[quote]skor wrote:
As graphicsMan correctly mentions, a free bar has 5 degrees of freedom, while this “3-D” rack allows only 2 degrees of freedom. You get robbed of 3 :).[/quote]
Therefore, there is no god.
My gym just opened a new location on the other side of town, and they put one in their. Their an “ok” piece of equipment.
I will virtually NEVER get on a normal smith machine, maybe once a month on bench day to do some declines (my gym doesn’t have a decline bench press, just a decline bench, so its dumbbells or the smith machine for decline). Anyways, personally I think smith machines are horrible, they allow for no stabalization and an unatural range of motion.
The 3-D Smith Machine trys to solve this by allowing front to back movement of the bar. But isn’t one of the nice things about a smith machine the safety hooks, so that you can attempt heavy weight without a spotter? The 3D rack doesn’t have any, you can still drop the bar on your chest and be screwed, so why not just use a regular barbell?
On that note I did enjoy Barbell Lunges and Upright rows with the 3-D Rack, but not enough to replace my normal barbell routine.
The side way stability is one of the main challenges of lunges. Why take that out?
Imo, it’s just another expensive piece of crap. More complex than a regular Smith, so probably more expensive also.