Angeled smith machine

[J.DadW]

When doing bench presses on the angeled smith, should the angel press away(toward your toes) or up toward your head?

[irongrandpa]

When doing bench presses on the angeled smith, should the angel press away(toward your toes) or up toward your head?

The bar should angle towards your head.

[yettiatcpg]

Hmm? I use the one at our gym going away from my head. I do my close in reps on it.

[LimitStrength]

Hmm? I use the one at our gym going away from my head. I do my close in reps on it.

Natural bench press pattern for most people is a J curve. Which means the bar travels toward the head as the weight is pushed up.

That being said the smith machine forces you into an unnatural pattern and can irritate your shoulders.

If the bar travels too far away from you as press up, more stress is put onto the shoulder and you are basically doing more of a shoulder raise.

If the bar travels too close to your head as you press up, you are again doing sort of a shoulder raise / incline press movement. Bad for the shoulders as well.

But for lighter accessory work / hypertrophy smith machine can be good for certain isolations.

[deadwoodgregg]

I prefer to press away from my head with my angled smith. It just feels better to me, also, I don't mind pressing on straight smith machines either. I only press on my smith to get the feel of using a bar which I don't get that feeling using my dumbbells and my other plateload pressing machines.

[matrix563]

^what? to get the feel of using a bar? what do you mean

i have a smith so i want to know

[deadwoodgregg]

^what? to get the feel of using a bar? what do you mean

i have a smith so i want to know

Because dumbbells and my other plateload machine presses are either independent arm or converging or both. The smith lets me press without convergence and I have grip width choices with the bar.

[Skidmarx]

Because dumbbells and my other plateload machine presses are either independent arm or converging or both. The smith lets me press without convergence and I have grip width choices with the bar.

Don't you work out with barbells?

[deadwoodgregg]

Don't you work out with barbells?

Due to a disability, I use a smith instead of a rack. No, I don't currently use barbells for any pressing. I do have a set of fixed barbells that I use for non-pressing exercises.