Enhance Your Booty Workout

The Smith Machine is a weight machine consisting of a fixed barbell within steel rails allowing for vertical movement. Using the Smith Machine can benefit your booty workout by giving you better balance and stability through allowing you to press your weight onto it while you lift. By lifting a stabilized weight, you can focus more on your glutes muscles and less on your upper body and balance, as you would be doing when squatting without the Smith Machine.

The following video will demonstrate 9 listed Smith Machine exercises , respectively.

Basic squats: This exercise is commonly known. Put your feet a little wider than shoulder width apart, and bend at the knees; feeling the tension in your glutes and pushing back up with your weight in your heels.

Feet Together Squats: This is the same squat, just with your feet together. This puts even more pressure on your glutes and forces you to push up through your heels.

Lunges: Get into the lunge position and do about 15 reps, then switch legs and repeat.

One-Leg Lunch: For this exercise you’ll need to bring over a weight bench. Put one leg up on the weight bench behind you while you squat with the other leg. Again, do about 15 reps and then switch legs.

Hip Thrusts: Keep the weight bench out and rest your upper back on it with your feet flat on the ground. Rest the weight on your pelvis with your hands in between the bar and your pelvis for support. Really squeeze your glutes at the top of these thrusts for full efficiency.

Deadlifts: Doing deadlifts on the Smith Machine will grant you more balance, thus potentially giving you the ability to lift more than you would without it.

Knee Squats: You’ll need to get a mat for this exercise, which is simply a squat on your knees. Taking your lower legs out of the equation completely allows for complete focus on the glues.

Donkey Kick Backs: This exercise is an alternative to using a Kick Back Machine. Keep the mat out, get on your hands and knees and lift the bar up with the bottom of your shoe, and then switch legs.

Smith Leg Press: Doing leg presses on your back is just a fun way to switch everything up, and really focus on your lower glutes. Lay on the mat for comfort, and put both feet under the bar steadily, then push up. Bring the bar as far as you can into your chest and repeat.

All of these exercises can be done using your comfortable amount of weight and reps that fit your workout routine and lifestyle best. Don’t over do it; it’s okay to use less weight in order to complete the workout.

Some of these exercises are a little advanced and could subject you to injury if not completed correctly. When lifting any amount of excessive weight, it’s crucial to bring a workout partner or ask someone to spot you while you lift, even on the Smith Machine.

Emily is in the program Mass Communications: Journalism and Media Studies at the University of South Florida in Saint Petersburg. She is also a writer for the technology based blog, the Gadgeteer, and in her free time she contributes to her school's newspaper, the Crows Nest. On the weekends, you might find her at the Saturday Morning Market working under the Mother Kombucha tent or blissfully rollerblading in Vinoy Park. Emily is a self-proclaimed fitness guru, and is psyched to merge her love for healthy living and writing together. Follow Emily on Instagram or contact her at emilykate1998@gmail.com.

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