The October 2007 edition of Muscle & Fitness has a 10 page article on Smith Machine training. It goes into detail on each exercise showing proper form for the Smith and explaining the advantage to gain in using the machine. The other articles in the edition has some good ideas for supplements and exercises.:tucool:

Was all over town yesterday looking for a copy....

Only have Sept. issues.

Guess i'll have to wait 'til they hit the stands.:(

Was all over town yesterday looking for a copy....

Only have Sept. issues.

Guess i'll have to wait 'til they hit the stands.:(

It should be there. Due to finding a $5 a year deal on eBay, I picked up a subscription for 5 years. But they actually get to my Wal-mart ahead of home delivery. M&F is getting away from hardcore pro bodybuilding to more of the fitness side of things. I find myself agreeing with the articles more.

The EBay type prices make it a damn good deal. I got Men's Health the same way.

You know the Smith allows someone to work in relative safety. The straight up and down movement allows flexibility in exercises by positioning of legs or body. For example: In a bent-over row, put feet under bar and you can pull to waist to build lower lats. But move feet back and pull bar to chest to hit upper lats and mid traps. Or if you do a behind-the-back shrug with barbell, your butt gets in the way. With Smith, move feet forward and butt is out of way. With a Smith squat, your feet don't have to be under you, put them in front for more glutes and hams into play. The Smith does have advantages if you use them.

Thanks for the e-bay tip..:)

I agree that the Smith has many useful applications.

But when you say "Smith" around here, people think that is the only machine used in a workout. I use my Smith in conjunction with free weights as well.

Because of the safety features it is a good rig for the home-gym person.

For example:- You can free-bench with the BB on a stand-alone bench-press as normal using stabilizers but not hitting a weight where you're going to collapse and injure yourself. Then when you want to "max" you use the Smith.

I agree you can change "angles of attack" on a Smithy. I do that all the time now with Squats. However, like you said, you have to know what you're doing on this machine...just picking any old stance to perform a move could lead to injury.

If a person likes "partials" in the mix, the Smith is very good for this also.

I know there's lots of "Smith-haters" around...but I don't care.

I use mine very effectively in conjunction with other equipment and I'm quite happy with it.:)

I picked up a copy at CVS today. Also, the ebay idea looks interesting. Looks like someone has 2 years for something like 6 bux. I paid $6.99 for one issue today.

I picked up a copy at CVS today. Also, the ebay idea looks interesting. Looks like someone has 2 years for something like 6 bux. I paid $6.99 for one issue today.

I picked mine up about 2 years ago. I am unsure what is now available or who I brought mine from. YMMV. But there are real deals out there. :gl:

I have a subscription and only received my September issue just a couple weeks ago.

I own a Parabody Smith System and love it. Cant wait to see the new issue with Smith routines.

I will look out for the M & F issue with interest as I have been thinking of getting a Smith machine for some time. I know the Smith gets a lot of bad press from many but I am not looking to win any body building or power lifting contests just get in the best shape I can and constantly improve.
Any suggestions for a reasonable Smith which will not take up too much space?
I already have the IronMaster dumbells, bench and various attachments which is great. So am really just looking for the Smith cage/rack I suppose.
Thanks

Managed to snag a copy today...

Good article...I've been using mine for quite awhile now and their info opened a few new doors for me.

:)

I don't know about other exercises but Mark Rippetoe says squatting on a smith is an oxy-moron.

Received my copy in the mail a few days ago. Nice article.

Thanks for the "heads up" on the article R.

Banderbe.....good for Mark Rippetoe.

He's entitled to his opinion along with everyone else.

I squat with mine all the time. Some time ago I did no squats at all due to a Patella problem that was caused by freebar squats.

It took awhile to heal up.

I now Squat freebar again and Dead as well.

I combo the freebar Squats with the Smith. I actually squat more on the Smith than I do freebar.

I can change footplacements and stance to hit the back more or the legs more.

And it works like a charm....

So while all the gurus out there are blowing hot air about how bad a Smith is, I will be happily using mine for years to come and improving my squat on a regular basis.

What works works.....the gurus can say what ever they want...makes no difference to me.:)