Smith Machine Leg Workout: 13 Best Exercises & Routine

  • Last Updated: January 23, 2025
Smith Machine Leg Workout and Exercises

Whether you’re a beginner or exercising for a while, you can use the Smith machine to bolster your legs safely and effectively.

In this article, I’ll show you some effective Smith machine leg exercises for building muscle and strength.

These exercises effectively target the quads, hamstrings, glutes, and calves and help you build a firm, sculpted, and jacked lower body.

Contents show

13 Best Smith Machine Leg Exercises for Strength & Mass

Smith Machine Leg and Glute Workout
  1. Front Squat
  2. Leg Press
  3. Back Squat
  4. Rack Pull
  5. Standing Calf Raises
  6. Sumo Squat
  7. Reverse Lunges
  8. Bulgarian Split Squat
  9. Romanian Deadlift
  10. Donkey Kick
  11. Sissy Squat
  12. Step-Up
  13. Hip Thrust

1. Smith Machine Front Squat


The front squat is a quad-dominant exercise that involves placing the bar on the front of your shoulders and doing squats. This bar placement highly stimulates the rectus femoris (larger quadriceps muscle) and builds stronger and sculpted anterior thighs.1 Coratella G, Tornatore G, Caccavale F, Longo S, Esposito F, Cè E. The Activation of Gluteal, Thigh, and Lower Back Muscles in Different Squat Variations Performed by Competitive Bodybuilders: Implications for Resistance Training. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Jan 18;18(2):772. doi: 10.3390/ijerph18020772. PMID: 33477561; PMCID: PMC7831128.

It also puts less stress on the knees and lower back, making it a viable alternative to back squats for people with joint issues.2 Gullett JC, Tillman MD, Gutierrez GM, Chow JW. A biomechanical comparison of back and front squats in healthy trained individuals. J Strength Cond Res. 2009 Jan;23(1):284-92. doi: 10.1519/JSC.0b013e31818546bb. PMID: 19002072, 3Yavuz HU, Erdağ D, Amca AM, Aritan S. Kinematic and EMG activities during front and back squat variations in maximum loads. J Sports Sci. 2015;33(10):1058-66. doi: 10.1080/02640414.2014.984240. Epub 2015 Jan 29. PMID: 25630691.

Steps for Performing a Front Squat:

  1. Set the Smith Machine bar above your chest height.
  2. Get under the bar with feet shoulder-width apart.
  3. Place the shoulder across the front of your shoulder and use your arms to hold the bar in one place. Keep your chest up and abs tight. That’s the set-up.
  4. Slowly lower into a squat until your thighs are parallel to the ground.
  5. Push through your heels to stand up. This is your one rep.

Important Tips:

2. Smith Machine Leg Press


The Smith machine leg press involves lying under and in the center of the bar, lifting your legs upward, and pressing the bar with your feet. It is a doable substitution for the leg press which greatly activates the vastus lateralis and vastus medialis (two important anterior thigh muscles) and builds bigger quads.7 Martín-Fuentes I, Oliva-Lozano JM, Muyor JM. Evaluation of the Lower Limb Muscles’ Electromyographic Activity during the Leg Press Exercise and Its Variants: A Systematic Review. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020 Jun 27;17(13):4626. doi: 10.3390/ijerph17134626. PMID: 32605065; PMCID: PMC7369968.

The Smith machine leg press involves the following steps:

  1. Set the bar at an appropriate height and put the desired weight into it.
  2. Lie on the floor in the center of the bar and place your feet on the platform.
  3. Push the weight upward by extending your legs.
  4. Pause for a moment, then bend your knees to lower the weight.

Important Tips:

  • You can use different feet placement (width-wise) to train your quads from all angles.
  • Train with a spotter or set the stopping point to avoid the risk of injury.
  • You can press the bar as fast as possible but take 2-3 seconds when you come down. These slow descent reps promote your muscle gain.

3. Smith Back Squat


The Smith machine back squat is suitable for a wide range of people compared to free weight back squat because of stability and less reliance on controlling the weight.

