Benching on the Smith

Bigger Stronger Leaner Competitive Bodybuilding
1

So the other day I’m talking to a retired bodybuilder about how he developed his chest. He went on to tell me he had his best gains when he stopped doing regular benching and started doing his benching and inclines on the smith machine. He then went on to tell me he knows all about the stigma attached to benching on the smith or any machine being for pussies. Which is why he didn’t crossover from regular bench early on in his career. He explained how benching on the smith allowed him to focus more on the mind muscle connection and actually gave him a deep soreness in his chest that he never had from regular benching, that and he didn’t need a spotter.

So for the first time i tried doing some benching on the smith machine that wasn’t part of my regular routine, and i have to admit i got a deep muscle burn in my chest that i don’t feel when I’m benching equal weight on the regular bench. However i know there are a lot of arguments that have been made against benching with machines.

The question is speaking purely from a bodybuilding perspective should i switch over to smith machine benching or would that actually impede my chest development somehow? Also in case the question comes up my max bench according to a one rep max calculator should be 261 lbs on the regular flat bench.

2

Hey Matthaeus,

I don’t personally use the smith machine as I prefer to have all my stabilisers and neuro system firing but at the same time South Africa’s number one bodybuilder Shameen Adams (check him out) uses it for incline bench and for a couple of other exercises to. He has awesome development and also echoes similar sentiments to the bodybuilder you were speaking to. He does however do his flat chest press with dumbbells to get that full deep stretch on the movement that you can’t get as easily with the bar.

I think its a case of whatever your goals are and what you feel works for you best. Everyone is different and will feel and get different results.

Trial and error!

3

All those small DCers use the smith a lot. :wink:

4

From a “purely bodybuilding” perspective do you really need to ask? Try it, if it works for you, do it, it if doesn’t, don’t.

The bar path is a little weird for flat benching, but with any sort of incline it’s fine, IMO.

5

I don’t like it for “normal” flat benching, reverse wide grip is great! Feels ok on incline to me too.

6

I had my biggest gains after making incline smith my main chest exercise. Clearly built up my upper chest.

Some people won’t like it, others will love it. I love it.

7

I don’t think it should be looked at as being a question of necessarily having to switch entirely to one or or the other.

It’s fine to drop the flat barbell bench if need be, for example if it causes injury or tends to be an aggravator.

If that’s not the case though, then if it happens that the Smith machine does better for you in improving the chest, or the Hammer Strength or anything else, that doesn’t mean you have to drop the flat barbell bench entirely if you don’t want to. You could just do most of your work with the more productive exercise.

The flat barbell bench could well be the most frequently over-rated exercise in existence. Not that it isn’t effective, but the amount of slavish worship it receives and assumption of absolute superiority just isn’t warranted. For whatever reason, ego has commonly become very attached to this one exercise. Other exercises can be as or more effective for building the chest. See what works for you.

8

I love smith incline, and I’m pretty sure in another post that Prof X said Inc smith gave him the best gains in his upper chest.

9

Incline smith is the bomb. Try them both and see what works for you.

10

I’m on the fence. I tend to notice I get shoulder and/or elbow irritation when using the smith for pressing movements, however if I get my hands in the right position this isn’t so bad except for the last rep or two of a set to failure. I noticed today it happens particularly if I flare the elbows out, so I kept them closer today which seemed to help.

The problem doesn’t seem to persist other than to irritate me throughout that exercise, so I think I’m ok and I’m going to keep using incline smith for the next month or so to see what happens.

11

Those that are using/have used the Smith for inclines, was this a vertical or angled Smith?

12

I like to use the smith machine at the end of a chest workout, because usually by then I’m tired enough that my form would be compromised on other movements, but when you’re in the Smith machine you’re kinda ‘locked in’ and you can really press the fuck out of it without really having any fears or reservations. It feels good at least. It’s also fun to press ~80 pounds more than I can with free weights.

13

I think some of you are caught up on “Smith machine”. I haven’t done a regular barbell bench press in probably close to a decade. Meanwhile, I am pretty proud of my chest development and my strength level and am convinced I would not have seen anywhere near the same progress had I gotten stuck on the barbell.

It isn’t the “smith machine” that is the take home message. It is the fact that barbell bench presses are NOT the best way to build a huge strong chest for many lifters.

That is why I use more Hammer Strength machines now and would always choose that over a smith machine.

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[quote]Professor X wrote:
I think some of you are caught up on “Smith machine”. I haven’t done a regular barbell bench press in probably close to a decade. Meanwhile, I am pretty proud of my chest development and my strength level and am convinced I would not have seen anywhere near the same progress had I gotten stuck on the barbell.

It isn’t the “smith machine” that is the take home message. It is the fact that barbell bench presses are NOT the best way to build a huge strong chest for many lifters.

That is why I use more Hammer Strength machines now and would always choose that over a smith machine.[/quote]

Agreed. Many bodybuilders don’t perform a flat barbell bench press because it isn’t the best chest-building exercise out there, especially for someone like me, who has naturally big arms and lacks a barrel-like chest. When training for size, I’ve always relied on dumbbell bench press variations, flies, and machines (gasp), especially Hammer Strength and the new Nautilus machines.

Same goes for back. I always include chinups, but barbell rows, another “sacred”, must-do exercise, never worked well for me until I built some considerable, initial mass in my upper back to flex with dumbbell rows, cable rows, rear-delt flyes, face pulls, and machine pullovers (cough).

