Love it or hate it, the Smith machine combines free-weight-style lifting with the stability of a machine, and you can do exercises for your entire body on it.
Fixed paths can lead to serious gains. Let’s look at 15 of the best exercises you can do on this contraption.
Table of Contents
What Is the Smith Machine?
A Smith machine is a gym machine with a barbell fixed inside vertical (or nearly vertical) rails. Unlike a normal barbell that you can move in any direction, the Smith bar travels only up or down.
It was invented by Jack LaLanne in the 1950s. Rudy Smith, a bathhouse manager close to LaLanne, saw the idea, had it improved, and installed and promoted it in legendary bodybuilder and entrepreneur Vic Tanny’s gyms, which is why it became known as the Smith machine.1
A neat feature is that you can usually lock the Smith bar at different heights by rotating your wrists. Plus, most Smith machines have safety stops you can adjust to where you want them.
It’s a safe way to perform many exercises without a spotter (but you still don’t want to be careless—if you get trapped under a heavy weight, you can’t tip it to the sides like you can with a regular barbell).
Good… and Bad?
The Smith machine gets a lot of mixed opinions.
Many lifters love it because it’s 100% stable and you can push to failure and focus on the muscle you’re trying to grow without worrying about balance.
On the other hand, some free-weight purists mock the Smith machine as the place where “real” lifters only go to do shrugs or hang their towels.
And no, it’s not a full replacement for free weights. The Smith machine is not amazing for stabilizer muscles or athletic transfer compared to free weights. The bar path is fixed, and we humans are annoyingly three-dimensional.
But for building muscle, beginner-friendly training, and for exercises where you want maximum stability? The Smith machine is the bees’ knees.
And, if you’re working around an injury, you can often tweak your stance and positioning to find pain-free angles more easily than with a free barbell.
I do love me a good free-weight workout, but some exercises objectively feel better in a Smith machine, like calf raises and hip thrusts. I’d even add incline bench presses (admittedly more subjective than objective, but Smith inclines are probably my favorite upper chest exercise, while regular barbell inclines feel awkward).
Here are 15 of the best Smith machine exercises for building muscle and strength.
1. Smith Machine Squat
The Smith machine squat is one of the most popular Smith machine exercises. You can focus on your quads, glutes, and adductors working without the balance required in a free-weight squat.
I especially like it for bodybuilding-style squats. You can slow the movement down, control your depth, and push your legs hard while the bar stays stable, even toward the end of a set when your entire body is fighting squat fatigue.
Placing your feet directly under the bar is the default way to do Smith machine squats, but it can feel awkward to some body types. If that’s you, try placing your feet a little in front of the bar instead to get the most from the exercise.
Why it makes the list: It’s stable, scalable, and great for building lower-body size and strength.
How to Do Smith Machine Squats
- Step in with your feet directly below the bar, about shoulder width between your feet, and place the bar on your upper back.
- Inhale and brace your core slightly, and unrack the bar.
- Squat as deep as possible with good technique.
- With control, stop and reverse the movement, extending your hips and legs again.
- Exhale on the way up, or exchange air in the top position.
- Repeat for reps.
2. Smith Machine Front Squat
If you want to hammer your quads, the Smith machine front squat is a top-notch choice. With a fixed bar, you eliminate much of the fight to keep the barbell balanced across the front of your shoulders.
That makes it a great option if traditional front squats feel uncomfortable or if you’re limited by wrist, shoulder, or upper-back mobility. You still need good posture, but the Smith machine removes some of the technical demands.
Why it makes the list: It’s a quad-focused squat variation without the balance and technique requirements of a free-bar front squat.
How to Do Smith Machine Front Squats
- Place the bar in the Smith machine at a height where you can stand under it and lift it from shoulder level.
- Stand under the bar with feet shoulder-width apart, positioning the bar in front of your shoulders and keeping your elbows raised so your upper arms are parallel to the floor.
- Hold the bar like in a regular front squat, or cross your arms over the bar.
- Lower yourself by bending your knees and keeping your torso upright, descending as far as your mobility allows.
- Push through your heels and extend your legs to return to the standing position, maintaining an upright torso throughout.
