Which is greatest for constructing your pecs: Smith machine bench press or barbell bench press?

Some argue that benching on a Smith machine is simpler to be taught, enables you to raise heavier weights, and has a decrease threat of damage, all of that are higher for long-term good points.

The standard counterargument is that the Smith machine bench press doesn’t prepare as many muscle tissue because the free-weight variation and, thus, isn’t pretty much as good for gaining upper-body muscle and power.

Who’s proper? 

That’s what scientists at California State College needed to analyze within the following research.

What Did the Researchers Do?

The researchers had 26 weightlifters do 2 separate exercises.

In a single exercise, the weightlifters carried out 2 reps of the flat bench press at 70% and 90% of their one-rep max. Within the different exercise, they adopted the identical rep and weight pointers however changed the flat bench press with the bench press on the Smith machine.

Throughout each exercises, the researchers positioned electrodes on the weightlifters’ pecs, anterior (“entrance”) and lateral (“aspect”) deltoids, and used electromyography (EMG) to measure muscle activation throughout every set of every train.







What Had been the Research Outcomes?

Muscle activation was the identical within the pecs and entrance delts, however the barbell bench press elevated aspect delt activation by 50% greater than the Smith machine bench press.

General, these outcomes again up what skilled lifters have been saying for years: 

The standard barbell bench press will increase muscle activation greater than the Smith machine bench press, particularly in smaller stabilizer muscle tissue that assist the chest and triceps when transferring heavy weights.

The rationale for that is simple.

If you carry out the bench press on the Smith machine, the bar strikes on a set path all through the complete vary of movement, from the beginning place when your arms are absolutely prolonged in entrance of you till the bar touches your torso.

Conversely, once you do a barbell bench press (or another free-weight train), you must work arduous to maintain the bar from deviating too far in a single path or one other, and that requires many different small muscle teams to pitch in. 

Bear in mind, too, that the researchers solely measured three muscle tissue on this research. There are various different muscle tissue that additionally not directly work to assist stabilize your physique when bench urgent, together with your lats, legs, and even your abs.

The barbell bench press can also have induced extra muscle activation in these muscle teams.

This research casts doubt on one other argument for benching on a Smith machine, which is that since you don’t must stabilize the bar, you possibly can extra successfully overload the first muscle tissue, just like the pecs.

That’s not what occurred on this research.

The Smith machine didn’t trigger any extra muscle activation within the pecs or anterior delts, as you possibly can see on this graph of muscle activation within the weightlifters:


smith machine bench press

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What Does This Imply for You?

At first blush, these outcomes appear to suggest that the barbell bench press is healthier for constructing muscle than the Smith machine bench press. 

However this isn’t essentially true. 

EMG measurements solely inform us total ranges of muscle activation. Whereas it’s cheap to imagine workouts that activate muscle tissue to a excessive diploma will trigger extra muscle development over time, this isn’t at all times the case.

That mentioned, for those who needed to guess on which train was higher for muscle development based mostly on these outcomes, the sensible cash could be on the barbell bench press.

And that’s why investing time in studying methods to barbell bench press appropriately typically pays dividends in the long term.

None of this implies benching on a Smith machine is solely with out benefit.

The Smith machine bench press could be good for doing extra quantity (units) to your pecs after you’re already fatigued from doing heavy free-weight presses. It’s additionally helpful for those who’re coaching round an damage or when you’ve got no different tools accessible. 

In spite of everything, it trains many of the similar muscle tissue to an identical diploma, and it’s efficient at serving to you acquire upper-body power. 

Simply don’t make the error of prioritizing the Smith machine bench press over free-weight options, together with the flat barbell and dumbbell bench press and incline barbell and dumbbell bench press.