Smith machine workout: a six-exercise session, and what the studies measured on the squat and bench press

A Smith machine is a barbell on a fixed track. One study describes it as "vertical motion of bar on fixed path."¹ As a description of the machine, not a study result: hooks on the bar let you rack it at almost any height by turning it, and you don't balance it. The glossary has the one-line definition.

This page is a session you can run on one: six exercises, labelled practical, then what the studies cited here measured on the two lifts they tested, the squat and the bench press. The squat has its own guide, the Smith machine squat; this page is the workout around it.

A six-exercise session

Practical, not a protocol from a trial. Every Smith machine differs a little, so check its placard for the bar's weight, and ask staff how the hooks work. Write the weights down on their own line: a Smith machine number doesn't carry over to a free-weight one.

Stop each set one or two reps short of where you'd fail. (How to judge reps left.) The American College of Sports Medicine's 2026 position stand, which covers healthy adults, advises at least two sets per exercise.² Twice a week with a day between is a practical start. When every set hits the top of its rep range, add the smallest plate. Progressive overload covers the logic. Only the squat and the bench press have studies of the Smith version cited here; the other four are the same lifts you'd do with a barbell, on rails.

What the studies measured

• The max. In 16 men and 16 women tested on both, the squat one-rep max was greater on the Smith machine than with free weights (for the women only when split by sex), and the bench press one-rep max was greater with free weights, for men and women.¹ In 12 resistance-trained men who tested a barbell, a Smith machine and dumbbells on the chest press, the barbell load was about 3% higher than the Smith machine's and the dumbbell load 14% lower.³
• Muscle activity. In those 12 men, chest and front-of-shoulder activity didn't differ between the three chest presses.³ On the squat, in six people lifting an eight-rep load, activity averaged across seven leg and trunk muscles was 43% higher with free weights; it's a very small sample, so take it as a hint.⁴ Activity in a few reps is not muscle growth.
• Eight weeks of each. 37 students, 14 of them women, trained the squat and the bench press on free weights or a Smith machine, twice a week for eight weeks: 4 sets at 70% of their one-rep max, stopping each set once the bar had slowed by 20 to 25%. Almost every measure improved in both groups; two of the three strength measures, taken from bar speed across loads, improved more when the test matched the equipment trained on, and the cross-section of the vastus lateralis (a front-of-thigh muscle) and of the pectoralis major (the chest) grew by comparable amounts.⁵
• Across many studies. A 2023 meta-analysis of 13 studies and 1,016 participants compared free-weight and machine training. Strength gains followed the equipment people trained on, and muscle growth didn't differ in the five studies that measured it.⁶

Read together, the studies cited here point two ways: the weights you lift won't match between the machine and the bar, and growth was similar in the one trial and the meta-analysis that measured it. If the goal is a better barbell squat or bench, the barbell has to stay in your week. That last line is the site's reading, not the studies' wording.

Common questions

Is a Smith machine workout as good as free weights?

For growth, the evidence cited here is narrow: in one eight-week trial of 37 students, two muscles (the vastus lateralis and the pectoralis major) grew by comparable amounts,⁵ and growth didn't differ in the meta-analysis's five studies that measured it.⁶ For strength, the meta-analysis found gains followed the equipment people trained on.⁶

Is the Smith machine good for beginners?

You don't balance the bar, which some people find easier to learn on. As practical advice, not a finding: set the stops each time, start with the empty bar, and ask staff how the hooks turn. The squat page covers the setup in steps.

How often should I do a Smith machine workout?

Twice a week is a practical start. The eight-week trial above trained twice a week.⁵ The World Health Organization asks adults for muscle-strengthening activity on 2 or more days a week,⁷ and how often to train goes through the options.

What if the Smith machine is busy?

The machine-only workout plan is a full session without barbells or a Smith machine, and dumbbell vs barbell covers the free-weight alternative.

If you'd rather not plan it alone

A session on rails is easy to run; the part a page can't do is deciding which lifts go on rails and which stay free, and how the weights progress. Coaching is the version where your workouts are built around the gym you actually train in and the days you actually have, and a weekly call looks at the week you just had and rebuilds the next one. Coaching to build muscle explains how that works, and here's how to apply. Otherwise: run the first two rows this week, 3 sets of 8, and write down both weights.