Bodybuilding Forums

I've just moved house and my new gym isn't as well kitted out as my last one so I'm seeing what I can do to improvise. What do you think of the smith machine for bench press, incline bench press and standing calf raise?

I can’t see it as a problem too much as a stop gap till you get your gym up and running again.

read this artical
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m ... n21119355/

krs wrote:I can’t see it as a problem too much as a stop gap till you get your gym up and running again.

read this artical
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m ... n21119355/

Cheers, good article. I see Mark is using the smith machine a lot at the moment, I guess there is some benefit to it. Certainly helps when there is no one to spot, there is no power rack in my gym and so far the guys there don't seem interested in spotting the bench.

I like the Smith machine when there is no spotter.
Not ideal for squats, as the stabilisers don't get such a good workout, but needs must......

slabbie750 wrote:I like the Smith machine when there is no spotter.
Not ideal for squats, as the stabilisers don't get such a good workout, but needs must......

For squats I personally don't think you need a spotter as long as the squat rack has the parallel bars set at the right height to catch the bar should you "miss" a rep (a bit like a power rack I guess). Only ever needed it once and it was an easy and risk-free maneuvre.

So I just came back from the gym where I did smith bench press. Didn't like it at all As it's on a single plain of motion it takes out the natural movement of the bench, as a result I was lifting quite a bit less, though it does make it easier to contrct your pecs. So I guess I have to either find someone to spot or get used to it. Will keep experimenting...

Can’t you use dumbbells for presses?

krs wrote:Can’t you use dumbbells for presses?

I did for years but switched to BB about 5 or 6 months ago and it's made a massive, massive difference. I think it forced me to improve my technique more than anything. I still do incline DB presses over BB, as you get a better peak contraction with the DBs touching at the top, you obviously don't get that with a BB. So I'd like to stick with BB presses of some kind to keep the momentum.