It is a powerful exercise that primarily bolsters the quads and glutes and increases overall lower body strength and mass.8 Choe KH, Coburn JW, Costa PB, Pamukoff DN. Hip and Knee Kinetics During a Back Squat and Deadlift. J Strength Cond Res. 2021 May 1;35(5):1364-1371. doi: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000002908. PMID: 30335723, 9Plotkin DL, Rodas MA, Vigotsky AD, McIntosh MC, Breeze E, Ubrik R, Robitzsch C, Agyin-Birikorang A, Mattingly ML, Michel JM, Kontos NJ, Lennon S, Frugé AD, Wilburn CM, Weimar WH, Bashir A, Beyers RJ, Henselmans M, Contreras BM, Roberts MD. Hip thrust and back squat training elicit similar gluteus muscle hypertrophy and transfer similarly to the deadlift. Front Physiol. 2023 Oct 9;14:1279170. doi: 10.3389/fphys.2023.1279170. PMID: 37877099; PMCID: PMC10593473.

Back squats help not only bodybuilders and powerlifters but also athletes in improving their sprint and athletic performance.10 Styles WJ, Matthews MJ, Comfort P. Effects of Strength Training on Squat and Sprint Performance in Soccer Players. J Strength Cond Res. 2016 Jun;30(6):1534-9. doi: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000001243. PMID: 26473518. 11Clark DR, Lambert MI, Hunter AM. Trunk Muscle Activation in the Back and Hack Squat at the Same Relative Loads. J Strength Cond Res. 2019 Jul;33 Suppl 1:S60-S69. doi: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000002144. PMID: 28704312.

Follow these steps to perform the Smith Machine Back Squat:

  1. Position the bar across your upper back and shoulders and stand upright with your feet shoulder-width apart and toes pointing slightly out (a few inches away from the machine).
  2. Brace your core and maintain a straight back by keeping your chest up and shoulders back. That’s the starting point.
  3. Lower your body by bending your knees and hips, keeping your back straight until your rear thighs are parallel to the ground.
  4. Push through your heels to get back to the start. That’s one rep.

Important Tips:

  1. Position your feet forward than your hips. It ensures your knees won’t pass your toes when you lower into a squat.
  2. Reduce the load when your knees collapse inward to avoid injuries.

4. Smith Machine Rack Pull


The Rack pull involves pulling the bar from your knee level (you can call it a half deadlift).

It bolsters the biceps femoris, gluteal muscles, and back, improves hip mobility, and builds a stronger lower body.12 Rack Pull: Benefits, Techniques, and Muscles Worked – Medically reviewed by Jake Tipane, CPT – Written by Daniel Preiato, RD, CSCS on August 23, 2021 (Healthine.com)

The Smith machine rack pull provides better stability than the free weight and is a great exercise for progressing Romanian and conventional deadlifts. (12)

A rack pull exercise involves the following steps:

  1. Adjust the bar around your knee height.
  2. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart.
  3. Grip the bar slightly wider than shoulder-width.
  4. Lift the bar by extending your hips until you’re standing upright.
  5. Slowly lowers it down, maintaining a straight back. That’s one rep.

Important Tips:

  • Avoid rounding your back and keep your abs tight while lifting.
  • Extend your hips and knees simultaneously while lifting the bar.
  • Make sure the bar stays close to your body throughout the lift.

5. Standing Calf Raises


The standing calf raises is a lone exercise in this list that targets the gastrocnemius and soleus muscles (calves) and builds stronger lower legs.

Calves play a key role in multiple activities that involve legs, such as jumping, running, sprinting, and squatting. So, strengthening your calves can enhance your athletic performance and improve your leg aesthetics.

Follow these steps to perform Standing Calf Raises:

  1. Place your shoulders under the bar and stand with your feet hip-width apart.
  2. Push up on your toes, lifting your heels as high as possible.
  3. Lower your heels below the level of the platform.

Important Tips:

6. Smith Machine Sumo Squat


The Sumo squat involves standing in a wider stance with feet pointing out. This wider stance engages the adductors, lateral quads, and glutes and builds a more functional lower body. (1), 16 Delmore RJ, Laudner KG, Torry MR. Adductor longus activation during common hip exercises. J Sport Rehabil. 2014 May;23(2):79-87. doi: 10.1123/jsr.2012-0046. Epub 2013 Aug 12. PMID: 23945760, 17How to Do the Sumo Squat to Strengthen Your Inner Thighs – Medically reviewed by Danielle Hildreth, RN, CPT – Written by Sara Lindberg (Healthline.com)

The Sumo squat can be done with these steps:

  1. Stand with your feet wide apart, toes pointed outward (30-45 degrees).
  2. Position your upper traps under the bar.
  3. Hold the bar with an overhand grip.
  4. Lower into a squat by bending your knees and hips.
  5. Pushing through your feet, return to the starting position.

Important Tips:

  • Maintain a wide stance with toes angled out and keep your chest up and back straight.
  • Perform this exercise more safely by putting on a belt and setting a stopping point.