- Repeat for reps.
3. Smith Machine Bulgarian Split Squat
The Smith machine Bulgarian split squat is a single-leg squat variation where your rear foot is elevated on a bench. If it’s not the best lower-body exercise you can do on the Smith machine, it has to be very close.
Free-weight Bulgarian split squats are inherently unstable. That’s perfect if you want to train your balance and coordination, but not if you want to push to muscular failure. Smith machine Bulgarians make it easier to progressively overload and train your legs hard without having to reset your balance every rep.
A more upright torso and shorter stance make it more quad-focused. A longer stance while leaning a little forward focuses more on the glutes. Neither is right nor wrong; it depends on what you want from the exercise.
Why it makes the list: It’s outstanding for glutes, quads, and fixing left-to-right strength differences.
How to Do Smith Machine Bulgarian Split Squat
- Stand in the Smith machine with your back to a bench at about knee height. Stand about one long step in front of the bench.
- Place one foot on the bench behind you.
- Inhale, look forward, and squat down with control until right before the knee of the back leg touches the floor.
- Reverse the movement and extend your front leg again while exhaling.
- Inhale at the top and repeat for reps.
4. Smith Machine Lunge
The Smith machine lunge is a great single-leg exercise if you want something knee-friendly and controlled. Stepping backward can be easier on the knees than forward lunges, but you still get all the glute, quad, and adductor action.
The fixed bar helps you with stability and balance, and can make it easier to focus on your working leg. Aso, Smith lunges are very good for building athletic single-leg strength. Yes, free-weight lunges do train your stabilization muscles more, but machine training is just as effective for muscle strength and athletic performance, like vertical jumping.2
Why it makes the list: It’s a stable one-legged leg builder and easier to load than most free-weight lunge variations.
How to Do Smith Machine Lunges
- Place the bar in the Smith machine on your shoulders, and position yourself with both feet directly under the bar.
- Step back with one foot to get into a lunge position.
- Engage your core, and keep your back upright throughout the movement.
- Lower yourself by bending both knees until your back knee nearly touches the floor, keeping the weight on your front heel.
- Push through the front heel to return to the starting position.
- Repeat for reps, then switch legs.
5. Smith Machine Romanian Deadlift
The Smith machine Romanian deadlift is a great posterior chain exercise for the hamstrings, glutes, and lower back.
Because the Smith machine automatically keeps the bar close, it can be easier to maintain tension and control compared to a free bar. Just avoid rounding your back or bouncing out of the bottom.
If the safety stops of the Smith machine prevent you from getting a full stretch, you can stand on a weight plate or a low box. The deficit will give you those extra couple of inches of range of motion to really fire up your posterior chain.
Why it makes the list: It’s one of the best Smith machine movements for hamstring and glute growth.
How to Do Smith Machine Romanian Deadlifts
- Set the Smith machine bar to an appropriate height.
- Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and grip the bar with an overhand grip, hands slightly wider than shoulder-width.
- Engage your core and keep your back straight. Push your hips back as you lower the bar along the front of your legs.
- Lower until you feel a stretch in your hamstrings, keeping your knees slightly bent.
- Drive your hips forward to return to the starting position.
- Repeat for reps.
6. Smith Machine Hip Thrust
The Smith machine hip thrust is a glute-building favorite and one of the exercises where a machine trumps free weights. The setup is easier because the bar stays in place, you can rack it quickly, and you don’t have to spend energy wriggling in under a heavy free barbell.
Hip thrusts are great for loading the glutes heavily with a controlled movement. In a Smith machine, it’s also easy to pause at the top, slow the eccentric, or use higher reps for a serious burn without fighting to keep the bar straight.
If your Smith machine is angled, position yourself so that you’re pushing back against the angle rather than away from it.
Why it makes the list: It’s one of the most effective and convenient glute exercises you can do on a Smith machine.
How to Do Smith Machine Hip Thrusts
- Sit on the floor beneath the bar in the Smith machine, with a bench positioned behind you at the height of your shoulder blades.
- Position the bar over your hips. Use a bar pad if needed to protect your hip area.
