[spudweiser]

hey guys what do you think is a better exercise

what are the pros and cons of doin squats freeweight or on a smith machine??

thanks

[therealgame]

for me i do smith machine for power lifting and free weights also..i try to bring the weight im useing on smith machine over to free weights..

right now i can go as high as 230ibs free weight and 300ibs smith machine

[LoudHoward]

I know that if I squat on a smith machine I end up hurting myself. I just don't see how it's possible to do a squat using a smith machine. I think you should stay away from the Smith Machine and just very slowly increase your weight on the free weights if you are having trouble there.

[yordi]

i do front squats on the smith machine and regular squats with free weights.

since i've started frontsquats i prefered on the smith machine. but that's just me.

[Q80_MuscleHed]

squat uses Stabilizers and Dynamic Stabilizers muscles more than smith machine to balance the bar .. so ur goona use whole muscle in leg area .. thats why the free wieght squat is better than the smith machine .. but sometimes i like to use smith

[seekinfo]

smith machine squats are for pussy... j/k... i started off with smith but then moved on to free weight, the cons of doing it with the machine are you basically locked into one postion and not all your leg muscles get stimulated but at the same time you can really load up the weight and genrate some nice force with it!!!!

[fahad]

when u do squats on a smith u would put your legs lil further which hits the glutes more...but frree wight r better...

[spudweiser]

tru tru thanks all
i started out doin squats freeweight but have now changed to smithmachine and dont mind it.
i think i will return to freeweight as my aim is to build mass
is that the right thing to do?

[fahad]

yep

[spudweiser]

your probs gettin sick of me haha sorry
front squats just target a different area? is that right?
but should also be incorporated into a program?

[Brades_86]

I think Smith Machine back squats should be illegalised. The Smith Machine does not allow for a natural range of movement which is what makes squats so good. It promotes poor form and can lead to injury, start light learn to squat with good form and them build your way up. You can use the smith machine for split squats but that about it.

[seekinfo]

exactely, but sometimes like in my case it was just to hard getting use to when i first started lifting so it might serve a purpose in just warming up to the real thing, but as far as still using it when your more advance i really dont see why!

[philosopher]

i personally always use free weight. but if you wanna go till true failure than the smith machine is an better option. also you can hit youre glutes more by putting youre legs a bit to the front

[StayBig]

Yes putting your legs futher ahead of your body will hit your hams/glutes more. However, you will have more quadricep muscle fiber stimulation on the smith machine then you would using a free barbell. When you use the smith for quads, cheating becomes impossible and