Thoughts on smith machines..

Soldato
Joined
12 Jun 2003
Posts
3,949
What do you guys think about smith machines? My gym has no racks at all for barbells, and has one smith machine. Should I still use it for squats and bench press? Or should I ignore it and just do dumbbell presses, and for legs do alternative leg exercises. Every time I squat on it, it hurts my back and groin; it just feels really unnatural.

In before change gyms.. this is the only gym in my town, and the other nearest ones are in Ipswich which is a car journey away, and I don't have a car.

.... in before get a car
 
Last edited:
Don't squat in the smith machine, there are plenty of alternatives.

Do DB bench press instead of smith bench.
 
Don't squat in the smith machine, there are plenty of alternatives.

Do DB bench press instead of smith bench.

Yeh ok, they do have a leg press and extension machines there. Would lunges w/ dumbells be a good alternative to squat? I mean I could do squats because they do have barbells, but it's incredibly dodgy as I would have to power clean the bar to get it up there, but I'm still a beginner so I wouldn't trust myself doing that just yet.
 
Last edited:
is it a plate loadable leg press? if so, use that. along with lunges and the extensions
If not, just do lunges for now while learning to clean a barbell properly then you can do front squats.
 
Yeh it's one of these technogym presses

XO23j.jpg
 
Do you have a garage or a spare room?

Just saying for the price of a gym membership you could get a rack, barbell and some plates on interest free...
 
I use the Smith in my gym.... for chin ups only, as the chin/dip station only has the grips for wide pullups and reg. width semi-supinated chin/pulls.
 
I use the Smith in my gym.... for chin ups only, as the chin/dip station only has the grips for wide pullups and reg. width semi-supinated chin/pulls.

Haha, I use mine only for bodyweight rows...you'd think gyms would be starting to look at getting some better bodyweight kit in...
 
Back
Top Bottom