Are you ready to build a formidable strength-training routine using the Smith machine?
Apart from the machine, most people struggle to hit that peak performance because they don’t have the right gear, especially training footwear that will give them a grip with the floor — and ensure they don’t slip or shift while doing the front squat.
I have been able to smash my limits with the F-LITE 290 Knit footwear which I got from Inov-8. My girlfriends also loves the F-LITE G 235 V3 footwear which sells at the same price range.
When you’re ready to do the front squat, here are the 11 steps to follow:
- Step #1: Adjust the Barbell and place it shoulder height on the Smith machine
- Step #2: Adjust the Barbell and place it shoulder height on the Smith machine
- Step #3: Load up the Barbell with the exact weight you prefer
- Step #4: Perform the exercise first using the weight of the bar
- Step #5: Add more weight once you’ve developed proper form
- Step #6: Continue increasing the weight gradually to suit your strength.
- Step #7: Move behind the bar
- Step #8: Spread and extend your hip-width apart
- Step #9: Put your hands on the bar, mostly shoulder-width apart
- Step #10: Bend your elbows and make sure it’s facing forward
- Step #11: Keep your upper arm parallel to the floor.
Finally, push through your heels. Straighten your legs so that it comes back to the starting position.
When you’re exhausted (you certainly will), you can recover quickly, I’d recommend you take 0+ Oxygen Plus, this gives me a heavy dose of energy for another high-intense workout.
In general, the front squat workout is powerful. The good news is that when you do it on the right equipment, results can be dramatic.
One of such workout equipment is the smith machine. The Smith machine is a type of strength equipment that is used when training with weights. It consists of a barbell that is maintained between two steel rails and can only move vertically.
The benefits of the Smith machine, as opposed to free weights, are, it is safer and you can lift more weight.
This weight training device may have a weight rack in the back, which helps to stabilize the machine, or barbell counterbalance.
The two steel rails on the side of the Smith machine have a number of slot machines where the barbell can be hooked on.
This allows you to secure the barbell at any time on any of the multiple shelves, which is great for safety and allows you to perform several exercises.
All you have to do is the twist that your wrists transmit while your hands are hooking on the barbell.
There is also an automatic stop on the Smith machine, which will allow you to stop anywhere you want the barbell.
Bench presses and squats
The two exercises that are most performed for the Smith machine are the bench presses and squats.
The bench press is a weight training exercise in which you lie on your back on a bench and lower the dumbbell on your chest.
You then push the dumbbell back until your arms are stretched and your elbows are locked.
This exercise focuses on your pectoral muscles and also strengthens your front deltoids and triceps. Squat exercise places the Smith Machine barbell over your shoulders as you stand under it.
Once you have secured the barbell, bend your knees and keep your back straight.
You continue to lower your body until you reach the bottom parallel to the roadway. Once you reach that point, lift your body until your legs are stretched and your knees are locked.
Squats strengthen the quadriceps as well as the muscles of the buttocks, the hamstrings and even the calf muscles.
Because the lower body muscles are large enough, with weights while squatting can increase the effectiveness of the exercise. Varied calibrated varieties may include lifting barbells or dumbbells during exercise execution.
Squatting with weights can be dangerous because incorrect technique can lead to injury. Using a Smith machine front squat can help you perform safe squats because it allows you to squat heavy weights without needing someone to spot you.
So how can you do a front squat using a smith machine?
In addition to the steps above, here are alternative steps that also work:
Step #1: Set the bar to chest height.
Step #2: Add weight plates to the machine
If you’re new to the car, try it without any extra weights for the first few times so you can use it for movement.
Step #3. Stand behind the bar and the position of the bar of the front of the shoulders.
Face your elbows forward by resting your wrists under the bar. Grasp the bar with your arms shoulder width apart.
Step #4. Step slightly forward so that your feet are under the bar.
Make sure your feet are facing forward and are shoulder-width apart.
Step #5: Turn the rear bar and lift it slightly to release it from its locked position.
Step #6: Slowly bend your knees while moving your pelvis back.
Continue lowering the bar until you are almost in a sitting position and your thighs are parallel to the ground.
Step #7: Push out the balls of your feet and straighten your legs until you return to the starting position.
Step #8: Continue the repetitions without breaks eight to 12 times. This is considered a set.
Step #9: Return the bar to its safety hook after the last repetition.
Step #10: Rest for 30 seconds to one minute and perform two more sets of squats.
Why you should do squat on bar guided?
The squat on the guided bar or smith machine makes it possible to flex the legs with the vertical back.
With this position, the loads raised are generally less important, but the greater amplitude of work allows a very productive work at the level of the quadriceps muscles and the gluteal muscles in the low position.
If you still do not have enough mobility to perform a complete squat, occasionally do squat bar guided to get the depth in your flexions.
