Quads exercise
Smith Machine SquatHow to do it, with form in numbers
- Also works
- Hamstrings, Adductors
- Equipment
- Smith
- Level
- Beginner
How to do it
How do you do the Smith Machine Squat?
- Set the bar at upper-chest height and rest it on your upper back.
- Place your feet shoulder-width apart, slightly in front of the bar.
- Stand up and twist the bar to free it from the hooks.
- Bend your hips and knees until your thighs are about parallel.
- Push through your whole foot to stand, then rehook the bar.
Cues
- Feet a little forward, chest tall.
- Knees track over your toes.
- Hips and shoulders rise together.
Common mistakes
- Feet too far forward, so your lower back rounds at the bottom.
- Letting your heels lift as you go down.
- Bouncing out of the bottom.
Form in detail
What does good form look like?
Starting position
The Smith bar runs on fixed vertical rails. Set the hooks so the bar sits at upper-chest height. Step under and rest the bar high on the upper traps, below the bony bump at the base of the neck. Hands grip the bar just wider than the shoulders, wrists straight. Feet about shoulder-width, toes turned out a little, whole foot flat. Set the feet a little in front of the bar line, so that standing tall the bar is over the back half of the foot. Stand up to lift the bar off the hooks and rotate it to free them.
The movement
Hips and knees bend together and the body sinks while the bar slides straight down the rails. Because the feet are slightly forward and the rails take the balance, the trunk stays more upright and the shins more vertical than in a free back squat. The knees point the same way as the toes the whole way. On the way up, drive through the whole foot; hips and shoulders rise at the same rate. The bar never leaves its vertical path; only the body angles change.
End position
The rep turns round when the thighs are at or just past parallel. At the top the hips and knees are straight but not snapped back. That gives 90° + 22° = 112° of knee flexion and 90° + 20° = 110° of hip flexion. Abelbeck's model squatted to an 80° knee joint angle, which is 100° of flexion [2], a little shallower than parallel.
Tempo
2 s down, 0.3 s pause at the bottom, 1 s up, 0.5 s stand.
Form in numbers
What are the angles and distances?
| Measure | Target | Good range | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stance, heel to heel | 1.0 × shoulder width | 0.9–1.2 × | [1][3] |
| Toe-out, each foot | 10° | 0–20° | [3] |
| Bar path | vertical, on the rails | 0 cm drift (machine) | |
| Depth: thigh angle from horizontal | 0° (parallel) | 10° above to 10° below | [1][3] |
The targets our 3D demo was built to, from the references below. Bodies differ, so treat the ranges as a guide for your own build.
For coaches
Use this demo in your clients’ programs
The Smith Machine Squat is in Trainaq’s exercise library. Add it to a workout, and your client sees this demo in the free Trainaq app above the sets they log.
Sources
Sources
- ExRx, Smith Squat
- Abelbeck 2002, J Strength Cond Res, "Biomechanical model and evaluation of a linear motion squat type exercise"
- Myer et al. 2014, Strength Cond J, "The back squat: a proposed assessment of functional deficits and technical factors that limit performance"
- Schwanbeck et al. 2009, J Strength Cond Res, "A comparison of free weight squat to Smith machine squat using electromyography"
