maratoolSmith Machine Hip Raise
How to do the smith machine hip raise
- Position a bench in the rack and load the bar to an appropriate weight. Lie down on the bench, placing the bottom of your feet against the bar. Unlock the bar and extend your legs. You may need to use your hands to assist you. For added stability grasp the sides of the Smith Machine. This will be your starting position.
- Initiate the movement by rotating your pelvis, flexing your spine to raise your hips off of the bench. Maintain a slight bend in the knees throughout the motion.
- After a brief pause, return the hips to the bench.
- Repeat for the desired number of repetitions.
Muscles worked
The prime movers are the rectus abdominis and the obliques, which flex the trunk forward and resist it being pulled into extension or twisted out of line.
Every exercise for:Abdominals
How this movement works
One joint changes angle and the resistance travels toward you along a single arc. Nothing is positioned to help, so tension stays where you aimed it and the usable load drops sharply against a multi-joint pull for the same muscle. Protect the range of motion; buying weight by shortening the arc defeats the point.
It is filed under strength: produce force against resistance for a countable number of repetitions, and progress the resistance over time.
What you need
The machine fixes the path, removing the balance demand and letting you train close to failure without a spotter. The cost is the stabilising work a free weight would have made you do.
Every exercise using:Machine
These train the abdominals too, using equipment this one does not:
- Spell Casterdumbbell
- Spider Crawlbody only
- Standing Cable Liftcable
- Supine One-Arm Overhead Throwmedicine ball
- Torso Rotationexercise ball
Difficulty
Listed at beginner level: the pattern is simple enough to pick up without coaching, and a position that goes wrong mid-set is obvious enough to correct on the next repetition.
Of the 97 abdominals exercises in this database, 69 are listed at beginner level.
Photos: free-exercise-db — public domain (Unlicense) Full attribution →
ⓘ Informational only — not a substitute for professional fitness or medical advice.