Workout equipment is intended to provide safety and assistance to beginners.
Smith Machine workout equipment assists with important full-body exercises such as squats and deadlifts. Before the beginner masters perfect form for any full-body exercise, doing them with assistance machines provides protection from injury, as mentioned throughout "The Men's Health Home Workout Bible." Angled Smith Machines come with supporting bars tilted at a 5- to 7-inch slant. This angle is supposed to support a more natural range of motion for the lifter.
Safety
Angled Smith Machines come with the safety advantages of all exercise assistance equipment. By setting the safety attachments on either supporting pole, you can ensure that the weight won't drop on you, should you accidentally let go. The barbell is permanently attached to the machine on a pulley system. If you must stop in the middle of a heavy squat or deadlift, you can step out from under or away from the barbell.
Range of Motion
Although manufacturers claim that this machine helps you move in a natural range of motion, no two lifters experience the same range. The angle of the Smith Machine may help you perform a squat, deadlift or other exercise more comfortably, take pain from your knees and hips and help protect your lower back. These advantages occur on a case-by-case basis and cannot be ensured unless you attempt to use the machine yourself.
Assistance
When you perform full-body exercises such as the squat and deadlift with free weights, you activate not only your major muscles but your stabilizer muscles as well. For example, a squat targets the leg muscles, but also incorporates the trapezius, shoulder and abdominal muscles. On the Angled Smith Machine, the stabilizer muscles take on much less of the load as the design of the machine assists the lifter instead. If you are a beginner lifter, it may be advantageous to train only your large muscles while using machine assistance. Once you become stronger and more confident with the movements and using heavy weights, you can move onto free-weight exercises.
Tags: Angled Smith, Smith Machine, squat deadlift, Angled Smith Machine, Angled Smith Machines