7. Smith Machine Lunges


The lunges are a unilateral exercise, helping you train your legs individually. It bolsters multiple lower body muscles simultaneously, particularly the quads, glutes, and hips, and builds sculpted and athletic legs.18 Marchetti PH, Guiselini MA, da Silva JJ, Tucker R, Behm DG, Brown LE. Balance and Lower Limb Muscle Activation between In-Line and Traditional Lunge Exercises. J Hum Kinet. 2018;62:15-22. Published 2018 Jun 13. doi:10.1515/hukin-2017-0174

It also involves maintaining your legs in a split stance throughout the movement, enhancing your ability to hold the body in an unstable position and improving your balance.

Do the following steps to perform lunges:

  1. Place the bar on the back of your shoulder and stand facing away from the machine with your feet apart in a split stance.
  2. Lower your body by bending the front knee until your rear knee almost touches the ground.
  3. Pressing through your leading foot to return to the standing position.
  4. Complete repetitions, then switch legs.

Important Tips:

  • Maintain a flat back and avoid letting your front knee extend past your toe.
  • You can modify this movement to hit the different lower body areas. For example, keeping your rear foot farther puts more stress on the hamstrings and glutes and reduces quads involvement. So, you can also keep this in mind.
  • Lower your hips straight down, not forward
  • Stop when your knees are bent about 90 degrees with the rear one almost touching the floor.

8. Bulgarian Split Squat


The Bulgarian split squat is an advanced exercise that involves placing your rear foot on an elevated object (like a box or flat bench) while keeping the other one firmly on the ground. This position decently stretches the glutes, hamstring, and quad muscles, improves hip mobility, and develops strength, balance, and flexibility (while minimizing the knee joint demands).19 Mackey ER, Riemann BL. Biomechanical Differences Between the Bulgarian Split-Squat and Back Squat. Int J Exerc Sci. 2021 Apr 1;14(1):533-543. doi: 10.70252/CIYT8956. PMID: 34055144; PMCID: PMC8136570.

It also allows you to work more on weaker legs and improve strength and size imbalance.

Steps for doing the Bulgarian split squat with Smith Machine:

  1. Stand facing away from the machine, with one foot positioned on a bench behind you.
  2. Hold the bar on your upper back and grab it for support.
  3. Lower your body by bending your front knee, ensuring it doesn’t extend past your toes.
  4. Push back up to the starting position. Complete suggested repetitions, then repeat on the opposite side.

Important Tips:

  • Maintain a flat back during the movement and avoid moving your front knee beyond the toes.
  • You can lean forward (while maintaining a neutral spine) to engage your gluteal muscles more effectively.

9. Smith Machine Romanian Deadlift


The Romanian deadlift involves lifting the bar from your shin level to the hips while keeping your knees mostly straight. This exercise primarily strengthens the hamstrings, lower back, and hips and makes the posterior chain strong and flexible.20 Martín-Fuentes I, Oliva-Lozano JM, Muyor JM. Electromyographic activity in deadlift exercise and its variants. A systematic review. PLoS One. 2020 Feb 27;15(2):e0229507. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0229507. PMID: 32107499; PMCID: PMC7046193, 21 Coratella G, Tornatore G, Longo S, Esposito F, Cè E. An Electromyographic Analysis of Romanian, Step-Romanian, and Stiff-Leg Deadlift: Implication for Resistance Training. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Feb 8;19(3):1903. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19031903. PMID: 35162922; PMCID: PMC8835508, 22 McAllister MJ, Hammond KG, Schilling BK, Ferreria LC, Reed JP, Weiss LW. Muscle activation during various hamstring exercises. J Strength Cond Res. 2014 Jun;28(6):1573-80. doi: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000000302. PMID: 24149748

The resilient backside and functional hips improve your performance where the lower body is involved.

Steps to perform a Smith Machine RDL:

  1. Set the bar at hip height. Stand with feet hip-width apart.
  2. Bend at your hips, keeping your knees slightly bent.
  3. Grip the bar with an overhand grip.
  4. Lower the bar while maintaining a straight back.
  5. Stand back up by extending your hips.

Important Tips:

  • You can softly bend your knees while hinging forward. Avoid arching your back by keeping your core tight.
  • You can lower the bar close to the ground to make it a stiff-leg deadlift which improves your lower back flexibility. But I only recommend this to experienced lifters.

