Have you thought about adding a Smith machine to your home gym? Have you even thought about how adding a Smith machine to your workouts is a great way to take your workouts to the next level? A recent article in Men’s Health answers that question in their blog post, “Why the Smith Machine Is the Most Underrated Piece Of Equipment In the Gym”.
Most fitness experts feel that using free weights is far better than using a machine, as you work your joint stabilizers more. But, one of the downsides of free weights – is it can be difficult, if not unsafe, to work out alone with free weights. Using a Smith machine allows you to add some safety into your free weight workouts, while allowing you to concentrate on your the exercise at hand.
Smith machines are a great way to drive metabolic stress in moves like squats and split squats. Since a Smith machine gives you plenty of stability throughout each exercise, it’s far easier for you to push yourself to your limit for longer workout periods and at slower training tempos. And, since your moves are isolated within the machine, you can add heaver weights to your squats than you could use otherwise.
You can also use the bar for bodyweight moves like biceps curls or triceps extensions. You can set the bar at whatever height you like to make a move easier or harder or to easily change from an inverted row to an assisted pullup. And, the Smith is great for training your calves because the added balance will help you increase your load on calf raises for greater gains.
Looking for some examples of some great exercises you can do with a Smith machine? Have you thought about trying these?
- Calf raise
- Split squat
- Back squat
- Front squat
- Bodyweight triceps extension
- Bodyweight biceps curl
- Inverted row
- Assisted pullup
Finally – if you hava a suspension trainer like the TRX, you can use the Smith machine as a mounting point for it This can give you additional workouts that do work those stabilizer muscles that might be otherwise isolated in the above listed exercises.
When you’re ready to take your strength workouts to the next level, stop into any of Fitness 4 Home Superstore’s 3 Valley locations and take a look at our Smith machine offerings. We feature racks from TuffStuff, Body Craft, and Body Solid – at prices that can fit anybody’s budget!
