I have an inclined bench machien at my gym which looks sort of like this:
And there are two things we can adjust on it, the seat height and the starting position of the handle + weight part. How should I adjust to the measurements of my body and what would be the proper form to do this exercise?
I can't seem to find much authortiative info on this. All the info only seems to be about the actual incline bench with barbell.
You want the seat adjusted so that at the beginning of exercise you hands are near the bottom of you chest(essentiallythe same height as you nipples).
The starting height of the hadle won't really affect you form. Having them lower just means you will have a deeper starting point and therfore a greater range of motion.
As for proper form, it's the same as a barbell bench; back tight, shoulder blades pinched, lats engaged, elbows tucked in slightly. For a better explanation you can easily find a decent video explaining incline bench form on YouTube.
Sit on the bench and without touching the handles, put your arms in the starting position with your elbows at 90 degrees and your hands facing forward. This will put your arms in their natural resting spot. The handles should be where your hands are. Adjust the seat up or down such that you can get in to that position and the handles will be where your hands naturally want to be. They may be off by a little which is fine. No machine will be a perfect fit.
The height of the handles can be adjusted depending on comfort level. Ideally you'd want to go as far back as you can go without any pain.
Once adjusted, push the weight straight up. The machine will guide you, so you don't have to worry too much. Just make sure that your forearms remain as perpendicular to the handles as you can.
