By the healthiergang writer , personal trainer.
Smith Machine: what is it?
In today's gyms we can find countless tools and machinery, useful for developing and working specific areas of the body and increasingly in detail. One of the most found and most useful machines that we find in all gyms is the Smith Machine or Multipower, today there are countless variants of this machine, useful to overcome the disadvantages of its first version.
The Smith Machine or even Multipower is a machine consisting of a guided barbell, the size of an Olympic barbell, connected at both ends to two vertical steel bars that perform the guiding function, on which the barbell slides up and down.
There are also gods pins on which the rocker can be hooked with a simple and light rotation of the wrists; a rotation in the opposite direction causes the barbell to be released for use, and in the event of a fall these pins can serve as a safety anchor.
The Smith Machine allows you to simulate, for the various muscle groups, the movement of many exercises that are performed free body.
Advantages
The advantage of this tool is that the vertical movement remains fixed on a rigid and guided trajectory. This limits unnecessary movements and imbalances to those who use it, which can significantly increase safety while using this machine, thus allowing you to pay maximum attention to muscular effort without worrying about possible imbalances of the body; furthermore, the various supports and supports make it possible not to use the help of a partner during the execution.
Additional safety is given by the two adjustable brackets placed at the bottom, on the sides of the machine that allows, in the event of an athlete's fall, to support the barbell thus avoiding being crushed under its weight and consequently suffering trauma; these brackets are also useful, as they can allow to limit the ROM in the various exercises, according to the athlete's need, as they can be positioned at the height that is most preferred.
The high level of safety, the great versatility and the numerous exercises and variations that can be performed have made this machine very popular, as it can be used by both novice novices and professional athletes, both by elderly people and also by people who have suffered trauma and have the need for gradual solicitations in total safety.
disadvantages
The disadvantage of using this machine is forced sliding only on the vertical plane which can compromise the correct execution technique, the correct muscle recruitment, the maximum expression of strength compared to exercises with free weights, the correct movement of the various joints of the body. Let's think, for example, of the free squat and the squat performed on the multipower or the flat bench presses compared to those on the Multipower.
The important thing, therefore, when using the Smith Machine is to assume a position such as adapt the body to the fixed trajectory of the machinery so as not to suffer joint or muscle trauma.
Nowadays more variants of this machine have been developed that allow to compensate for the defects of the previous versions; However, the problem remains that in many gyms the new version of the Smith Machine is not available.
Exercises
The exercises that can be performed at the Smith Machine are as follows.
For the pectoral muscle:
✔ bench presses;
✔ incline bench presses;
✔ declined bench presses;
✔ reverse grip bench press (technique that helps to emphasize more the work of the clavicular bundles of the pectoral).
For the back muscles:
✔ rematore presa prona;
✔ supinated rower.
For the deltoid / trapezius:
✔ slow forward;
✔ slow behind (exercise not recommended as the unnatural position can lead to joint and tendon pathology);
✔ slow forward reverse grip tight elbows
✔ pull to the chin;
✔ shrug frontale;
✔ shrug posteriore.
For the triceps:
✔ tight grip bench press.
For the leg muscles:
✔ squat;
✔ front squat;
✔ lunges;
✔ step up;
✔ standing calf;
✔ seated calf;
✔ deadlifts with straight legs
Beware of the Squat!
You must pay the utmost attention especially to the squat, as the position is different from the classic free body exercise; in this case, with the use of the Smith Machine, you can run risks for the joints especially the spine and knee, let's now start the exercise:
For a correct execution of the Multipower Squat, position yourself under the barbell with your back perpendicular to the ground, legs positioned slightly ahead of the position of the shoulders, rest the barbell on the high beams of the trapezius.
Once you have assumed the correct position, go down until you reach a 90 ° angle between thigh and leg.
If the feet have been positioned in the right place, the back will remain perpendicular to the ground throughout the execution of the exercise and the load will not be shifted to the knees; this avoids suffering trauma to the knee joints and ligaments.
Return to the starting position without unbalancing your back.
The most frequent mistakes made during this exercise are:
✔ place the feet in line with the barbell, an attitude that leads to overload in the knees, arching of the back with excessive overload of the lumbar joints;
✔ swing back and forth with the chest to aid execution;
✔ to make the knees converge inwards or outwards;
✔ make your toes converge inward or outward.
Do not forget to contact your personal trainer before using this machine, in order to know the correct positions and the correct methods of execution of the various exercises in order to avoid suffering trauma during work.