- Place your shoulder blades against the bench, bend your knees, and plant your feet firmly on the floor, hip-width apart.
- Lift the bar off the safety locks, keep your core engaged, and begin the movement.
- Press through your heels and lift your hips upward by engaging your glutes until your body forms a straight line from shoulders to knees.
- Briefly pause at the top, then lower your hips back down to the starting position in a controlled manner.
- Repeat for reps.
7. Smith Machine Calf Raise
If your gym doesn’t have a dedicated standing calf raise machine, the Smith machine calf raise is the way to go to build your calves.
If there is one movement where machines trump free weights, it’s calf raises, because without that stability, you have to focus on balance instead of getting the calf stretch and contraction you’re looking for.
Stand with the balls of your feet on a secure step or weight plate, let your heels drop as far as possible, pause, then rise as high as you can without bouncing up. Pause again at the top and squeeze your calves. That’s a complete muscle-building calf raise. None of that short bouncy nonsense.
Calves often respond well to a mix of heavier and higher-rep sets, and the Smith machine makes both easy to set up.
Why it makes the list: It allows heavy, stable calf training with a full range of motion, as good as any dedicated calf machine.
How to Do Smith Machine Calf Raises
- Place a secure platform or a high weight plate under the bar of a Smith Machine.
- Stand with your toes and the balls of your feet on the foot support, place the bar comfortably on your upper back, and unrack it.
- Lower yourself down until you feel a good stretch in your calves by bending your ankles in a controlled movement. Avoid letting your heels drop too quickly or bounce at the bottom.
- Push yourself up by extending your ankles to lift your heels as high as possible.
- Repeat for reps.
8. Smith Machine Bench Press
The Smith machine bench press is great for bodybuilding-style chest training, especially when you want to train close to failure without a spotter. With a guided bar, you can focus more on pressing and keeping tension on your pecs.
It’s not exactly the same as a free-weight bench press because you can’t force your usual bar path. You want to set the bench so you can lower the bar to a comfortable position around your mid-to-lower chest, depending on the angle of the machine and your body. If you set it so you start with the bar like in a regular bench press, you end up pressing toward your face.
Use a controlled tempo, keep your shoulder blades pulled back, and avoid letting your elbows flare too aggressively. Those parts are no different.
Why it makes the list: You get stable, heavy chest pressing, just what you want for hypertrophy-focused training.
How to Do Smith Machine Bench Presses
- Lie on the bench, pull your shoulder blades together and down, and hold your chest up.
- Grip the bar slightly wider than shoulder-width apart.
- Take a breath and hold it, and unrack the bar.
- Lower the bar with control until it touches your chest.
- Push the bar up while exhaling.
- Take another breath in the top position, and repeat for reps.
9. Smith Machine Incline Bench Press
The incline bench press is, without a doubt, the best Smith machine exercise for building your upper chest. With the bench set at an incline, you can press in a stable path and really focus on driving through your upper pecs.
Set the incline somewhere around 30 to 45 degrees. Too steep, and it becomes more of a shoulder press. I prefer a lower incline, around 30 degrees, for more upper chest and less front delts.
Why it makes the list: It’s a reliable upper-chest builder that works well with controlled reps and progressive overload.
How to Smith Machine Incline Bench Presses
- Sit on an inclined bench, pull your shoulder blades together and down, and hold your chest up.
- Grip the bar slightly wider than shoulder-width apart.
- Take a breath and hold it, and unrack the bar.
- Lower the bar with control until it touches your upper chest.
- Push the bar up while exhaling.
- Take another breath in the top position, and repeat for reps.
10. Smith Machine Shoulder Press
If you want to build boulder shoulders without the stability tax of free weights, the Smith machine shoulder press is a great option. Like with the chest presses above, you don’t have to stabilize the bar as much, which means you can focus on pressing power.
Set the bench fairly close to upright—somewhere between 75–85 degrees. Lower the bar to around chin or upper-chest level, depending on your mobility and comfort. Lowering it further does nothing extra for your delts.
Remember that the bar moves in a straight line, but your shoulder joints might not always want to. If it hurts or feels off, tweak your bench position by an inch or two until it feels locked in.
