Smith machine

Other stuff, maybe some benching or something like that.

And then I'll come home, I'll do the squats, and then the other thing for as far as cardio supplement instead of running is the rowing machine.

And I have a Concept 2 rower.

I got it in 2020.

And then I'll jump on that rower and do 2,000 meters.

And I try to aim for, uh, around eight minutes, which I've been consistently doing for the last, you know, month and a half here when I started again.

And I'm not sure if you've ever rowed before or if you have, uh, a rowing machine, but eight minutes of pure hell.

It sucks.

This is a version of the 531 program, by the way.

The available options are hack squat, Smith machine squat, and a leg press.

I use them all as accessory movement before and never as a main lift.

I don't know how to use any of them as a temporary replacement in my program.

I'm leaning towards the Smith machine as it resembles a barbell squat more, but I would really appreciate your takes.

So given that the exercise that the person is trying to replicate here is a back squat, I would say off the bat leg press I definitely wouldn't use as the substitute.

Leg press can be a good exercise for building up quad mass and strength.

And you got them under a squat bar and they were struggling with beginner weights on us despite maxing out the leg press.

So the exercises were barbell hip thrust, a Bulgarian split squat called Bulgarian split squat multi-power was the quote.

It's basically Smith machine rear foot elevated split squat, it looks like.

Yes.

A clamshell with elastic band above the knees.

Yeah.

I don't know that that's what this is unless they just love hip thrusts and Bulgarian split squats here.

Now, all of that said, I don't mind the hip thrust and the Smith Machine Bulgarian split squat in this study because both of them do take some of the balance and skill demands away from... what they otherwise could have experienced because if you think like well switch the hip thrust with a trap bar deadlift or as an rdl maybe you do probably have one increased layer of like well these are 17 year old kids do we need to teach them how to deadlift before they actually start pulling some weight or can we just put a bar across the front of their hips yeah or

even like a leg press or something yeah

It can feel very exciting, but like novelty and something being exciting doesn't necessarily mean it produces the right result that you're looking for and like yeah it might feel a little boring you know doing the same workouts pretty much you know monday tuesday wednesday or whatever days you're doing them you know for a couple of months in a row but like you said when you see the actual physical change and you see the actual like strength progression you get from that It like the quote unquote repetitiveness like actually is worth it because you're getting so much better of result out of it.

And so you you when you started coaching to you did have did you just have like just dumbbells and then you ended up getting like a full on like Smith machine or not Smith machine, but cable machine and rack and everything like along the way.

Yes.

Yeah.

So do some work that's more mid range and shortened, right? Like start one of your sessions with a fly that's loaded, shortened, and maybe you don't use that prime machine.

Maybe you stay in the Smith machine for that session.

And then you have the other session where you do more, more LinkedIn load.

on my, for instance, my like third chest day that I do this fly, I'm doing 10 to 15 reps.

They're comfortable for me doing barbell, dumbbells.

I enjoy kettlebell pressing, sometimes even on the Smith machine, but I'm going to go with a low incline.

So basically that depends on the bench, but it's like the first notch, just a little bit above flat.

I feel like that gives me a little better focus across all the chest muscles and the shoulders, anterior delts in particular, than a flat bench will.

I, I biked from my house in Manitou up to Mount Rushmore and, uh, biked another time to, to, uh, Phoenix.

And now I was, I, in November they, or December, they opened a new Planet Fitness, and I went down there and I was playing around on this Smith machine, and I could only bench 80 pounds, and I'm like, "Good God, that sucks." And so I'm like, I, I, I like, "This can't be." And so I, I'm like, "No, I can bench more than that." So I brought in my luggage weigh and I'm checking out the bars, and sure enough, the bar that's supposed to weigh 25 pounds empty actually weighed like 35.

So I'd actually benched 90, which still sucks.

So I'm like, "Okay, here it is January 12th.

[audience cheering]

Whoo.

No, but yeah, I got, I went over, I, I gave up on the Smith machine because that kind of i- inconsistency just pisses me off.

So I went to free weights, and the bar on that one's 20 cl- 20K, which is 44 pounds.