[quote]MeinHerzBrennt wrote:
Cephalic_Carnage wrote:
MeinHerzBrennt wrote:
Growing_Boy wrote:
Deads on a smith? Thats like a protein shake in a shaker with no whey. Off the floor or off a rack for some heavy ass pulls, but the bar is free at all times. The movement is completely unnatural, IMO, as I too have been forced to experiment with deads on a smith (FUCK YOU!! Planet Fitness)
Same here. I injured my lower back doing smith machine deads at a Planet Fitness. Wasn’t anything “serious” - pain started later that evening and was kind of dull, in my lower back. I had an MRI which revealed no damage of any kind. Ever since then my lower back is somewhat “suspect” and I am conscious of it.
IMO, the smith dead, even if done as a rack pull, is really unnatural. This is because you can’t keep the bar as close to you as possible. If you start with the bar at your knees, by the time you finish the lift the bar is a good inch or two away from you.
Sorry if i’m not explaining it right, but that’s my biggest problem with it. It’s like a smith squat; the bar shouldn’t be traveling in precisely a straight line up and down. There is a natural curve to it, albeit just a little.
You have to set up differently and use somewhat different form for smith rack-pulls/squats than you would for the free-weight version.
I’ve been doing smith rack pulls for many years now and have no issues.
Of course you can keep the bar close, It never stops touching my body when I lift. Think I need to make a vid or something…
Smith squats are trickier, but doable. Can’t really go atg there either.
It may have just been my form, as I hadn’t done any sort of deadlift before trying them in the smith.
Anyway, i’ve been doing them for a whie now in power racks, and I wouldn’t change that for anything =) One of my favorite exercises.[/quote]
Well, I prefer the smith because it prevents the bar from traveling forward or backward when I set it down. That way, I don’t have to readjust my position before every new rep. Kinda helps once you get to the heavier poundages for 6-12 reps (where the set starts feeling like a stream of max singles with 2-5 sec rests in between
The smith variations are also great if you train with an exercise rotation (as used in DC training, for example).
Anyway, those exercises are tools that are great if used the right way…
No need to do 'em, but they are definitely not bad. Most of the time it’s the people fucking up, not the machines.