Smith Machine Bench Press

[DMK1221]

I lift at the weightroom that my school has, its nothing great but its good enough. I don't always have someone there to spot me when I do bench press and incline bench press. I was wondering how much of a difference there is between doing bench press and incline bench press on a smith machine and doing them normally. And if I did start doing them on the smith machine, whenever I went back to benching normally, how much of a decrease would there be, or would there be any at all?

[Big Boy Baker]

There is not a great difference between smith benches and ordianry bench. The main difference is that the smith eliminates the use of stabiliser muscles, which would not otherwise develop. Thus by doin smith's regularly over standard benches, could result in a lack of muscle density. Another key point to note, is that the smith causes the centre of gravity of the bar to move, so that the deltoids are involved more, in a standard smith bench press which also tends to work the chest less. Hope that helps, and good luck

[ItalianPowerman]

its wierd i dont like the smith at my school i can bench near 200 lbs at home but only 180 there i think my weights might be off but the smith is rusty and about 4o years old