is bench press as efective on a squat machine?!
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You are referring to a smith machine which some people mislabel as squat machines. The thing about a smith machine is that you can increase your strength and power as long as you stay on the smith machine. The minute you move back to a regular bench, your poundages will drop. That's ok, it just means muscle recruitment differs from one movement to the next. On a regular bench, propriception differs greatly since you're not only responsible for moving the bar up/down but also balancing the bar. This is excluded in the smith machine since you have the guiding rails. Typically guys who perform really well on the smith machine and stick to it, will not perform well on the bench because propriception differs grealty and they can't stablize the bar. However, guys who perform well on the bench can usually increase their load and lift even more on the smith machine because it easier to move the weight once you've learned the basics of stablization. It's the same situation for guys that only do bench with a bar and then try and perform the same weight with dumbells.they can't do it. Movement specificity is very important in weight training or any sport for that matter.
Don't be afraid to use the smith machine for bench. Just don't use it as a primary tool to increase your bench strength.
Other Answers:
How can you possibly do a bench press on a squat machine? The answer is probably "No", you would hurt yourself.
OOOOHHHH..
You are talking about a Smith machine. Smith is great if you work out without a spotter, you don't get the benefits of using stabilizer muscles, but it is pretty safe.
See here:
http://davedraper.com/online-2-smith-press.html
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