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[QUOTE=primalrob;947012]going for support is great, and there's still a lot you can do in a gym like that. you can do plenty of slow moving on the bikes, ellipticals, rowers, treadmills, etc., and you can get in some kick ass sprint workouts on those machines...especially the bikes. and, you can do a bunch of strength exercises too:
ground to overheads with dumbbells\
snatches
farmers walks
weighted bulgarian split squats (very difficult)
goblet squats
weighted everything, such as push ups
that axe chopping move
plus all the big movements using bodyweight, but using the gym equipment to make it more intense (if you're at that level), and plenty of plyo work.[/QUOTE]
Awesome, you all have convinced me to step away from the smith. :) thanks for being here and looking out for me and my back. Have a military service injury (fused lower spine with screws) wanna keep moving forward without injury backups. Thanks again.
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Smith machines are the devil. Find another gym.
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[QUOTE=Owly;947032]Um, why would you avoid explosive movement? That makes no sense to me. Plyo work and such can be very useful.[/QUOTE]
Depends on what you are calling explosive. Some people think its using your ligaments like rubber bands to assist your end range of motion and basically makes the lift easier. (think kipping pull ups or bouncing the weight of your chest in the bench press ect...) Sure your weight used may be a bit higher, but your tendons and ligaments suffer. Explosive is great in terms of coming out of your stance for football, or doing a proper full stop to full contraction with weights. Plyometrics is a bit high impact. It can be made safer, but I wouldn't bother with it unless I was still a competitive athlete.
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[QUOTE=Neckhammer;947172]Depends on what you are calling explosive. Some people think its using your ligaments like rubber bands to assist your end range of motion and basically makes the lift easier. (think kipping pull ups or bouncing the weight of your chest in the bench press ect...) Sure your weight used may be a bit higher, but your tendons and ligaments suffer. Explosive is great in terms of coming out of your stance for football, or doing a proper full stop to full contraction with weights. Plyometrics is a bit high impact. It can be made safer, but I wouldn't bother with it unless I was still a competitive athlete.[/QUOTE]
Yup, you may not suffer the effects for years put plyo work and olympic style lifts take their toll over the years. I talk with several older gentlemen at the gym and they all suffer from tendinitis and sore joints in general from years of that kind of stuff. The book Body By Science covers this quit well.
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[QUOTE=Owly;947032] Plyo work and such can be very useful.[/QUOTE]
Plyo work is the bomb!
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[QUOTE=ecole66;947176]Yup, you may not suffer the effects for years put plyo work and olympic style lifts take their toll over the years. I talk with several older gentlemen at the gym and they all suffer from tendinitis and sore joints in general from years of that kind of stuff. The book Body By Science covers this quit well.[/QUOTE]
It depends on how you use them. If you specialize in them or don't take the time to strengthen your connective tissue (or any type of prehab), of course you'll end up with overuse injuries. If you train smart and use plyos and Oly lifts as part of a well-rounded program, you're less likely to end up injured.
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[QUOTE=ecole66;947176]Yup, you may not suffer the effects for years put plyo work and olympic style lifts take their toll over the years. I talk with several older gentlemen at the gym and they all suffer from tendinitis and sore joints in general from years of that kind of stuff. The book Body By Science covers this quit well.[/QUOTE]
So does a lot of fun stuff, really. And the aches and pains of inactivity are worse. I think plyo work and oly lifts are fun, and I like developing more than just strength (and I'm really not training for size). I did a lot of plyo stuff when I was doing martial arts, and I still think it can be a good part of a program for me now.
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Speaking of plyos, Coach Wade is supposed to be coming out with Convict Conditioning 3 next summer, where he'll focus pretty heavily on them.
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[QUOTE=Owly;947311]So does a lot of fun stuff, really. And the aches and pains of inactivity are worse. I think plyo work and oly lifts are fun, and I like developing more than just strength (and I'm really not training for size). I did a lot of plyo stuff when I was doing martial arts, and I still think it can be a good part of a program for me now.[/QUOTE]
If you enjoy them then do them, I'm not trying to change your mind. I have seen the damage they do and choose to avoid them. I also train in HIT fashion and a lot of people disagree with that and that's okay. I am a 46 year old man with a business to run and a family to play with so time and mobility are very important to me. I do not train because it is fun, training is a means for me to enjoy activities with my kids and be an example to them. I spend less than an hour a week in the gym working extremely hard and then get the hell out. That's me though and I understand that others may feel otherwise.
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I'd prefer bodyweight to the Smith machine, but you can certainly use the Smith machine to do some of your lifts.
I don't think it's compatible with Stronglifts 5x5. I'm doing that program now, and one of its chief benefits is all of the lifts work your core due to having to stabilize the weight yourself. The Smith machine takes that away in large part, and I don't think you'll see the same gains nor get the same benefit out of it. If you are lifting with a Smith machine, IMHO, you will need to supplement with some core exercises to get anywhere close to the same benefit. If you're going to do that, I'd just pick a few lifts for the Smith machine and concentrate most of your work around things like pullups, pushups, planks and other ab work, and any other exercise that will effectively work to strengthen your core.
