Smith machine squats for form

[BodybuildingUniverse]

get someone to help you on the form with free squats, dont bother with the smiths...so much better for you and so much more effective

 

[Mindwraith]

Using the smith rack for anything is bad, it can really increase the chances of injury and its not really giving you the full benefits that free bar squats or other exercises give you. I've heard nothing but bad things about the smith rack, I'd avoid it all together.

My experience with club PT's hasn't been too good, I find many of them very often give me the wrong information, especially when it comes to body building or other routines. Personally though I feel most the people on this board have the best realtime experience and most helpful information. Really glad I found this place you guys rock.

 

[Serenity Head]

Thanks for the replies. The trainer that I talked to has been extremely helpful. This was the only bit of advice that I disagreed w/ him on. I wanted to run it by other ppl to get their opinions.

Whenever I go heavy on squats, my first set is good, but I get winded pretty easily. I'll rest until I'm ready for my next set (around 5 minutes). The second set is when I feel my form starts breaking down. I usually fail to get my targeted # of reps. For my third and final set, I take it down to a weight where I can achieve my target reps with good form.

Bignate, how do I check my adductors for flexibility?

Citruscide, how wide should my stance be? I've widened my stance, but if I widen it too much, it gets really uncomfortable and I feel off-balance.

Tarheel, I have always thought about doing box squats, but nobody at my gym does them, so I can't ask anyone if I'm doing them correctly. Plus the only thing I could think of to use as a box is a bench, but I don't think it gives me good depth since I'm short (5'5").

OK this may help a bit, My clients often have this trouble as well....First off your trainer is wrong, the smith is sub-par for every exercise, however it is effective. The bad thing is it rides of a verticle bar...almost all of our motions have some demension to them so they are sub par. The smith is helpful for certain parts of the exercise. Number one thing is to have explosion and control. Explosion from quads, control in hips. I am guessing from expereince that you are getting down and having a what I call a double motion. This means as you go down you try to get up but your hip first push your but out or cause them to swivel. Don't worry this can be fixed ...here's how. Have someone watch your bottom thrust out from time to time....It should look like down, and "bam"-up. NOT LIKE down, out(refferring to hips)-"bam"up. (Sorry for the illustrating words but without showing you its a little more difficult)

Use a weight where you can do a powerful good squat. Then add some weight and do a good powerful 1/2 squat. Then add...and so on until you are holding a weight on your back and racking and reracking. This will adjust your body to an increase in weight. I used this method and went from 185 squat to 405 within six months at the age of 17. Now I still do this to acclimate myself to heavier weight.