Smith Machine

[IronZionLion]

Is the Smith Machine just as effective as a normal bench and a spotter as I do not have a training partner. And prefer not to use the normal bench alone.

What are your thought's?

[perfectbeast2001]

it is not as effective as many of the stabiliser muscles you use on bench will not be used with smith. I train mostly alone and use DBs instead of BB. I find DBs give better results, less shoulder probs and you dont need a spotter you can just drop em!

[audis4]

it is not as effective as many of the stabiliser muscles you use on bench will not be used with smith. I train mostly alone and use DBs instead of BB. I find DBs give better results, less shoulder probs and you dont need a spotter you can just drop em!

Ditto...I also found, like beast said, my rotators were hurting and I didn't feel it in my chest(longbar) as much as I did with DBs. I will never go back to longbar.

[zodiac666]

the main difference between benching on a smith machine or a flat bench is that with a free weight bench you have to use a lot of supporting muscles to hold the weight in place. the smith machine can be good to really isolate your pecs since it is in a fixed plane and you dont have to worry about stabilizing the weight, but i always start my workouts with heavy free weight exercises.

i usually start my chest workout with incline bench's, and just fairly recently i have started doing incline benches on a smith machine as my 2nd exercise. it is incredible how well i can isolate my pecs, the stretch and contraction just feels great.

just experiment with different workouts and exercises, remember your only goal when you go to the gym is to absolutely destroy your target muscles.

[Doc.Sust]

i findthe smith is a waste since it is such a controled movement, it is not the same as free weights, not even close

[Tein]

I agree with above posts, the Dumbells are a much better choice when you are by yourself, the overall benefits outweigh those of the smith.

[ptduce]

i find that starting out with db and ending with a full range of motion incline press realyy tears my chest up, i hit a negative for 3 seconds and pause at the chest for five, then explode up. Yo9u wont be able to use much weight, but i believe that muscles dont grow with weight they grow with fatigue. your muscles dont know know if your lifting 400 or 100 all they knbow is that when you reach the end of your comfort zone and go a bit further thats when they have to adapt

[pumpd4lif]

i luv the smith as stated above for the isolation factor
and u can press way more for incline just for that reason as without the smith other muscles come into play which for me are not able to stabalize the weight when i get to the 200 225 lbs range.my shoulders arent in the best shape iether so the smith also helps for me in that department.
buti only use the smith for shoulder press and incline

[Columbus]

i luv the smith as stated above for the isolation factor
and u can press way more for incline just for that reason as without the smith other muscles come into play which for me are not able to stabalize the weight when i get to the 200 225 lbs range.my shoulders arent in the best shape iether so the smith also helps for me in that department.
buti only use the smith for shoulder press and incline

AGREED!! Give me a sample of your trypical delt session....any dbell at all?