Last Updated on June 6, 2024 by grubdunkman
Since the Smith Machine is a very popular piece of home gym equipment, we prepared a series of five blog posts about it. In these series you will learn the basics about the Smith Machine. We will also dive deeper into details and explore the exercises you can perform on this machine for different groups of muscles.
What Is The Smith Machine?
The Smith Machine is type of strength training equipment, that consists of a barbell fixed on the vertical or sometimes angled guiding rails. This design lets you perform controlled vertical movements with a possibility to secure barbell at different points along the track. The below image illustrates the mechanism that is typical for this machine. Here you can see the vertical rail, the sliding guide, the barbell, the pins that catch the barbell at various height levels and the hook locking mechanism.
Key Features
The simple design of the machine can be misleading. This machine has a few important functions that makes it so effective and useful, let’s take a look what they are.
Guided Barbell
The vertical rails isolate the barbell, so that it doesn’t move back and forward and doesn’t tilt to the sides.
Controlled Height Positions
The hooks built in into the barbell secure the barbell at the desired height. When you are ready to perform the movement you twist the barbell release the hooks from the pins. You reverse this move to secure the barbell after the set is completed.
Safety Stops
The Smith Machine also features adjustable safety stops. You move them up or down along the rail to limit the desired range of motion for your exercise. The safety stops will hold the barbell at the lowest position in case you cannot twist the barbell to secure it on hooks or cannot lift the barbell.
Stability
The guided barbell on this machine is isolated the way it cannot fall forward, back or sideways, This provides the athlete the environment to concentrate on the form and lift heavier weight. The stability provided by the Smith Machine is one of its important features.
Benefits
Next thing let’s find out what benefits the simple design of the Smith Machine provides. Some of them are more obvious than the others, but we think it’s important to know them all.
Self Spotter
The situations when you have a training partner available to spot you with the heavy weights are not that common. Since you can secure the weight at any desired height simply by rotating the barbell it lets you be your own spotter. It is essential for muscle growth and strength training, where the idea is to lift as heavy weights as you can. This been said the benefit of self spotting is a great way to get the needed confidence while lifting heavy weights.
Form Above All
This machine provides you stability and balance and lets you focus on the form of the exercise performed. It is and essential knowledge to build muscles and strength correctly and effectively.
Safety
The Smith Machine provides the safety by its functions we described above. Even experienced lifters like to have this aspect settled, so that they can focus on the weights and the form. Especially this benefit vital for beginner and intermediate athletes.
Muscle Isolation
Both compound exercises that involve multiple muscles at the same type and isolation exercises that focus on one particular muscle are important. The reason is different exercises provide variety in your workouts and make muscles work in different ways to stimulate their growth and build strength.
The Smith Machine vs Free Weights and Machines
The Smith Machine is a bridge between gym machines and training with the free weights. While Smith Machines with cable-pulley systems and a weight stack is a popular choice, some Smith Machines are plate loaded and let you use the same Olympic weight plates as you use for your barbell. Additionally, if you mostly use gym machines you will learn to use the Olympic barbell in your workouts. Many exercises you perform on this machine can be also performed with the free weights. Such as squats, presses and deadlifts. The Smith Machine by no means is only a tool to evolve from the machines to free weights. Even experienced lifters find the functionality of the Smith Machine extremely useful to improve the form and use other features we described, such as self spotting, etc.
Who Is The Smith Machine For?
The easy answer is: It is for everyone. However let’s be more specific and explain why.
Beginners
It is a great tool for the athletes who start their fitness program. The machine provides the functionality to concentrate on form while learning the exercises. It also lets you build confidence by providing stability, balance, and self spotting.
Advanced Lifters
The Smith Machine lets you learn advanced techniques. It provides the ground to perform isolation exercises. The last, but not least it lets you lift heavier weights, since stability is provided by the machine.
Functional Training For Sports
Slowly but gradually strength training and muscles building became the norm for the athletes in most kind of sports, and even chess! Famous story of success is the fruitful cooperation of Andre Agassi with his fitness trainer Gil Reyes. Many NBA, NHL and NFL stars pay a lot of attention to their strength building. The Smith Machine lets you perform very important exercises and learn the form even if its not your main specialization.
In The Smith Machine Part 2 we will explore some exercises for upper body, including chest, shoulders and arms. Meanwhile you can take a look at the Smith Machines and Functional Trainers from our collection.
[…] the previous blog post The Smith Machine, Part 1: Introduction we covered the basics, explored the features and benefits of the Smith machine and compared it to […]
[…] and other exercises for lower body. In case you didn’t see our previous posts hers they are: Smith Machine Introduction and Smith Machine Exercises For Upper […]