best Resistance Machine Exercises For Every Body Part

Not sure where to start when you arrive at the gym? Discover the most effective resistance machine exercises for every body part.

The growing popularity of functional fitness has seen the fall in use of fixed path resistance machines. But, used smartly they can help seasoned gym-goers target hard-to-hit muscle and break through plateaus.

“Resistance machines still constitute the backbone of a well-equipped training facility, whether for fitness, health or performance,” says Silvano Zanuso, scientific research manager at Technogym.

“Machines guarantee the right balance between safety and efficacy. When neuromuscular coordination isn’t the primary focus, and strength improvement is, resistance machines allow experienced athletes to target a specific muscle or muscle group.”

Here Sean Murphy, global personal training director at Ultimate Performance, breaks down the most effective resistance machine exercises for every body part…

Best Resistance Machine Exercises for Every Muscle Group

Best resistance machine exercises for quads:

Hack Squat, Leg Press or Leg Extension

For the hack squat and leg press, always choose a position on the foot plate that allows the maximum degree of knee flexion, without your heels lifting or your lower back tucking under.

This can be complemented by a leg extension, allowing you to overload the muscle in its shortened range. This is typically harder with lower body pressing exercises.

Best machine exercises for hamstrings:

Incline Hip Extension or Seated Hamstring Curl

All deadlift variations provide the most bang-for-buck for your hamstrings, but can require a high degree of skill and coordination.

Instead, an incline hip extension targets the same musculature but generally requires less skill, and a seated hamstring curl ensures the hamstrings are worked through their entire range.

RELATED: Why You Should Train With Resistance Machines 

Best resistance machine exercises for lats:

Neutral-Grip Pulldown or Single-Arm Cable Row

For best results on the pulldown, choose an attachment that matches your shoulder width. For some, your anatomy may not allow you to fully shorten this muscle.

In this case, a single-arm cable row or pulldown – where the path of motion better aligns with the target muscle through its entire range of motion – can work better.

Best resistance machine exercise for upper back:

Neutral-Grip Row

A neutral grip row or pulldown will target all of the major upper back muscles.

Abducting the elbows away from the body (around 45-60 degrees) will shift the focus to the trapezius, rhomboids and posterior deltoids.

Best resistance machine exercise for chest:

Chest Press

Any kind of press will be effective at targeting both the pec major and minor muscle.

Choosing a machine with a higher incline will favour the fibres of the upper chest more than a flat press, and vice versa.

But the overriding factor will always be which machine you find most comfortable and allows you to lift the most load.

Best resistance machine exercises for shoulders:

Cable Lateral Raise or Seated Cable Row using a wide lat pulldown bar 

Any form of pressing movement will target the anterior deltoids, but if bigger shoulders are the goal, focusing on the medial delts creates more visual width and gives an impression of a bigger ‘V’ taper.

Any movement that abducts the arm away from the body will target the medial delt, so any form of lateral raise with the cables will work.

Best resistance machine exercise for biceps:

Cable Biceps Curl

The primary function of the biceps is to flex the elbow joint. Any movement, whether with an EZ bar or a cable machine, will help you to achieve it. The main pitfall comes when allowing other joints to move.

To prevent that, keep your chest up and shoulder blades pinched together, focusing only on opening and closing the elbow joint.

Best resistance machine exercises for triceps:

Rope Pushdown or Chest-Supported Cable Triceps Extension

Lying prone on a bench set to 70-90 degrees means you don’t need to worry about stabilising yourself.

Using two ropes means that you can focus on simply flexing and extending your elbow to directly target the triceps.

Words: Sam Rider