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, permits you to elevate heavier weights, and has a decrease threat of damage, all of that are higher for long-term good points.

The normal counterargument is that the Smith machine bench press doesn’t practice 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 wished to research within the following study.

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 (“facet”) 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 facet delt activation by 50% greater than the Smith machine bench press.

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

The normal 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 shifting heavy weights.

The rationale for that is simple.

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

Conversely, while you do a barbell bench press (or another free-weight train), it’s important to work onerous to maintain the bar from deviating too far in a single course or one other, and that requires many different small muscle teams to pitch in. 

Keep in mind, too, that the researchers solely measured three muscle tissue on this examine. There are a lot of 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 brought on extra muscle activation in these muscle teams.

This examine 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 examine.

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 best for constructing muscle than the Smith machine bench press. 

However this isn’t essentially true. 

EMG measurements solely inform us general ranges of muscle activation. Whereas it’s affordable to imagine workouts that activate muscle tissue to a excessive diploma will trigger extra muscle progress over time, this isn’t always the case.

That stated, if you happen to needed to guess on which train was higher for muscle progress based mostly on these outcomes, the good cash can be on the barbell bench press.

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

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

The Smith machine bench press may be good for doing extra quantity (units) in your pecs after you’re already fatigued from doing heavy free-weight presses. It’s additionally helpful if you happen to’re coaching round an damage or in case you have no different gear obtainable. 

In any case, it trains a lot of the identical muscle tissue to an analogous diploma, and it’s effective 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.