I'm confused about your comment supersize.....why do you say that smiths are "helping"? I guess to a certain extent, I agree with what you are saying...they help me keep better form and balance, and take emphasis off of my lower back, but I still get one helluva workout for my quads, hams and glutes....if anything, they help me target those areas more specifically then straight squats...I know most of the bro's on the boards do straight squats, but I just feel like I do so much better with Smiths...and I've done both for several years, so I'm not someone who has never tried regular squats....I just happen to prefer smiths...If I wanna work lower back, I'll do deads or hyper extensions...when I wanna work legs, I want to focus as much as I can on them without having to worry about my back giving out or my form sucking the harder the set gets.....with smiths, I can go to failure without fear of snapping my back or straining something when my form starts to break down....
I'm not as big or strong as most of the bro's on this site, so I can't exactly come out and dazzle you with my experience and testify that smith squats are the way to go...I only know what feels best to me and what allows me to target my legs best....Try doing smiths, legs out front, not directly under the bar, with 2/4 tempo (concentric/eccentric) and see if you aren't smoked after 10 reps...only thing is, you gotta seriously check your ego at the door when you do 'em that way, cuz you'll probably only be able to do about 1/2 to 2/3 the weight you usually do...I was squatting around 250-275 for 4-6 reps when I was doing them 1/1 tempo, but slowing down to 2/4 is killer...
I'm not as big or strong as most of the bro's on this site, so I can't exactly come out and dazzle you with my experience and testify that smith squats are the way to go...I only know what feels best to me and what allows me to target my legs best....Try doing smiths, legs out front, not directly under the bar, with 2/4 tempo (concentric/eccentric) and see if you aren't smoked after 10 reps...only thing is, you gotta seriously check your ego at the door when you do 'em that way, cuz you'll probably only be able to do about 1/2 to 2/3 the weight you usually do...I was squatting around 250-275 for 4-6 reps when I was doing them 1/1 tempo, but slowing down to 2/4 is killer...