Exercises with machine
67 exercises you can do with machine. Tap for technique and tips.
Machines cover the most ground in the shortest time. With 67 exercises, you'll target the quads, chest, hamstrings, calves, shoulders, and more – all in movement patterns where the weight travels along a fixed path and you can direct all your force into the muscle.
No other equipment isolates like a machine. The movement is locked in, the resistance is predictable, and weight changes between sets are quick. For beginners, this means a safe entry point without needing to learn balance and stabilization simultaneously. For experienced lifters, it's the ideal tool for high volume and precision work.
Quads dominate with 23 exercises – which tells you exactly where machines truly shine.
Legs and Hips
Machine training is built on leg work. Leg extensions isolate the quads with surgical precision, the leg press lets you load heavy with minimal spinal stress, and the hack squat combines deep squat mechanics with the support your spine gets from the machine.
Hamstrings and glutes are well covered too. Lying leg curls train the hamstrings in a pure movement pattern, while the glute-ham raise demands more from the entire posterior chain connection. Hit your calves effectively with calf raises or the leg press calf variation – same muscle, slightly different angles and recruitment. Bulgarian split squats and reverse lunges add variation if you want more total-body stimulus while staying in the machine zone.
Upper Body
Nine chest exercises give you the flexibility to choose angles based on your needs. The horizontal leg press is your heavy compound, the incline press emphasizes the upper chest, and the decline press targets the lower chest. The butterfly adds isolation work with a long range of motion. The Smith machine decline press and dip machine provide additional stimulus variation if you want to mix it up.
Build your back with the horizontal row and the iso-row – both recruit the mid-back and lats but with different grip angles. Hit your shoulders with the shoulder press, and target your traps separately with shrugs or the calf raise shrug variation. The ab crunch machine gives you a controlled alternative to sit-ups for core work.
Conditioning and Recovery
Machines also cover your conditioning needs without mixing in free weights or complex technique. The stationary bike and elliptical don't stress your joints hard and work equally well as a warm-up before strength training or as standalone cardio. Treadmill running is the classic choice if you want ground contact in a controlled environment.
Altogether, the range – legs, chest, back, shoulders, calves, core, and conditioning all under one roof – makes machines one of the most complete equipment categories in the gym.