Originally posted by: dxkj
Hrm I heard the other way, you and Koing should duke it out to decide who is right
It's harder on your knees. Think about it. You have a joint that's bending past 90 degrees, so leverage is working against it.
It's harder on your knees. Think about it. You have a joint that's bending past 90 degrees, so leverage is working against it.
Originally posted by: dxkj
Hrm I heard the other way, you and Koing should duke it out to decide who is right
I go down on my squats until the thighs are parallel to the floor. Dunno how many degrees that is, but it's definitely the hardest excersise to do. Anyway, you wont hurt yourself if you follow the correct form.
shrug. if i had a choice between an elliptical trainer and an air rower, you'd bet i'd go elliptical.
PingSpike
Lifer
- Feb 25, 2004
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If you have room and can afford one, get a cage. Those are fricking sweet if you're working out alone. Plus...I don't know how the hell else you could effective be spotted while doing squats without one. I wish I had one of those, maybe next year I'll have enough cash...although I think the ceiling in my new basement might be to low anyway. For now its more 'wife squats'.
You can probably get away without a spotter if you take Nitemare's advice...plus you wife doesn't have to lift ALL that weight when she spots you...she just need to provide a little help is all so I wouldn't consider that an impossible task for her.
The only thing that hasn't been mentioned I think...a pullup bar.
You can probably get away without a spotter if you take Nitemare's advice...plus you wife doesn't have to lift ALL that weight when she spots you...she just need to provide a little help is all so I wouldn't consider that an impossible task for her.
The only thing that hasn't been mentioned I think...a pullup bar.
most (every) powerlifter i know would disagree.
90 degrees is great, but > 90 degrees is better,
assuming your form's good.
It's harder on your knee joints from a mechanical perspective. Look it up. Of course it's better for your muscle to go past 90 degrees, but it's worse on your knees.
I would suggest the cage over the smith. I've seen people train on the smith for benching and then when they switch over, their stabilizers suck and they have a hard time balancing the weight.
The cages Ive seen so far are all almost 7 feet tall.... I just realized I have maybe 76 inches to work with in the basement :-/
power rack > smith machine
With a smith machine you're limiting your lifts to a vertical plane, this is unnatural for just about every lift you would do in a smith machine.
With a smith machine you're limiting your lifts to a vertical plane, this is unnatural for just about every lift you would do in a smith machine.
Ive seen guys think they were badass on the smith machine cause they could bench press 405 for reps.Then I and others challenged them to go at it free and we smoked them.
What about dumbells instead of barbells. You don't need a spotter and are much better at working out the stabilizers and provide truer symmetric movement.
That way you won't need a bulky cage/smith machine for bench, incline, or shoulder presses. You could still use the barbells for squats, deadlifts, curls, etc.
That way you won't need a bulky cage/smith machine for bench, incline, or shoulder presses. You could still use the barbells for squats, deadlifts, curls, etc.
LOL i find it funny that you challenge strangers just because you don't like what they're doing.
So the smith machine bench press is different than free weight bench press with a spotter?
Or in this case a cage is = free weight bench press while smith is assisted somehow?
Smith looks like a cage, but the bar is part of the machine... the bar is on a verticle slide, so when you use it, you have a limited range of motion of only straight up and straight down. Reason why people can use more weights on a smith, is because they don't need to use any other muscles to stabalize the bar, but it's straight up and down motion.
Yeah the smith machine guides the bar on rails so you don't have to stabilize the bar from horizontal movement as well as twisting. Your muscles need to work alot to keep the weight steady, balanced, and moving vertically in a free press.
- Oct 28, 1999
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A smith machine doesn't let your body bend/flex in ways that it's *supposed* to bend. It forces really bad form and as was mentioned, is terrible for working stabilizing muscles.
I've got a nice little gym set up in my basement. I've got a bowflex ultimate - yes I know it isn't free weights. But, given the space it takes, the number of exercises it provides, and the ease of interchanging exercises I have zero complaints. Anyone that says you can't get a good workout from one hasn't every *really* worked out with it. Many of the exercises are similar to using dumbells. It forces you to build up stabilizing muscles unlike other machines.
Along with the bowflex I have a full rack of dumbells for isolation exercises. I've got a power tower to do ab/chinups/dips on and a treadmill.
It's a pretty nice setup for what my wife and I want to accomplish.
Its not just strangers...I dont know how much time you spend in a gym.But you kinda get to know other people.At the same time little lifting crews form.Mine challenged them....It was friendly.They were all BB and we were strength athletes.
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