Why it makes the list: You can hammer your front and side delts into submission in a stable and predictable way.
How to Do Seated Smith Machine Shoulder Presses
- Sit on a bench, unrack a barbell, and lower it to the starting position at the top of your chest.
- Press the bar up to straight arms, while exhaling.
- Inhale at the top, or while lowering the bar with control back to your chest.
- Repeat for reps.
11. Smith Machine Bent-Over Row
The Smith machine bent-over row is an underrated back exercise for your lats, traps, rhomboids, rear delts, and biceps.
Compared with the standard barbell, the Smith version is more stable and keeps each rep consistent. However, it also means that your body has to adjust to the machine’s fixed bar path, which can feel less good than in pressing exercises.
For example, if you want to pull the bar in a slight arc backward and downward, it doesn’t really work with a bar that goes straight up and down.
Why it makes the list: It’s a good back builder that allows heavy, controlled pulling and easy loading.
How to Do Smith Machine Bent-Over Rows
- Set the bar in the Smith machine at a height that allows you to grip it while leaning forward with bent knees.
- Grab the bar with an overhand grip (palms facing down) and position your feet shoulder-width apart.
- Lean forward at a 45-degree angle, keeping your back straight and core engaged throughout the movement.
- Pull the bar up towards the lower chest or upper stomach by engaging your back muscles and keeping your elbows close to your body.
- Pause briefly at the top, then lower the bar back down.
- Repeat for reps.
12. Inverted Row
The inverted row is easily a top bodyweight back builder. It might even edge out the classic pull-up for the very top position for beginners because it doesn’t require nearly the same strength.
The higher the bar, the easier the movement. The lower the bar, the harder it gets. You can also bend your knees to make it easier or put your feet up on a bench if the regular variant isn’t hard enough.
And that’s the biggest benefit of doing inverted rows in a Smith machine instead of with a free barbell in a rack: you can adjust the height in literally two seconds. Want to do a drop set where you start low (hard) and move the bar higher (easier) as you tire? Simple with a Smith machine.
Why it makes the list: It’s simple, beginner-friendly, and great for building pulling strength.
How to Do Inverted Rows
- Set the bar at waist height or lower, and lie underneath it high enough to hang below it in straight arms, with your heels on the floor.
- Grip the bar with an overhand grip, slightly wider than shoulder-width apart.
- Inhale, and pull yourself up as high as you can, or until your chest touches the bar.
- Exhale, while lowering yourself back to the starting position with control.
- Repeat for reps.
13. Smith Machine Shrug
The most direct way to work your upper traps is by doing shrugs, and the fixed path of the Smith machine makes it easy to set and forget: load it up and focus on shrugging your shoulders straight up and down.
You can do them from the front or behind the body, depending on what feels better. I love behind-the-back shrugs (with the Smith, I can lean forward a little so the bar clears my backside and get peak trap contraction), but most people will probably be more comfortable starting with the bar in front.
Why it makes the list: It’s simple, heavy, and super effective for building your traps.
How to Do Smith Machine Shrugs
- Set the bar in the Smith machine at a height where you can grip it with your arms fully extended at your sides.
- Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and hold the bar with an overhand grip, hands shoulder-width apart.
- Keep your back straight and core engaged.
- Raise your shoulders as high as possible by shrugging them towards your ears.
- Pause briefly at the top and then lower your shoulders back down in a controlled manner.
- Repeat for reps.
14. Smith Machine Close-Grip Bench Press
The close-grip bench press shifts more work to your triceps while still hitting your chest and shoulders. On the Smith machine, it’s a very stable way to load your triceps with heavy weights.
Use a grip just inside shoulder-width. Going too narrow can bother your wrists and elbows. Keep your elbows tucked fairly close to your body to force your triceps to work.
Why it makes the list: It’s a great compound exercise for bigger arms because it lets you use more weight than isolation exercises, and with the Smith machine, it’s more triceps-focused and less balance-focused.
How to Do Smith Machine Close-Grip Bench Presses
- Adjust the Smith machine and place a bench underneath the bar.
- Lie down on the bench and position your hands on the bar with a narrow grip, about shoulder-width apart.
