drtbear1967
Musclechemistry Board Certified Member
Some guys have an irrational hatred of the Smith machine. But Arnold used it, and Yates, and many more. Even some powerlifters use it for certain accessory lifts. Dave Tate uses a Smith machine, but you're more hardcore than him, right? The arguments against it usually come back to, "It removes the stabilizing muscles.” But what if that's the whole point? What if you need to train around an injury and the Smith machine allows you to get in a position you can't get in with a barbell? With a Smith, you could still train pain-free and stimulate muscle growth. But if your ego is so huge that you can't be seen in a Smith machine, then you're only hurting yourself. And that degree of insecurity is what makes you a little bitch.
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What if you have levers that make certain barbell movements inefficient at building certain musculature, and the Smith enables you to hypertrophy that area? Dorian Yates found that Smith machine squats were superior than barbell squats for his body type. He did okay as a bodybuilder. Zydrunas Savickas has done well as a strongman competitor and routinely uses the Smith to build his overhead press. Labeling the Smith machine "worthless" is like labeling all of Canada worthless because they gave us Nickelback and Justin Bieber. Ok, those are pretty good reasons, but you get the idea.
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Now, if you're ONLY using the Smith, then yes, your stabilizers won't get the same degree of work that they'd get with a bar. But most people don't just do Smith machine work, either. Most people who approach training with even an ounce of intelligence use a variety of movements – with and without machines. The Smith machine is neither good nor bad. It's how you apply it for your goals that ultimately makes it a good or bad choice in your training.
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What if you have levers that make certain barbell movements inefficient at building certain musculature, and the Smith enables you to hypertrophy that area? Dorian Yates found that Smith machine squats were superior than barbell squats for his body type. He did okay as a bodybuilder. Zydrunas Savickas has done well as a strongman competitor and routinely uses the Smith to build his overhead press. Labeling the Smith machine "worthless" is like labeling all of Canada worthless because they gave us Nickelback and Justin Bieber. Ok, those are pretty good reasons, but you get the idea.
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Now, if you're ONLY using the Smith, then yes, your stabilizers won't get the same degree of work that they'd get with a bar. But most people don't just do Smith machine work, either. Most people who approach training with even an ounce of intelligence use a variety of movements – with and without machines. The Smith machine is neither good nor bad. It's how you apply it for your goals that ultimately makes it a good or bad choice in your training.
