Plate-loaded pressing with a locked-in path.
Keep your shoulders pulled back and down. Don't shrug them up to push the weight.
The Hammer chest press is plate-loaded pressing on a converging handle path, so your chest drives the movement while the machine handles all the balance. Setting the handles at mid-chest and pinning your shoulder blades back means the pecs get a deep loaded stretch at the bottom and a strong squeeze through the press, with the triceps finishing each rep. It shines as a heavy chest builder late in a session, when your stabilisers are cooked but your pecs still have work left in them.
For pure chest stimulus it holds its own, the fixed path lets you push close to failure safely without a spotter. The barbell bench trains more stabilisation and total-body skill, most good chest programmes use both rather than picking a side.
Adjust it so the handles line up with your mid-chest, roughly nipple height, when your shoulder blades are pinned back. Handles too high stress the shoulders, too low turns it into a decline, take ten seconds to set it right.
Usually the shoulder blades come unpinned and roll forward as you press. Set them back and down into the pad before rep one and keep them nailed there, the handles move, your shoulders do not shrug or reach.
