Smith Machines are a common sight across most commercial gym settings. Their large design often excludes them from at-home use, meaning that the gym is the main place to benefit from these goliaths of gym machinery.
However, with home gym equipment becoming more and more popular throughout the years, the Smith Machine has made its way to many homes across the nation.
Unless you’ve been introduced to a Smith Machine before, they can seem intimidating or complicated. But that doesn’t need to be the case. Smith Machines can offer a stable, secure way to lift weights, bringing many advantages to your daily/weekly routine.
To help you along your fitness journey, we’ve compiled a list of some advantages and potential downsides of Smith Machines, so that you can fully reap the rewards of these revered pieces of gym machinery.
What is a Smith Machine?
Starting with the basics, a Smith Machine is a piece of weightlifting equipment that is composed of a few separate elements to create one entire machine. The main aspect of a Smith Machine is the barbell, which is guided along a track to ensure smooth, consistent movement along a Y axis.
Pictured: Strength Supply All in One Gym Smith Machine
The “Smith” in Smith Machine is a nod towards their history, which is rooted in the 1950s. Originally, the machine was invented by American Jack LaLanne as a safer way to perform barbell exercises. Shortly after this, it was improved upon by Rudy Smith, an executive of the famous Tanny’s Gym chain.
Rudy then marketed the machine and named it after himself, giving it the official name of the Smith Machine.
What Are the Benefits of a Smith Machine?
Let’s look over some of the advantages of using a Smith Machine in your home (or gym) workout.
Safer Barbell Exercises
Before the Smith Machine, barbell exercises demanded a lot of responsibility from the lifter. Not just their sheer lifting capabilities, but their stability and safety, too.
Offering a protective cage that surrounds the user, Smith Machines provide a much safer method of incorporating heavy lifting into a workout, with fewer risks of injury.
The tracks help keep the barbell steady as you lift it upwards. While this doesn’t necessarily improve your lifting technique, it does provide a little more stability as you work up the weight ratings.
Increased Workout Variety
Although a Smith Machine is a single piece of equipment, it enables various workouts to be undertaken with ease. From bench presses to shoulder presses and everything in between, all of it can be done without lugging heavy equipment to another area of the gym.
Adjustment and Fine-Tuning
A key part of any functional home gym equipment is how adjustable it is, of which, there are very few limits with a Smith Machine. Weights can be swapped out effortlessly to help you achieve the perfect workout at all intervals, from casual to intense. This makes them a worthwhile, long-lasting investment for gym beginners.
Space-Saving
One benefit of a Smith Machine that’s sometimes overlooked is its space efficiency.
Take our All in One Gym Smith Machine, for example. While the machine itself does have a large footprint, in return, not only do you gain a valuable addition to your home gym, but you also get a place to store your weights and barbell when they’re not in use.
Some Smith Machines can also integrate benches into the design, providing even more space savings.
The Cons of Smith Machines
For the sceptical few left asking: are Smith Machines bad? Allow us to cover some of the main criticisms of these tried-and-tested machines.
Footprint
While a Smith Machine is undoubtedly versatile, its large size makes it one of the most significant pieces of gym equipment you can buy. Yes, they provide spaces to store away specific equipment and keep clutter to a minimum, but there’s no arguing that these machines are exceptionally bulky.
If space is no concern, then this is a non-issue. However, for small home gyms, you may need more minimal equipment, such as dumbbell sets or a leg press hack squat machine.
Risk of Poor Technique
Technique is everything, regardless of your experience or equipment
While a Smith Machine does make weight lifting a safer overall exercise, they do pose a very slight risk of users becoming too accustomed to the guardrails along the barbell. If left unnoticed, this can compromise your lifting technique over time.
False Strength Perceptions
One of the main qualities that Smith Machines are consistently criticised for is their ability to falsely represent the user’s actual strength.
By removing the need for lifters to stabilise themselves on their own strength, Smith Machines can enable heavier weights to be lifted. However, if a user were to attempt a similar lift without a Smith Machine, they may find themselves shaking or wobbling.
How to Use a Smith Machine the Right Way
Smith Machines are just one of many different types of gym equipment that can be used in your wider routine. As such, it’s vital to incorporate them amongst your other workouts instead of being your sole machine.
Here are some of our top tips for getting the most out of your Smith Machine:
Start Small
At first, the stability provided by a Smith Machine may feel strange, especially if you’re already used to deadlifts. That’s why going slow and steady is important before tackling harsher territory. While this may seem counterintuitive - trust us. Technique is essential regardless of the workout you’re doing or the equipment you use, including the Smith Machine.
Experiment
As previously mentioned, the Smith Machine isn’t meant to be a one-and-done piece of gym equipment. Although it permits various workouts to be performed from one area, it’s essential to try a few routines, gradually mixing things up every now and then.
Mimic Natural Movements
While Smith Machines handle stabilisation, one of their most significant downsides is that they can provide users with too much of it.
Of course, this is great for promoting safety while working out and can save you from nasty accidents. But if you get too used to the rails, you may develop a sub-par lifting technique which can hurt you in the long run.
With this in mind, you should do your best to conduct your lifts similarly to how you would without a Smith Machine present. This helps you reach higher weight goals, without affecting your natural lifting.
Gym-Grade Gear for Home Use
While Smith Machines have their downsides, a lot of these can be negated with best practice and understanding. Provided you use them in the right way, Smith Machines can undoubtedly help you reach new personal bests and make serious gains.
If you’re looking for high-quality, affordable racks and Smith Machines for your home gym, Strength Supply is here to help. We stock a wide range of different types of Smith Machines, as well as other gym equipment to help you build the perfect workout routine from the comfort of your home.
For help finding the right fit for your home gym, feel free to send us an email at enquiries@strengthsupply.co.uk.