I’m sure you already know everything there is to know about smith machines. But since you are reading this article you obviously need some information about them. That is why I will try to cover as much related topics as possible, including exercises that you can perform on them as well as reviews on some manufacturers. If you made it through this much of my rambling than please bare with me for a second more while I explain some basics, because we have a lot of newbies reading this.

The smith machine is a piece of equipment that is used in sport training purposes. It consists of a rack with barbell fixed on steel runners that can be moved only vertically. Construction is usually stabilized by counterbalanced piece at the bottom. Runners have pins on which you can hook the bar during the exercise. Safety pegs are often included at the bottom to prevent the barbell dropping on the floor and causing a serious injury. Pegs remove the need for spotters and increase the safety factor.

There are numerous benefits for beginners in sport of using the smith machine. Even the professional athletes can use it to improve form and technique of their special activities. There is a vast range of movements that you can perform on it. To name a few: shoulder press, shrugs, bench press, squats which are an excellent bonus to your leg workout routine.

The Philosophy of It

The smith machine squats are performed differently than using a standard squat rack or some of the squat stands. There is always a big hype amongst experts on whether to perform this squat because it takes the legs and thus the body through an unnatural range of motion, which may cause injuries. But, its fixed trajectory can be beneficial for beginners in a few ways. Since squat is a complex exercise and mastering the proper technique is hard, machine forces the untrained body to develop the feel for proper free weight squatting performance. Using this machine can also allow unstable lifters to lift more weight, which was confirmed by researchers at Drake University, Iowa. This leads to greater overloading of muscles and thus greater growth and power.

Downturn of the predetermined barbell path is that you don’t need to stabilize the weight, which results in poor development of stabilization skills. Therefore, lifting ability on it does not translate into free weight lifting ability. Given that stabilization skills are very important to develop, I recommend that you don’t use this movement as one of the main leg exercises in your routine, but only as a supplement to your leg exercise plan.

Manufacturers and Pricing

Now, let’s talk a little about manufacturers. You’ll have to excuse me, but I always hated those smith machine home gym – all in one combos where you have various functions stuffed together. I like my smiths served simple, and that’s the only way I roll. There is no harm in buying an expensive, for example, Marcy smith machine, Body Solid smith machine or a Weider smith machine, but my point is that for quality leg workout you don’t need all that hype.

Regarding the price, from my experience you don’t need to go over $250 for a new one. Everything above that is too much. Make sure that at least 225 lbs (100 kg) of weight comes with it. Other interesting option is to buy a used smith machine, in which case you can save money. 90% of the times used one may be a much better solution and a much cheaper one.

One more thing, when buying a smith machine make sure the construction is fairly stable. You don’t want to find this out later while squatting, believe me. You can check this by leaning on the machine from all sides. Good counterbalanced heavy duty smith machines should be pretty hard to move. Also, distance between lockout pins should be no more than 2 inches (5 cm). This ensures good movement efficiency. The rest of the details are less important so you don’t need to worry about them too much.

In a nutshell, that’s it. If you have some additional question don’t worry, I’ll be adding detailed reviews of some commercial apparatus soon. You are welcome anytime to drop a question.

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