Is The Smith Machine Bad

How are smith machines bad for you.

Is the smith machine bad.

Please let me elaborate before you stop reading. The smith machine takes a squat which is an incredibly complex movement requiring the coordinated effort of your entire body in unison and essentially turns it into a leg extension. Smith machines good or bad smith machines are very popular and can be found in any gym whether big or small. If you were lucky enough to own barbarian smith cable rack or barbarian monster you can jump to cable crossover straight away and do some chest flys.

And the vertical movements provided by the smith machine is not natural. You will never go into a gym that does not have at least one smith machine. But are smith machines all bad. A power rack is basically a smith machine without the safety rails.

The smith machine was created by a man named rudy smith back in t. It prevents the stabilizer muscles from doing any role as all the stability that s needed is already in place with restriction of bar movement. I personally have been on both sides of this but i am one of those who won t touch the thing now. Taking a free weight barbell and turning it into a crappy machine designed originally for uppe.

Some smith machines have the barbell counterbalanced the machine can be used for a wide variety of exercises though it is most commonly used to perform smith machine squats. Oddly enough it is still one of the most popular machines. This may sound like an extreme comment to make considering almost every gym and even some rehabilitation facilities now have them for their people to use. The barbarian and megatec smith machines come with a built in half racks that allows you to switch from free weight bench press into 45 degree incline smith machine press or a decline chest press.

The smith machine has been one of the biggest mistakes in strength training equipment in my opinion. The smith machine has been one of the most criticized pieces of equipment in the gym for the past 7 or 8 decades. There are a lot of people who really enjoy using the smith machine and there are those who will not get near them. Before investing in even the best home smith machine it s crucial to learn whether the smith machine is actually good or bad.

The rack or cage has safety bars that can be adjusted to catch the barbell if you lose control. So there are legitimate reasons for people to dislike smith machines and i think the above reasons are completely valid.