Exercise Equipment Guide: Treadmills, Weights, and Home Gyms

What happens when your treadmill stops suddenly, and how can you troubleshoot common home gym equipment? Selecting the best mini-trampolines, resistance bands, and cross trainers can significantly improve your at-home fitness results and safety.

Is the Weight Lifted on a Smith Machine the Same As Free Weights?

Published Jul,08 2011 | By Eric Brown

No weight lifted on any machine is the same as using free weights. In all cases, less effort is required to stabilize the weight, making the lift easier. In some cases, the Smith machine itself has a counterweight that reduces the weight of the bar, and often there is no way to know by how much.

Eric Brown began writing professionally in 1990 and has been a strength and conditioning coach and exercise physiologist for more than 20 years. His published work has appeared in "Powerlifting USA," "Ironsport" and various peer-reviewed journals. Brown has a Bachelor of Science in exercise physiology from the University of Michigan and a Master of Science in kinesiology from the University of California, Los Angeles.