Official Lift Club Thread

[BendtheBar]

Originally Posted by Shaolinkiwi

Only asked because of a lower back issue I have.

I can't squat heavy on the free racks. There is no way in hell I'm going back to those days. Were it was crazy painful just trying to stand up.

I completely understand. We all have our reasons. I used Smith for 2 years on bench in 96-97 because my gym sucked and never had any spotters there when I trained. I used Smith for most of my training, and though I trained on Smith, I still hit a 430 bench on a regular bench press.

[RickB]

Originally Posted by Shaolinkiwi

I can't squat heavy on the free racks. There is no way in hell I'm going back to those days. Were it was crazy painful just trying to stand up.

I'm actually opposite. I can not squat nearly as heavy on a smith and I don't even go over about 225 or so. It tweaks my back. But free weight squats feel good to me.

But back to the subject at hand, I agree with Steve that it doesn't matter....BUT that said, the weight of the Smith bars are rarely 45 lbs. In fact ours at my gym is 22 lbs. Some have counter weights and some don't. the weight of a smith bar can be all over the map. I guess it's not a huge deal, but I'm into details

[BendtheBar]

Originally Posted by RickB

I'm actually opposite. I can not squat nearly as heavy on a smith and I don't even go over about 225 or so. It tweaks my back. But free weight squats feel good to me.

But back to the subject at hand, I agree with Steve that it doesn't matter....BUT that said, the weight of the Smith bars are rarely 45 lbs. In fact ours at my gym is 22 lbs. Some have counter weights and some don't. the weight of a smith bar can be all over the map. I guess it's not a huge deal, but I'm into details

Good point Rick.

[Grim83]

i just broke into the 700's, but need to get vids

[nighttrain]

Originally Posted by RickB

I'm actually opposite. I can not squat nearly as heavy on a smith and I don't even go over about 225 or so. It tweaks my back. But free weight squats feel good to me.

But back to the subject at hand, I agree with Steve that it doesn't matter....BUT that said, the weight of the Smith bars are rarely 45 lbs. In fact ours at my gym is 22 lbs. Some have counter weights and some don't. the weight of a smith bar can be all over the map. I guess it's not a huge deal, but I'm into details

this is the same issue i have, i just dont know what the weight is on the smith at my gym... i just count the weight like it was a 45 pound bar, but i know it is not tottally correct and it has counter weights...

i realy dont care what the weight is as long as i get a good work out.. but for chest pounding reasons everyone likes the BIG numbers...

as far as ass to grass goes, i cant even squat ass to grass with no weight on my back, but i do try to get legs parralell when i squat.

[BendtheBar]

These is a sticker on many Smith machines. Bar weight is usually 15 or 25 pounds.

[nighttrain]

no damn stickers on the machines ive looked all over, screw it i will just count the weight on the machine not the machine its self.... so that takes my max squat down to 430.... which really isnt that much different than my free weight squat of 405...

[BendtheBar]

I would add at least 15 NT.

[jslep]

i discussed the smith machine aspect on another board one time and did a little research on it. basically if it is a counter weighted machine the bar will be anywhere from 15-25 lbs but this is not the total issue. even after you add weight the counter weight is still there. but how to think of it is like this..........

say you have 5lbs of counterweight to the 45 lb bar. obviously this will make 45 seem really light. now add two wheels to it and the counterweight does not remain as effective. now if you were to put 300 plus pounds of weight on the bar the counterweight becomes almost obsolete and the bar that is 45lbs starts to factor more towards its actual weight. at what point these #'s work at what % i do not know. some really smart guy probably has a formula but i am not that guy.

hope this makes sense and doesn't seem like babble.

[nighttrain]

hell you know what im just gona start counting plates and when i get to 12 plates then i will be happy....