I’ve seen a guy doing the SM throw press miscalculate the catch portion of the exercise and tear out his pec at insertion. Wouldn’t doing pushups with a clap suffice? I mean worst case scenario there is you fall on your face right?
Your muscles have no perception of whether you are using a free barbell or a smith machine. All they “know” is that they are encountering resistance. If your goal is to maximize your 1RM with a free barbell, you have to train with a free barbell. If you just want bigger, stronger muscles, and don’t plan to enter a powerlifting contest, it makes no difference whether you use a smith machine. Furthermore, a machine exercise fully activates the stabilizer muscles; it just requires less concious control of those muscles than a free weight exercise. Free weights offer no advantage over machines so far as pure hypertrophy is concerned.
The Smith “machine” is not the same kind of machine that most rail against. Likewise, Hammer Strength “machines” are not really machines like say Nautilus machines are. Smith and Hammer Strength/Cybex are hybrids. Like Prof X, I find that using them allows me to up my game in a whole new way because they don’t require a spotter.
Today, for example, I did inclines with five plates on each side. Not sure how much weight that works out to since a fulcrum is involved and there is no bar involved, but I still think its more than my max free weight incline could ever be. Bottom line, do what works for you. If you are making progress, keep it up. If not, switch it up.
Prof X,
I’m new here, but I’ll chime in with something you said.
You said:
"That doesn’t mean you can’t make progress, but when people like you read threads like this and assume that you too should be ignoring entire exercises, we know things are fucked up.
I stopped doing the bench press because I was using so much weight that I could no longer lift safely without a SERIOUS spotter covering me. Most people in most gyms can NOT spot someone well while they lift over 400lbs which means you either find a new partner or change what you are doing.
People who have absolutely no innate athletic ability are not cut out for this."
I agree with everything, I just think it’s a little unfair to say no innate athletic ability. The poster’s genetics probably aren’t conducive to building, but they might be conducive to another sport, perhaps one that is more endurance oriented.
Like I said, I’m new here, but I’m already figuring out that you’re one of the guys that needs to be listened to.
Cheers,
RTC.
[quote]jahall wrote:
My BB bench has been stuck at a pitiful 165 for several YEARS! now and i’ve just gotten frustrated with it and stopped doing it all together. None of my other lifts are spectacular either but i’ve managed to put on a reasonable amount of weight this winter and a lot of my other lifts are making weekly gains.
[/quote]
I don’t believe in generically bad genetics… Yeah, if you have MD, you have bad genetics. But that isn’t the case here. If you are not seeing growth, then it is better than 99% likely that you are just doing several things wrong and have never had anyone point out what they are.
Are you doing all of the following?
- Eating generally healthy, high protein, low fat, low carb food.
- Taking at least 2 doses of protein supplement on non-work out days, with an addition dose right after your workout on work-out days.
- Doing BB Bench Press as part of your workout once per week (no more, no less, until you first start seeing good results.)
- Getting enough good rest. Sleep as well as restful awake time when you aren’t working out.
- Increasing your weight goals each week.
If you want to try to fix your BB Bench issue, replace your Dumbell bench with barbell again. I said replace, not add. Until you really know what you are doing and know your body, you are more likely to cause problems by doing too much than too little.
Watch this video before each of your next several bench press workouts: ☆ How to Bench Press ☆ Get a Big Chest, Add Muscle All Without Wrecking Your Shoulders - YouTube
Is 165 your 1RM, or is that the most you can do sets of 4 or 6 or something? Assuming it is your 1RM, try the following sets for the next 8 weeks (It’s not rocket science… Just get as close to these numbers as is reasonable given the plates you have available, erring on the side of too little weight rather than too much.):
Deload: Before you start this, do 1 week of 1/2 sets at 60% weight of what you are used to. Include BB bench in the deload week by doing about 2 sets of 85x8.
Week 1: Warmup 85x8, then three sets of 129x10, then 1 set of 129 until failure.
Week 2: Warmup 90x8, then three sets of 135x10, then 1 set of 135 until failure.
Week 3: Warmup 95x8, then three sets of 142x10, then 1 set of 142 until failure.
Week 4: Warmup 100x8, then three sets of 149x10, then 1 set of 149 until failure.
Week 5: Warmup 105x8, then three sets of 156x10, then 1 set of 156 until failure.
Week 6: Warmup 110x8, then three sets of 164x10, then 1 set of 164 until failure.
Week 7: Warm up and then shoot for a 1RM PR of 200. You should be able to hit it easily. You can go for more, but hit the 200 first as a confidence booster.
If you shoot for 10 reps on any given set and don’t make it, don’t worry about it. If you go to failure and that’s not 10, you are still doing what you need to do to grow. But try really hard to hit 10 reps of the goal weight for at least one of the 3 sets per workout if possible.
Let me know if you try this, and if so, let me know how it goes.
Good luck.
[quote]davidcox1 wrote:
The Smith “machine” is not the same kind of machine that most rail against. Likewise, Hammer Strength “machines” are not really machines like say Nautilus machines are. Smith and Hammer Strength/Cybex are hybrids. Like Prof X, I find that using them allows me to up my game in a whole new way because they don’t require a spotter.
Today, for example, I did inclines with five plates on each side. Not sure how much weight that works out to since a fulcrum is involved and there is no bar involved, but I still think its more than my max free weight incline could ever be. Bottom line, do what works for you. If you are making progress, keep it up. If not, switch it up. [/quote]
The common attribute of smith, Hammer Strength, and Nautilus machines is that they offer guided movements. The differences are in terms of how they direct resistance. A smith machine does not redirect resistance at all, a plate-loaded HS machine changes the relationship between the path of the movement and the path of the plates, and a Nautilus machine transfers resistance against the vertical movement of the weight stack into rotational movement. Why is is considered acceptable to perform a guided exercise against vertical movement, but not against rotational movement?
I’m not saying one is acceptable and another not. I believe there are machines and there are machines. Some are more like free weights in the feel and function and some clearly are uebermachines. I use all types of equipment, but I prefer to use equipment that allows me to lift a maximum amount of weight without a spotter. Most pin-controlled weight stack machines don’t cut it for me–they won’t go heavy enough. But the smith “machine” and Hammer Strength/Cybex “machines” that can be loaded with regular plates allow me to load up hundreds of pounds. They just work better for me.