Smith Machine Squat
Trains the Quads.
- Equipment
- A machine
- Mechanic
- Compound
- Force
- Push
- Level
- Beginner
How to do it
- Set the bar in the Smith machine at upper-chest height and step under it so it rests across your upper back.
- Place your feet slightly in front of the bar rather than directly under it — the fixed bar path requires it.
- Unhook the bar and set your stomach braced and your back flat.
- Lower by bending the knees and hips together until your thighs reach at least parallel.
- Drive back up through the whole foot.
- Re-hook the bar at the top before letting go.
Common mistakes
- Standing with the feet under the bar as for a free squat. A free bar travels over the middle of the foot because you make it; here the bar's line is fixed, so the feet move forward to meet it instead.
- Assuming the fixed path removes the need for technique. It removes the balance. The knees, hips and back still travel through the same range under the same load, and a fixed path can push a joint into a line it would not have chosen.
- Going much heavier because it feels stable. The stability is real and so is the load, and the spine does not know that a machine is holding the bar's line.
- Using it as a straight substitute for the barbell back squat. It trains the same movement with the balance removed, which makes it useful when the balance is the limit — and not a replacement when it is not.