How to do squat back bar guided:
- Place yourself under the guided machine with the bar on the top of the trapeziums and spread the feet about the same width as the shoulders, 30 to 40 cm in front of your hips. These should be directly below your shoulders.
- When ready, inhale deeply by flexing your knees to squat.
- Lower the body until your thighs are at least parallel to the floor, with a right angle at the ankles and hips.
- Do not bounce down.
- Exhale while pushing with the heels to raise the bar.
Five training tips when using the Smith Machine:
- For a better stretch of glutes and ischios, go below 90%.
- Keep your feet in front of your hips while running. The bigger you are, the more feet should be in front.
- Hold the normal arch of your spine during the entire movement. This is particularly important when approaching the low position of the movement.
- Do not look upwards: this can exaggerate the arch of the lumbar region. If you look down, you risk rounding your back. Both positions can cause an injury to the spine when handling heavy loads.
- Contract your abdominal muscles during the whole movement. This is the key to a strong abdominal strap, which is necessary to transfer the strength of the thighs to the upper body and the bar.
Which muscles are required?
The four fasciculi of the quadriceps muscle are solicited:
- the external vastus
- the vastus internus
- the crural
- the anterior rectus.
Depending on the configuration of your personal biomechanics, you can expect, with the Smith Machine back squat, that the large muscles are slightly more active because of the advanced position of your feet.
If you go down to the parallel or below, the glutes and ischios are involved because of the greater stretch associated with that position.
Other exercises for quadriceps
To work the thighs with heavy loads, the best exercise remains squat free bar with these many variations. When working the thighs, do not forget the unilateral exercises that allow balanced development of the legs.
Here are two great exercises to work one leg at a time: the one-sided thigh press and the slits.
Avoid these 12 errors in squat with the Smith Machine:
1. Point your knees in the same direction as your toes and drop them inside or point out:
This should not happen because it causes stress on the knees and causes damage to the ligaments. To avoid the mistake being difficult for you, place a small strip around your knees to keep them aligned while exercising active muscles.
2. Lift the heels:
Raise your heels down while carrying his weight forward, increasing the difficulty of movement and emphasizing the knees. Ideally, move through the heel. One way to do this is to lure your toes squatting, forcing you to use your heels.
Also stay tuned to the ankles and exercises for mobility in the ankle warming. The fact that the heels are raised in squat on the Smith machine can be a sign that your ankles are stiff.
3. Do not use safety bars
The accessory is a way to have the safety when exhausted exercise get under it just on the weight bar above to get rid of the load and get out.
Ideally, the bar will position just below the height of the weight bar has reached the top of the movement.
Be careful not to leave the safety bar with a very high position so that it hits the weight of the accessory bar while still exercising.
4. Avoid the back being rounded
The column must always be straight and in a neutral position, without the back being rounded. This is a dangerous level of stress in the region.
In addition, not to pay the loins. To prevent this, remove the bars of the structure, take attitude, breathe deeply and out as much as possible. You will feel the rib cage and pelvis drip point and tilt it upwards.
So you have to squat, hold the rib cage and the pelvis in these positions, activating the core (central body) and relieving the pressure from the back.
5. Do not use the glutes
The glutes are a powerful and should be used in squat on the smith machine. While around the lower part of the movement, you should imagine that you are moving away from the floor with your feet and activate the glutes to gain strength. In the end, the buttocks must be squeezed to the hips are fully extended.
6. Lift the hips too fast and lean
The shoulders and hips should be raised at the same time. Lift your hips too fast can cause stress on the lower back.
7. Push out of the area between the toes and the arches of the feet
The region is also called the balls of the feet. Jogging through them rather than through the heel can cause unnecessary strain on tendons and joints.
8. Search down
Looking down, the back end laps what we have already seen that should not happen.
9. It is not necessarily a deep squat
We do not tell you to do a deep squat if you cannot, as this may hurt you too. But during the year it takes you at least squat until the thighs are roughly parallel to the ground.
10. Keep your legs wide over the bar
This prevents the adjustment of the quadriceps and glutes and affects the control bar when the load is too high.
11. Not being cautious when leaving
When you’re done using the device, it is important to leave everything neat, make sure that the bar is safe and that all machine locks have been properly activated.
12. Not paying attention to body shape
You should not think that the Smith machine cares about everything and you should not pay attention to the body shape during exercise.
The machine cannot guarantee, for example, you do not round your back. Therefore, when exercising, make sure the body is the right way to avoid injury and make the most of the movement potential.
Conclusion
Your fitness trainer may have told you to take things easy especially with the Smith Machine, but make no mistakes about it: It’s one of the best exercises you can trust when you’re looking for big legs.
The standard front squat impacts the rhomboids and make them fatigue — thus, making it two weak for the rhomboids to hold a heavy barbell in the exact position in the rack.
This issue is what the front squat on the Smith Machine helps us curtail.
It offers a seamless transition from weight-room strength to “awesome” ability in record time. You should practice is more often.