- Unrack the bar from the safety lock and hold it above your chest with arms extended.
- Lower the bar in a controlled manner to the lower chest by bending your elbows.
- Press the bar back up to the starting position by extending your elbows and engaging your triceps.
- Repeat for the desired number of repetitions.
15. Smith Machine Skull Crusher
The Smith machine skull crusher is a variant of the lying barbell triceps extension, with both benefits and drawbacks.
The benefit, as usual with the Smith machine, is that you get stability to focus more on the working muscle (triceps).
However, unlike with regular lying barbell triceps extensions, you can’t really let the Smith bar travel down behind your head and really hit the long head, unless you position your body so that the fixed bar is always “above” your head.
If your gym has an angled Smith machine, it’s the best option, because you can set it up so that when you bend your elbows, the bar path moves from above your upper chest/face toward your forehead.
Why it makes the list: You can isolate your triceps without spending energy stabilizing the bar.
How to Do Smith Machine Skull Crushers
- Place a flat bench under the Smith machine bar.
- Lie on the bench with your feet firmly on the floor, the bar above your forehead, and grip the bar with a narrow overhand grip.
- Unrack the bar from the safety lock and hold it directly above your chest with arms extended.
- Lower the bar in a controlled manner towards your forehead by bending your elbows.
- Press the bar back up to the starting position by extending your elbows.
- Repeat for reps.
How to Use These Smith Machine Exercises in Your Training
You don’t need to do all 15 exercises in one workout. Instead, pick the ones that match your goals.
Let’s say you’re doing a Smith machine-only workout.
- For legs and glutes, you can start with Smith machine squats, Romanian deadlifts, or reverse lunges, for example.
- For chest and shoulders, use the bench press, incline press, shoulder press, or close-grip bench press.
- For back and upper body pulling, add bent-over rows, inverted rows, or shrugs.
- For calves, the Smith machine calf raise is the obvious choice.
And, perhaps the best option: mix free weights with Smith machine exercises.
Even if you mostly do free weights, add a Smith machine exercises when you want stability and to push closer to failure, with less concern about balancing the load, while still maintaining the feel of barbell training.
Sample Full Body Smith Machine Workout
This is a simple but effective workout for your entire body that you can complete in 25 to 40 minutes (25 if you rest 1 minute between sets, 40 if you rest 2 minutes).
It’s free in our workout log app, StrengthLog. This is what it looks like:
| Exercise | Sets | Reps |
|---|---|---|
| Smith Machine Squat | 3 | 6 |
| Smith Machine Incline Bench Press | 3 | 8 |
| Smith Machine Bent-Over Row | 3 | 8 |
| Smith Machine Lunge | 2 | 10 |
| Smith Machine Romanian Deadlift | 3 | 10 |
Feel free to switch exercises as you want. For example, you can do Bulgarian split squats instead of regular squats, shoulder presses instead of chest presses, inverted rows instead of bent-over rows, and so on.
Start the Smith machine workout in StrengthLog.
Track This Smith Machine Workout in StrengthLog
This is one of the many free workouts in our workout log app, StrengthLog.
StrengthLog remembers what weights you used in your last session and automatically loads them into your next one.
That makes it super easy to keep track of your weights and reps and make sure you’re on the fast road to progress.
Download it and start tracking your gains today!
StrengthLog is free to use, and so is this workout.
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Final Rep
The Smith machine gets a lot of hate in the fitness world. Some of it is fair, but much of it isn’t.
From heavy squats to upper-body work, the Smith machine gives you a combination of stability, control, and variety.
So next time someone is curling in the squat rack, don’t be afraid to give the Smith machine a go. Who knows, you might like it.
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Last reviewed: 2026-05-11
References
- Journal of Fitness Research, Vol.5(3), pp.3-14, 2016. Jones Machine/Maxrack vs. Smith Machine: History, Definitions and Efficacy Overview.
- BMC Sports Sci Med Rehabil. 2023 Aug 15;15:103. Effect of free-weight vs. machine-based strength training on maximal strength, hypertrophy and jump performance – a systematic review and meta-analysis.
