[carter]

Back when I was in better shape a few years ago, I was a dedicated barbell squatter.

Sadly, though, the gym I use now doesn't have a cage. (I know, I know, how can I use a gym that doesn't have a cage? I wouldn't except it's cheap and convenient - it's right on the grounds where I work, and is otherwise a very nice gym.)

So, no cage. I have been doing dumbbell squats instead but I miss my bar squatting. So I've been eyeing the Smith machine, which we do have. I've never used a Smith machine, and something about the bar following that track makes me a bit nervous about squatting on one.

Does anyone here do Smith squats? Any advice or commentary you can offer? I did a little searching around YouTube and found a couple of sensible-looking instruction videos. The two I watched disagree about foot position, and they also don't seem to squat past parallel.

Here they are:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaPCUXXD8MM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sU36k3-p5UI

So, any insight about Smith squats is appreciated.

[sacha]

How much do you squat? Personally (as you can probably tell from my avatar and signature), I think the Smith machine is terrible due to the limited range of movement. If you don't squat more than 100lbs, I would even opt for dumbbells. I'm sure you already know this though as a dedicated barbell squatter!

Check this out for some details:
http://stronglifts.com/squat-no-powe...teinborn-lift/

Look at the The Steinborn Lift. I'm not sure a commercial gym would let you get away with doing this though.

[carter]

Thanks for the comments sacha!

When I was in better shape a barbell squatting a lot I was squatting over 100lbs. But I let myself get weak, and I'm not back to that yet, so I can certainly stick with the barbells for a good while longer.

I've never trusted a Smith machine and so I'm not at all surprised to hear that you don't like it. I tried it last night with a low weight - oh wow, I hated it! It just felt wrong. I couldn't get down even as far as parallel, my legs just didn't want to go, no matter what foot position I tried. I gave up and went back to my dumbbells.

As for the Steinborn lift -- That's a terrifying lift. I'm not even sure I could do that with an empty bar.

[Mel]

Actually, it's kind of a fun lift- it takes a lot of core stability as well as flexibility.

I'm with Sacha on the Smith machine, although I occasionally use one for "weird" squats: plie squats, feet together squats, one legged when I was first learning them.

I find I can do much heavier single dumbbell squats that with a dumbbell in each hand. It's a lot easier to hold a single db from the top with two hands (I can do up to about 110 pounds this way) than gripping one in each hand. I probably couldn't hold 55 pounders long enough to complete a 10 rep set without straps.

Mel