Read how to do the right bench press in the Smith machine and what muscles he can pump up. Do you want to pump up gorgeous powerful breasts and develop absolute strength with minimal risk of injury? Then the Smith Machine Press is the exercise for you. It allows you to perform the bench press more cleanly and technically correctly, focusing only on the muscles of the chest.
When engaging in bodybuilding, both basic and isolated exercises are important, it is necessary to work both with elementary equipment (barbell, dumbbells) and with simulators that help to perform a lot of planned pumping of certain areas of various muscle groups.
One such machine is the Smith machine, which can be used for the legs, back, and chest muscles. Unlike his "colleagues", he really gives an increase in muscle mass, and does not help to polish the shape of the muscles.
The press in the Smith machine is intended both for beginners who can focus on working out the desired muscles without fear of injury, and for experienced athletes who work with large weights and their constant increase. Also, the simulator will help advanced jocks to finish off the pectoral muscles with a pump (low weight with a large number of repetitions).
Features of the press in Smith
Since the bench press in Smith lying is an analogue of the bench press on a regular bench, the technique for performing it is similar to working with free weights. Nevertheless, the exercise has its own subtleties and nuances, the knowledge of which will make the work harmonious and as effective as possible.
Before proceeding directly to the bench press, you need to adjust the position of the bench under the simulator so that when performing the exercise, the bar is opposite the solar plexus, and when lowering the bar is in the lower part of the chest. It is also necessary to determine the exact height of the racks on which the bar will "cling". It is worth fixing the bar so that the athlete reaches the projectile with his arms fully extended. The difficulty level of the exercise makes it possible to cope with it even for beginners:
- Take the starting position, lying on the bench and remove the bar from the rack latches. The grip should be about slightly wider than shoulder width.
- The back and buttocks should be pressed tightly against the bench, the shoulder blades should be brought to each other, and additional deflections in the lower back should not be used to “make life easier”. The head also cannot be taken off the bench throughout the entire set.
- Place your legs wide or narrow, but keep them relaxed so that the accessory muscles do not "steal" the load from the chest muscles.
- Begin to smoothly and consciously lower the barbell, inhaling and fully controlling the tension of all muscles involved in the movement. When the bar is at the end of the negative phase at the lower section of the chest, hold this position for a couple of seconds to stretch the muscle fibers to the maximum.
- As you exhale, with a powerful movement and a slightly higher rate of speed, raise the projectile, while straining the pectoral muscles. At the top point of the amplitude, you need to linger for a few seconds. Raising should take half the time than lowering.
- Do the planned number of repetitions, securely fix the projectile on the racks, and only then get up off the bench.
When working in the gym, it is important to concentrate on the muscles being worked out, to feel them. With the Smith simulator, you can direct all your attention to the muscles and not worry about coordination and balance.
If you lower the bar quickly and uncontrollably, the exercise will lose all meaning. It is also a gross mistake to repulse (repulse) the projectile from the chest. In addition to the classic version of the press in Smith, you can experiment with different angles of the backrest (at an angle up or down), and also try to squeeze with a reverse grip. As a result, the breast will receive a new load, which will positively affect its growth.
Press in Smith: all the pros and cons
The Smith machine significantly reduces the likelihood of injury and allows you to train on your own without anyone's help. With the role of the insurer, special stop-latches on the neck do an excellent job. When switching from the traditional bench press to the machine, the fear disappears and the athlete is ready to take a large working weight.
Due to the presence of guides in the Smith simulator, along which the bar moves up and down, it is possible to maintain a stable amplitude throughout the entire approach, which cannot be said about the usual bench press.
In the classic version of the bench press, small stabilizing muscles are involved in the swing process, helping to keep the bar in weight. While in the Smith machine, these muscles "rest", allowing them to tighten the desired areas.
However, this also has its drawback. Since the power frame of the simulator completely takes over all the stabilizing work, an imaginary feeling of an increase in real capabilities and strength appears. It seems to the athlete that he will take huge working weights that he was not able to do relatively recently, but in fact the small stabilizing muscles cannot be pumped and therefore lose their strength. When you switch to the classic bench press, this fictional progress is little or no.
Press in Smith should be left "for dessert" after the main basic exercises (push-ups on the uneven bars, bench press and incline press). At the same time, it is not entirely advisable to put the exercise at the very end of the training schedule, because then there will be no strength left to work out the chest with full dedication. An exemplary option somewhere in the middle of the session is to do 3 × 4 sets of 8 × 12 reps. Depending on your goals, you can work with different weights, change the number of sets and the number of repetitions in them.
The effectiveness of training on the Smith machine is not in doubt. The movements during the press in the Smith machine are more accentuated and allow you to work out the muscle fibers at 100%.
Video about the bench press technique in a special simulator:
