Barbell squats require balance to control the movement trajectory, so they are called free squats. You must have enough energy and strength to ensure that you do not get injured. The advantage is that free equipment can use more muscle fibers to maintain the stability of the equipment during training, so its muscle-building effect is better than that of combined equipment
Smith-machine Squat During the movement, the movement trajectory of the vertical plane of the body is fixed by the Smith machine, which is relatively safe. Compared with the free weight squat, you can load more weight, and you can boldly and safely shift the body's center of gravity back without worrying about losing balance, so as to better stimulate the quadriceps muscles alone.
Target exercise areas: Quadriceps (also involves biceps) Muscles, gluteus maximus)
Mainly exercises the quadriceps muscles. By adjusting the forward position of the feet, the force between the quadriceps muscles, biceps femoris and gluteus maximus can be adjusted. Proportion.
Action essentials:
The action path is unique when squatting , generally used to perform squats similar to back-of-neck barbell squats. The technical factors and effects are relatively close, so I won’t go into details.
Note:
1. The wonderful thing about the Smith machine is its versatility. By changing the position of the feet forward, you can exercise the muscles of the thighs to varying degrees to build the quadriceps, biceps, and muscles. Gluteus maximus.
(1) When the feet are in the same vertical plane as the barbell, or the center of gravity of the body is further back, the quadriceps are mainly exercised, while the biceps femoris and gluteus maximus are exercised. Stimulation is reduced to a minimum;
(2) As the feet together move forward, the exercise stimulus gradually shifts to the biceps femoris and gluteus maximus.
2. Although free weight-bearing is deep Squats are often considered the best exercise for increasing leg muscle mass, but the effect will be better if combined with Smith machine squats and leg presses in regular training.