Using My Body Solid Smith Machine to Safely Lift to Failure with a Wide Range of Smith Machine Exercises to Get a Full Body Workout

My personality type is usually not an introvert, but when I am weight training, I prefer to be alone with my thoughts, and maybe some music disciple, Decyfer Down and Bullet for My Valentine on drums blasting my ears. I think that I am able to focus a higher level of attention to my training without a partner close to distract me from my elevation.For a serious bodybuilder, like me, training alone can be problematic when it comes to training safely complete muscle failure without a spotter to bail me out if you get caught in a heavy load.We took a pretty big internal struggle for me to part with the use of free weights almost exclusively while training with weights, but I felt like I was cheating on my muscles out maximimum overload performance of certain elevators without an observer. For example, while the bench press always have to stop after pressing my final full repetition, instead of digging deep and trying to push the most important representative of the end - or at least keeps pushing the bar as off my chest for as many partial reps as possible.Although my stabilizer muscles lost a certain amount of stimulation, I decided to start using a Smith machine for my surveys with bar pressing to allow me to perform each set to complete muscular failure without an assistant. Honestly, I did not like the feeling of using a Smith machine for the first practice because he felt much as if using a machine and did not have to actually control the weight that is not pushing upward.However, I continued to use a Smith machine, while training, and finally began to enjoy it.What I liked was the focus could be placed on the particular muscle group was training.Without the need to stabalize the sidebar, could hone in on getting all my strength from my chest pressing and maximizing the contraction of the muscles in my chest along the entire range of the crane. In fact, I enjoyed the ability to isolate the chest muscles, while the bench press with a Smith machine so I started using other exercises with the Smith machine, such as squats, lunges, leg presses, press lying shoulders and triceps presses.The ability to perform all these exercises to failure resulted in increases in muscle a little faster, but the amount of weight you can lift continued to rise, and at a rate much faster than when using free weights. While it is natural to be able to lift heavy weights with a Smith machine, because the normal force applied to the cable support and / or bars, I realized that months after switching to the use of a Smith machine still continues to gain strength in all the lift he was doing with a Smith machine.I attribute this gain in strength to the fact that I was totally overload the muscles during each workout training to failure, while also being able to isolate particular muscles was training, leading to an adaptive response faster than when was the participation of a wider range of muscle groups to complete the lifting movements. The fact is that muscle growth requires lifting heavier weights, perform more reps, or both, and use the Smith machine has allowed me to continually add weight plates to each lift - ultimately leading to muscle gains faster.Three years ago I would have struck to tell others to use a Smith machine, free weights.The truth is that I still say the compound free weight movements with bar are the ideal way to train, but if you do not have an assistant, weight training can prevent the formation with maximum intensity in as many repetitions , while with the highest possible weight.My experience has been that training to failure with a Smith machine is. Lesser of two evils, so I can use my machine for Smith solid body lifts typically require an observer to perform failureChoose a Smith machineIf you are looking for a single piece of equipment to start setting up your home gym, a Smith machine will be the first piece to be acquired, because of the wide range of exercises you can perform with little or no required accessories. In fact, you can literally train each muscle group with nothing but a Smith machine and an adjustable bench.That said, Smith machines can lead to a wide range of price tags, and it is important that you understand what you are looking for before investing hundreds of dollars on this, or any other documents of a home gym.I have used several different machines and I can say that Smith can not be a big difference in quality from model to model. Indeed, business models you will find in a corporate fitness center are very similar from the point of view of quality. However, when comparing the residential models of Smith machines, large quality differences quickly become apparent.Here are some of the aspects that you want to consider when buying a residential Smith machine ...The maximumYou might think that a piece of home gym equipment so big and strong as a Smith machine could handle as much weight as you could push, but the truth is that some low-end models only provide a few hundred pounds. Even if it may be sufficient for your current level of force, in the purchase of a Smith machine, you want to be thinking long term. If you believe that one day can squat 400 pounds, and is the maximum load capacity of a Smith machine, which is better to pay a little more and get a smith machine that can be used for life.Which brings me to my next point ...Manufacturer Lifetime WarrantyIf you ever owned any exercise equipment, you will be able to appreciate the shear amount of wear they have to endure in recent years. Smith machines are no different, and in fact may be even worse due to the amount of weight that are normally used for lifting. When buying a machine from the house of Smith is absolutely imperative that you buy a smith machine that comes with a lifetime warranty! If you ignore this advice, you will have yourself to blame when the machine breaks down after a year or two and are left without a means of training and feeling ripped off.The manufacturer's warranty for life was the most important factor in my decision to buy my machine solid-Smith, and has already been good only in the first two years of owning it. A few months ago I realized that one of the support bars to the bar slides up and down beginning to droop. This inclination was actually my own work, because I had set my machine Smith on the carpet, but nonetheless, Body Solid sent me a rod I knew without question. Without the assurance that the bar would have cost me about $ 200!Do not make the mistake of buying a Smith machine, free lifetime warranty. Just not worth the risk.Smoothness of operationMy first few years of use smith machine lifting is spent with business models that had a very smooth movement as the bar moved up and down. When I started looking at residential models to put in my basement, the difference in the smoothness of operation was really open your eyes. One of the first machines was cheaper smith looked Marcy Smith machine and I literally could hear the scraping brackets against the support bars and felt like the additional friction was the addition of another ten or fifteen pounds of resistance.Perhaps the bar needed some lubrication, but I had seen enough. From that time I was determined to make sure to pay attention to the smoothness of motion of the bar in any model of Smith machine, I would consider purchasing. Actually, my body solid smith machine is a bit less smooth than the business models being used in my local gym, but the difference is minimal and is softer than any other residential model I tried.StabilityAnother difference I noticed quickly when looking at Smith machines was the lack of stability when you press the bar up. Some of the models I've tried literally shaking while pressing the bar. When this happened, I did not need more convincing to know it was time to move to another model.As you can probably guess, my body solid smith machine has a very sturdy and solid basis. The frame is thick and robust, as it is made of welded steel square tube is quite thick. As I said before, I even sat on the carpet of the mine and barely moves when I'm using it - even when squatting 375 pounds.Best of Smith Machine for Home UseBody Solid Series 7 Smith Machine obviously have not tried all of Smith machines on the market, but I have tried over a dozen, and I can say that the solid body of the Series 7 Smith Machine was remarkably higher quality than any other house of the Smith machine that I tried - and comes with a guarantee of lifetime manufacterer.I've been very satisfied with my purchase of the solid body of Series 7 Smith Machine and I always recommend it to anyone who asks me what my favorite piece of home gym equipment is.Final note on Smith machineIf you are like me and like to train alone, a Smith machine is your best friend to optimize gains in strength and size by allowing you to train safely to failure with maximum intensity, without a guard. I can use my Smith machine for bench press, urgent military presses, close grip bench, lying presses, triceps, calf raises and squats.If you are concerned that the use of a Smith machine hinder your muscle gains, do not worry! I have not noticed any difference in muscle growth since the change of use of a Smith machine in the elevators that are used to perform exclusively with free weights. In fact, if you are lifting with free weights, without an observer, it is likely that selling yourself short. Using a Smith machine consistently (and safe) to train to failure given the opportunity to build muscle and strength faster than using free weights and training for failure.Do you have a comment or a story about the Smith machine use or not use them, you would like to share? I invite you to join the conversation by using the comment box below.To learn more about training to failure and the use of other techniques of weight training to build muscle confusion muscle faster, here's a link to my post on weight training with muscle confusion: