Hi All,

Does anyone know if they sell leg press attachments to attach to smith machines? If not, has anyone tried rigging something up custom? I was thinking about taking two pieces of 1 inch thick wood and routing out a slot in the middle of both boards and placing them around the smith bar (like a smith bar sandwich) and fastening them with screws and wing nuts. Then I will make some type of foot holder to slip my feet into. Obviously I will have to make sure it is safe.

Has anyone seen or done anything like this? I would prefer to purchase something, but not sure if it exists.

Thanks!

yes....I did virtually the same thing for mine.

I cut out a footplate and "glued and screwed" so it ended up 1 and 1/2 inches thick but unlike yours I fashioned a channel with wooden hinges on top to hold it to the bar. Footplate is ply wood.

Use it for vertical leg press. Works very well. No safety issues yet.

Have had 350lbs on it but could go higher if I want.

I tie the bar back so the weight is resting on safety catches for strating lift point. On a vertical leg press the range of motion is not all that much.

Almost impossible to rehook the Smith bar with your feet on a plate to the normal bar slots.

My safeties are rated for well over 350. There's no way they are going to collapse on me unless the whole machine falls apart which is very unlikely.

The vertical leg press hits the hams effectively. Which is why I do them.

I angle the end of the bench up a bit to make a bit of lower back support.

As long as you don't overload your machine you should be o.k.

Thanks dude. That's awesome. Is there anyway I could get you to post a picture for me or email me?

Thanks!

Yes..I'll try uploading a pic..but you'll have to hang on, I'm a card-carrying Luddite when it comes to this sort of technical thing.:)

Hi All,

Does anyone know if they sell leg press attachments to attach to smith machines?

No need. Smith machine Bulgarians are well regarded by some people here who know what they're doing.

And then there's nothing wrong with Bulgarians with free weights either. Any time you feel you are lacking a leg press? Bulgarians.

Here's a pic (if it uploaded)....

Hmmm.....no pic...I'll try again

Maybe this time...

Heavy Metal, thanks so much for posting. That thing looks awesome and is just what i am looking for.

What do you mean by tie the bar back? When you say rest on the safeties are you talking about the smith hooks?

Thanks again!

-Minnow

I meant you have to tie the mainbar catches out of the way.

When you have this rig on the bar it's not possible to unhook the catches to start lifting.

So you tie the hooks back (the hooks on the main bar) and let the bar rest on the safeties which are set to your starting point for the lift.

My safeties are pretty solid. As long as I don't go over the rated poundage for the bar, they are not going to collapse.

Hope yours is the same.:)

Ahh, now it makes sense. My smith machine doesn't have safeties other then the normal hook system. That is why i was confused. I need to come up with another solution. I was thinking car jack stands, but they dont go high enough. Any suggestions?

This I have the same setup as Maxxym. This is the picture he posted:

Aren't those safeties at the bottom?

All Smith's should have safeties...

Maybe you need to turn them around and repin them so they catch the bar from the other side.

I also see safeties up by the bar but they look like they're on the wrong side...!!??..What the :eek:??

I thought those were safeties too, but they dont fit any other way. I thought they were used as hooks if you chose to use free weights.

This is the picture they have on their site. I will call them today.

I called Impex today and unfortunately this model doesn't have safeties. :bang: Any ideas?

Do you have any fabricating skills? They could be made.

I'll upload a pic of the safeties on mine..to give you an idea.

Unfortunately its been a long time since metal shop class. I was thinking about ordering another set of the bar holders, cutting them down and spinning them to face the back. Not sure if they will fit though. If you could send pics that would be great.

Much appreciated, thanks!

It looks like the model up has the safeties and should fit. I am going to call today and see how much they cost. A little dissasembly will be worth it if they fit.

no luck with Impex. They wont sell me a part for a machine i dont have. If i need a part, they will send me a replacement but I need serial #'s etc. Back to the drawing board. I am really pissed because I thought that was my answer. It would be nice to have safeties in general rather then just for leg presses. :mad:

A little tricky to get the hang of, but for quite a while now, I have been using my machine like you guys for leg press, but just use the bar to push against. I position my feet in such a way, that I can roll the bar up and off the hooks. Then while I'm repping, the hooks are out of the way, as the preasure from the angle has them twisted back. When I'm ready to stop, I roll the hooks back into a slot, and that's it. Keep in mind, I also set safety hooks, so if something were to go south, I would be able to get out from under the weight.

I'm currently trying to find a good hip sled that doesn't cost a small fortune. Actually will be posting a link for others to have a look at in a minute,...I really don't like using the smith for this, but if does carefully, you can get away with it. I have been using up to 400 lbs on mine, without any issue of safety,..Still wouldn't recommend it as a long term solution however. Puts a great deal of stress on the lower back.

By the way,..For stabilty reasons, I lie on the floor, rather than a bench.

>>>--->

It's almost unreal that they'd make a Smith with no safety lockouts..

as this is one of the key features of a Smith.

I bet it wouldn't take too much to make a pair of safeties for that rig.

I don't get back issues with the Smith leg Press. This is because on my bench both ends are adjustable incline although both pad lengths are different. One Pad is about 14 inches long so I incline this a tad so it slides under my lower back.

I would hate to be doing the Leg Press from the hard floor!.

That must be murder on one's back..:eek:

I like to go with the foot plate so I can change foot angles/spacing at will.