Rack or Free Barbell best for squats?

ItsYourTime

I'm beginning a new exercise program and back and front squats are a part of it.

It's been a few years since I did any squats so I am just wondering is it best to do squats in the rack(I think it's called a rack but basically what I'm on about is the supportive frame used for bench pressing) or use a free barbell. Since I haven't done squats in a long time I have no real idea how much weight I can squat so perhaps it would be safer doing it in the rack? I've heard people say that doing it in the rack is restrictive and bad for your back and in the long run you'll benefit more from using free barbells because of the effort required to stabilise and balance the barbell. Also is it frowned upon in gyms to use the racks for anything other than bench presses? If you could give me a bit of fee back on this it would be appreciated, cheers.

Esse85

Use the free barbell, but do it in a squat rack.

I think what your describing is a Smith machine.

d'Oracle

This is a smith machine. If it is what you mean, it is bad.



This is a power cage/rack this is good.



This is another type of Squat rack.
This is also good.

Dotcomdolly

d'Oracle wrote: »

This is another type of Squat rack.
This is also good.

ah so that's what they look like without plates scattered all over the floor

ItsYourTime

Excellent, thanks for the help.

Yeah it was a Smith's machine I was on about. Just out of interest, bar results, why is bad to use a Smith's Machine for squats? Is it bad for your back/posture? Is it a decent alternative if a squat rack isn't available?

rubadub

ItsYourTime wrote: »

Since I haven't done squats in a long time I have no real idea how much weight I can squat

If you are unsure simply start out VERY light, like nothing on the bar, its ~20kg anyway if its an olympic bar, its good for a warmup anyway. Then gradually add weight, if you can do 20 reps with 30kg then you can plug it into a calculator like this and estimate what your 1/5/10/15RM should be http://www.naturalphysiques.com/tools.php?itemid=18

Remember to add the bar weight to the plate weight for your calculations.

d'Oracle

ItsYourTime wrote: »

Excellent, thanks for the help.

Yeah it was a Smith's machine I was on about. Just out of interest, bar results, why is bad to use a Smith's Machine for squats? Is it bad for your back/posture? Is it a decent alternative if a squat rack isn't available?

Maybe.
Basically it does a lot of the work for you.
Its a lot easier to squat in a rack and we don't lift cos its easy.

You will not be using the muscles that you need to stabilise the weight.
I dunno if it is strictly bad for your back. I have read stuff saying its bad for knees but everything is bad for you according to someone.

The general opinion is that its a poor alternative.
Learn to free squat with the bar properly mounted on your back.

Mellor

The smith machine restricts you to the straight path of the rails, the natural path of the bar when squating isn't straight, a free bar in a rack/cage allows the natural path


Also, you shouldn't use a smith machine for benching either. A proper bench and free barbell is far better fir essentially the same reasons

d'Oracle

I would have said that the smith is even worse for benching than squatting.