Posted: 10/19/2013 4:39:03 PM EDT
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I'm not big on smith machines and have never tried one until today.
I'm squating 3x5 three times a week and have recently had a deload week and tried to come back to where I left off. I think the freshness of being new to the gym is starting to wear off. My quick jumping gains in strength are creeping to a crawl. My squats range from 235-250. Somedays I nail my 3x5 at 250 and think its time to bump it up next work out. Then I will come back and have to drop back 5 or 10 pounds and sometimes I have do drop down to 235 for my 3x5 sets and I'm not bullshitting in the mental focus department. Today for shits and giggles I worked in with some guys that always squat on the smith. I also did 3x8 sets with them with 2 45's and a 25 on each side. I went ass to floor then up to parallel then back to floor then up for like a real punishing super squat. It felt great in a flaming kicked in the ass sort of way. I don't plan on doing this all the time but it was a nice change of pace and I was wondering if it might help me increase my barbell squats. any input would be great. I'm thinking might be better off just squatting twice a week. Maybe light squats in the middle of the week. |
| I'd say only use a smith machine for squats if you have no access to a real squat rack. Issue with Smith machines is that they stabilize the weight for you (whether you push at an angle or not, the weight will still go straight up). In that sense, it can promote bad form. I don't really see why you can't do your "super squat" on a free bar either? |
| I don't see the point. If you want to drop the weight and do like a 1x20, that's a good idea (I like to do this too) but the only thing a smith machine is going to do for you is: 1. stablize the weight for you and 2. force you into an unnatural movement pattern. |
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Good article with some interesting points. I think the big takeaway is that unless you're an intermediate to advanced lifter that knows EXACTLY why you're using a smith machine then it's most likely not for you. |
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I always squat in the "smith machine". The one at the gym at work is a Star Trac MaxRack. I love this thing, except for incline presses, for some reason they feel awkward to me when using it. My only other gripe with this is the safety bars don't exactly match the bench height, basically the bar is either too low to let me max out without a spotter or too high where I can't get the bar to my chest
here This one is fairly new, the one prior to this had a fixed range of motion. |
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I think I'm just getting frustrated with my progression so I thought I would try it out. The first thing I noticed I didn't have to use any upper body to balance the bar. For a guy like me that is not a good thing. If I was a body builder it might be good if I wanted to focus on a single muscle and work on my quads.
Going to be back in the squat rack tomorrow doing lighter sets @225 for my middle of the week work out |
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Quoted:
I think I'm just getting frustrated with my progression so I thought I would try it out. The first thing I noticed I didn't have to use any upper body to balance the bar. For a guy like me that is not a good thing. If I was a body builder it might be good if I wanted to focus on a single muscle and work on my quads. Going to be back in the squat rack tomorrow doing lighter sets @225 for my middle of the week work out Try mixing up your squats to hit weak points. Front squats and box squats along with some direct hamstring work (RDLs, leg curls) will all help your max back squat. You may want to look into a lifting belt as well (4" wide all the way around) for added stability. |