PT to the stars reveals the gym equipment you should NEVER use – and what to do instead

WHEN you walk onto the gym floor, the huge variety of equipment on offer can be overwhelming.

Commercial gyms are full to the brim with as much shiny new equipment as they can possibly squeeze into one room, all claiming to work those muscles you so desperately want to tone.

And while this can be good if you like variety, too much choice at the gym can be bad news if you don’t know which pieces are going to help you work to your potential, and which are going to hinder your fitness results.

I’m , celebrity personal trainer to Lucy Mecklenburgh, Ryan Thomas, Susanna Reid and Frankie Bridge, and co-founder of fitness app (RWL).

I’ve been training clients for over 30 years and while I encourage everyone to experiment with different equipment, there is one thing on the gym floor that I always avoid.

The Smith Machine.

For those who don’t know exactly which piece of equipment I’m talking about, the Smith Machine is that piece of equipment you see in the weights section of your gym that looks like a regular squat rack, but on closer inspection has the bar fixed in place.

The machine consists of a barbell attached to a sliding sled on a vertical track so that when you squat, it moves directly up and down on the rails it is attached to.

My issue with the Smith Machine is not to do with “cheating” your squats as some of you may think.

Instead, it that it teaches your body to move in all the wrong ways.

Put simply, the Smith Machine sucks, and here’s a breakdown of why.

It makes the exercise less effective

Squats are almost universally considered one of the best exercises for your legs, butt, and core, and are one of my absolute favourite movements to include in my own daily workouts and the training programmes of my clients.

But while the squat is amazing because of all the amazing muscles it makes it use, perform a squat using the Smith Machine and you can wave goodbye to at least half of those muscles being put to work.

Why? Because when you perform any dynamic exercise with your body you are getting a wide range of motion and using a huge range of muscle groups to support the movement, swap this for the Smith Machine and you never get that same range of movement.

Because the bar is so heavily supported by the machine, you lose out on all the benefits of finding balance and reaching your full movement range, meaning most of the muscles used to do a squat aren’t needed. 

Instead of getting that amazing full-body workout from a weighted squat, instead, you are limiting yourself to a much smaller amount of muscle activation - meaning less strength built.

Not only that but when we perform exercises without the help of a machine we use more muscles and therefore we burn more calories while doing it. 

When we have the support of a Smith Machine we lose out on all those extra calories because the machine prevents us from using them.

It can cause injury

When we exercise it’s important to be able to move and adjust where necessary to achieve a neutral back and fully engaged body.

The Smith Machine forces your body into a perfectly linear motion that is totally unnatural and, quite frankly, dangerous.

You are more likely to overload yourself and cause injury by trying to lift heavier than your muscles are ready for

Cecilia Harris

With the bar in a fixed plane, it is impossible to get a natural back arch leaving barely any wiggle room for adjusting joint angles - both of which put your knees and lower back at increased risk for injury.

While some other gym machines also don’t leave much room for natural movement, they DO offer support to the back to help compensate, the Smith Machine does not and therefore encourages arching of the back while under load from the weights.

The Smith Machine can also encourage you to lift or squat heavier than you would when using free weights because you get that extra bit of confidence from the bar support.

Unfortunately, this can lead to injury too as you are more likely to overload yourself and cause injury by trying to lift heavier than your muscles are ready for.

It encourages bad form

But what about beginners? Or those scared to lift heavy with a regular squat rack? Isn’t the Smith Machine good for them?

Actually, it’s even worse for beginners.

While beginners do often lack confidence, which might make them more likely to crave the ‘safety net’ the Smith Machine offers, they also lack muscle awareness and are therefore more likely to perform exercises with bad posture.

Usually, using free weights helps them to learn to move their whole body to in order to perform an exercise, allowing them to correct poor form.

Unfortunately the Smith Machine, its ridged vertical movement prevents the beginner from being able to adjust and achieve a neutral spine, because the bar path won’t change.

Basically, the Smith Machine doesn’t teach beginners how to squat it just teaches them how to squat using the Smith Machine.

What you should use instead

Keep your squats, lunges and presses au natural with bar and free weights.

The squat rack

If you want to lift heavier and need that support to load the weights onto your back then using a regular squat rack will give you that safety but also allow you to train with a full range of motion.

Free weights

Pick up a pair of dumbbells or a kettlebell and use these to weight your exercise.

If performing a squat you can choose to rack the dumbbells on either shoulder or hold them down by your sides.

Body weight

Never underestimate the power of your body weight, especially when working out from home.

If you are a beginner or want to workout but are just building your confidence with weights, perform a regular squat and if you want to increase the intensity you can either speed them up or add in a jump at the top of the movement.