smith machine squats

[hard earned]

whats the general consensus on these. i have one for my home gym but find myself a few inches forward of the bar and slightly leaning back into the bar for stability. i like the feel but find getting to below parralel a little bit uncomfortable onmy lower back. just like to get some feed back on this.

 

[huskyguy]

By all means if you can do regular squats do them--smith machine squats are bad for your knees -regular squats are better.

 

[FATMEXICAN]

You just have to get used to it. I just got a new bench and it is tilted back, it is diff also.

 

[hard earned]

hows is it worse on your knees?

 

[rippednick]

from what i have been taught, it is isnt. If you never let your knee pass over you toes its supposed to releve alot of pressure on your joint. I think it has to do with the synovial fluid not being squezed out when the force is applied in that direction as apposed to directly on top. Conventional squats kill my knees, wide stance like a powerlifter feels a little better, and hacks on smith machine doesnt hurt at all. If you have a study or something to back it up i would like to see it that way i can tell others.

 

[hard earned]

thats the

 

[hard earned]

thats the main concern with me is to not let my knees go past my toes. i had scope on my rt knee last year and love to squat but admit i'm still a bit of a puss to really push it. i've found that the smith allows me to go heavier that normal, and no my smith does not have the balancer on it. i thinks its even heavier than 45 lbs. with just the bar. anyway just thought i could milk some knowledge out of yall.

 

[Trevdog]

I used to do smith squats only because I have a bad low back. It was a good way to start, but now I do free squats, which I believe to be a superior exercise. I think smith squats are useful if you really need the weight to be stable, e.g. you have an injury.

 

[iamcdn]

hacks were mentioned.
wat about front squats with the smith, have you tried these?

 

[hornedfrogs07]

All I can say is, I NEVER had knee or back problems until I did smiths exclusively for about 8 months. Now, I can barely walk sometimes due to knee pain, my back hurts more than it ever did before, and my squat is stuck at what I was maxing before I started smiths (maxing about 405 then, same now, 2 years later, because I couldn't even do 315 when I switched back last year).

I'll never do them again, but some people swear by them and have no problems. Whatever works for you, I guess.

 

[rippednick]

I can say that i do feel alot of preasure in my lower back when doing smith machine hacks, but its all preasure on the muscle and not the bone.

 

[In-Human]

You go "ass in the grass" on every leg exercise and you will not have knee problems...

 

[rubberduckyo]

I have to put blocks under my heels or else I feel I'm leaning forward too far. I just feel more stable that way. Don't know if that helps.

 

[pullinbig]

i have seen a lot of gals who use blocks to squat. but of the ones i have trained we worked on form and eventually got them to squatting without blocks. girls are built differntly than men, in case no one has noticed. most women when they squat need to stick there hiney further back than men to maintain balnace. nice to watch as well. =0)

 

[grafixLSUalum]

lol, i like to switch it up and use the smith every now and then, i dont notice much of a difference...

 

[rippednick]

"ass in the grass" helps the knees, i would have to read a study on that before i believe it. Everyone is built way to different to say that any one way is the answer. Ass in the grass for me makes my knees want to explode. Its the most horrible feeling to me.

 

[pullinbig]

"ass in the grass" helps the knees, i would have to read a study on that before i believe it. Everyone is built way to different to say that any one way is the answer. Ass in the grass for me makes my knees want to explode. Its the most horrible feeling to me.

try wrapping them.

 

[rippednick]

Yeah when i used to compete in PL i wrapped them so tight my lower legs would be purple in about 30 seconds. It took a little getting used to. Squating to the floor doesnt do much for me anyway because of my build. I have to stick my ass way out to keep my balance. The majority of my squat power is from my glutes. I benefit from getting my feet way out in front of me and leg pressing with my toes in at about 30degrees to help pull my quads into the exercise a little more.

 

[In-Human]

"ass in the grass" helps the knees, i would have to read a study on that before i believe it. Everyone is built way to different to say that any one way is the answer. Ass in the grass for me makes my knees want to explode. Its the most horrible feeling to me.

I have been training clients since '91, well this is not from any paper its called experience with trainees, I have had 4'8" women to 6' 5" guys doing "ass in the grass", and guess what noone has any knee problems, even had two that were scoped and going all the way down with no problems and now they are Squating again...

 

[hard earned]

thanks to all the various opions,, i've done parallelto full to box and all produce a different feel the next day. i guess it's all good as long as you bust your ass on each and every one!!!! i'm going to stick with full deep squats for a few mos. and see if the gains are greater than just to parallel. again thanks for all the info!!