Actually, the same goes for all this shit! Squats are a great exercise and their have been Mr. Olympias (eg, Dorian Yates) and huge pros who didn’t get the most bang for their buck from them. I’ve always done them for size because I’ve gotten a lot of quad development from them, because I have short legs and a short torso and could squat with OK form the first time after reading an article on how to do them.

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[quote]Professor X wrote:
I think some of you are caught up on “Smith machine”. I haven’t done a regular barbell bench press in probably close to a decade. Meanwhile, I am pretty proud of my chest development and my strength level and am convinced I would not have seen anywhere near the same progress had I gotten stuck on the barbell.

It isn’t the “smith machine” that is the take home message. It is the fact that barbell bench presses are NOT the best way to build a huge strong chest for many lifters.

That is why I use more Hammer Strength machines now and would always choose that over a smith machine.[/quote]

While I do agree, the smith machine and hammer can be extremely helpful, I’m hardpressed to confirm the OP should drop the Flat Bench completely when he’s benching 261.

That would seem to indicate he hasn’t learned how to put intensity on the bar yet. While you can learn to be content doing both, there’s a better chance of contentment with machines for people who don’t work hard.

I’ve seen far too many 150lb’ers with there legs up in the air benching on the smith machine chasing a pump.

16

[quote]Professor X wrote:
I think some of you are caught up on “Smith machine”. I haven’t done a regular barbell bench press in probably close to a decade. Meanwhile, I am pretty proud of my chest development and my strength level and am convinced I would not have seen anywhere near the same progress had I gotten stuck on the barbell.

It isn’t the “smith machine” that is the take home message. It is the fact that barbell bench presses are NOT the best way to build a huge strong chest for many lifters.

That is why I use more Hammer Strength machines now and would always choose that over a smith machine.[/quote]

Dont you mean you would always chose Hammer Strength over Flat Barbell Bench?

17

I went through a phase where I would do benches to the neck in a smith. It just helped me make sure that I was in the groove I was trying to hit, and then there was always the safety factor. I don’t really do that much anymore, but can definitely see where a smith isn’t the bad thing some people view it as.

S

18

[quote]Airtruth wrote:

[quote]Professor X wrote:
I think some of you are caught up on “Smith machine”. I haven’t done a regular barbell bench press in probably close to a decade. Meanwhile, I am pretty proud of my chest development and my strength level and am convinced I would not have seen anywhere near the same progress had I gotten stuck on the barbell.

It isn’t the “smith machine” that is the take home message. It is the fact that barbell bench presses are NOT the best way to build a huge strong chest for many lifters.

That is why I use more Hammer Strength machines now and would always choose that over a smith machine.[/quote]

While I do agree, the smith machine and hammer can be extremely helpful, I’m hardpressed to confirm the OP should drop the Flat Bench completely when he’s benching 261.

That would seem to indicate he hasn’t learned how to put intensity on the bar yet. While you can learn to be content doing both, there’s a better chance of contentment with machines for people who don’t work hard.

I’ve seen far too many 150lb’ers with there legs up in the air benching on the smith machine chasing a pump.

[/quote]

I agree. I could bench 405 when I quit doing barbell presses. I then moved to dumbbells and saw better growth. I then moved to HS machines.

Someone who can only bench 260lbs isn’t exactly in the position I was where I NEEDED a spotter just to continue making progress.

19

[quote]Professor X wrote:

[quote]Airtruth wrote:

[quote]Professor X wrote:
I think some of you are caught up on “Smith machine”. I haven’t done a regular barbell bench press in probably close to a decade. Meanwhile, I am pretty proud of my chest development and my strength level and am convinced I would not have seen anywhere near the same progress had I gotten stuck on the barbell.

It isn’t the “smith machine” that is the take home message. It is the fact that barbell bench presses are NOT the best way to build a huge strong chest for many lifters.

That is why I use more Hammer Strength machines now and would always choose that over a smith machine.[/quote]

While I do agree, the smith machine and hammer can be extremely helpful, I’m hardpressed to confirm the OP should drop the Flat Bench completely when he’s benching 261.

That would seem to indicate he hasn’t learned how to put intensity on the bar yet. While you can learn to be content doing both, there’s a better chance of contentment with machines for people who don’t work hard.

I’ve seen far too many 150lb’ers with there legs up in the air benching on the smith machine chasing a pump.

[/quote]

I agree. I could bench 405 when I quit doing barbell presses. I then moved to dumbbells and saw better growth. I then moved to HS machines.

Someone who can only bench 260lbs isn’t exactly in the position I was where I NEEDED a spotter just to continue making progress.[/quote]

Is 260 lbs bad after 7 months of lifting? I think my gym might just be full of pussies cause I’m one of about a dozen guys who can go over 2 plates a side. Also i train to failure on my last set so i always look for a spotter.

But all that aside Prof x did your regular flat bench increase after years of training on machines? I’m curious because apparently my initial strength is an issue when switching to machines. I don’t want to NOT get any stronger because i switched to early, i just want to maximize potential growth in the chest.

Also my form is “decent” by the way no leg flailing. I was lucky enough to have the Dave Tate instructional video come out just weeks after i started lifting.

20

[quote]w00tage wrote:
I’m on the fence. I tend to notice I get shoulder and/or elbow irritation when using the smith for pressing movements, however if I get my hands in the right position this isn’t so bad except for the last rep or two of a set to failure. I noticed today it happens particularly if I flare the elbows out, so I kept them closer today which seemed to help.

The problem doesn’t seem to persist other than to irritate me throughout that exercise, so I think I’m ok and I’m going to keep using incline smith for the next month or so to see what happens.[/quote]

  1. adjust your setup and technique
  2. what kind of smith is it?