10. Smith Machine Donkey Kick


The donkey kick involves sitting on all fours under the Smith machine and using one foot to press the bar upward. This movement isolates the glutes and abs simultaneously and builds a strong butt while improving your balance and flexibility.23 Ekechukwu, Echezona & Okoh, Augustine. (2020). Effects of Six Weeks Donkey Kick and Squat Resistance Exercises on Gluteal Adiposity, Muscle Strength, and Muscle Bulk of Young Nigerian Female Adults: A Randomized Controlled Trial. International Journal of Medicine and Health Development. 25. 10.4103/ijmh.IJMH_36_19

How to perform donkey kick with Smith Machine:

  1.  Set the bar at ankle height. Kneel facing away from the machine with your hands on the floor.
  2. Lift your one leg behind you and press the bar upward until you feel the full contraction in your glutes.
  3. Pause for a moment, then return to the start. Complete repetitions, then switch legs.

Important Tips:

  • Place a mat under your knees, keep your core tight, and perform each rep in a controlled manner, feeling the contraction in your glutes.
  • Focus on engaging your glutes at all times, if you don’t feel your glutes are working, you need to adjust your position.

11. Smith Machine Sissy Squat


The sissy squat is a strength and mobility exercise that involves leaning your torso back and lowering your knees forward until they are close to the ground. This unique movement stretches and contracts the quad effectively while improving your balance, helping you build a better and stronger lower body.

Step-by-Step Instructions for Sissy Squat:

  1.  Stand a few feet away from the bar with your feet hip-width apart.
  2. Hold the bar on your upper back for support.
  3. Slowly lower your body by bending your knees while keeping your back straight. Descend as far as your flexibility allows.
  4. Push back up to the starting position. That’s one rep.

Important Tips:

  • Use lightweight, keep your core tight, and perform each rep in a slow and controlled manner.
  • Sissy squats require excellent stability and control, so I suggest you start with assisted ones, followed by bodyweight variations, and then use the Smith machine.

12. Smith Machine Step-Up


You can also do a step-up exercise on the Smith machine. The step-up is a single-leg exercise that reinforces the thighs and glutes and builds strong athletic legs.24 Simenz CJ, Garceau LR, Lutsch BN, Suchomel TJ, Ebben WP. Electromyographical analysis of lower extremity muscle activation during variations of the loaded step-up exercise. J Strength Cond Res. 2012 Dec;26(12):3398-405. doi: 10.1519/JSC.0b013e3182472fad. PMID: 22237139., 25 Kipp K, Kim H, Wolf WI. Muscle Forces During the Squat, Split Squat, and Step-Up Across a Range of External Loads in College-Aged Men. J Strength Cond Res. 2022 Feb 1;36(2):314-323. doi: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000003688. PMID: 32569122.

You can use this exercise to train each leg independently and improve muscle imbalance between the left and right legs.

Let’s see how to perform Step Up on Smith Machine:

  1. Place the bar on your upper back and stand facing the machine with a step or bench in front. Place one foot on the step.
  2. Push through the top foot and step up.
  3. Lower yourself back down. Complete repetitions, then switch legs.

Important Tips:

  • Slightly lean your torso forward, maintain a neutral spine, and keep your entire body stable during the descent and descent phases.
  • You can step up higher to engage your glutes more.

13. Smith Machine Hip Thrust


The hip thrust is a lower-body muscle-building exercise for developing stronger, well-shaped glutes.26 Contreras B, Vigotsky AD, Schoenfeld BJ, Beardsley C, Cronin J. A Comparison of Gluteus Maximus, Biceps Femoris, and Vastus Lateralis Electromyographic Activity in the Back Squat and Barbell Hip Thrust Exercises. J Appl Biomech. 2015 Dec;31(6):452-8. doi: 10.1123/jab.2014-0301. Epub 2015 Jul 24. PMID: 26214739.

It also strengthens the hamstrings, lower back, and hips, and achieves a solid backside.

Follow these steps to perform hip thrusts on the Smith machine:

  1. Position a bench under the bar and place your upper back on it.
  2. Keep your feet flat on the floor with your knees 90 degrees bent.
  3. Put the bar over your hips (use a thick support pad).
  4. Thrust your hips up, pushing the bar upward.
  5. Lower your hips back down. That’s one rep.

Important Tips

  • Keep your abs and glutes tight while you thrust the bar. Grab the sides of the bench with your hands for support.

The Best Smith Machine Leg Workout Routine Samples

leg workout on smith machine


30-Minute Leg Workout for Beginners

ExerciseSetsRepsTarget Muscle
Front Squat312-16Quads
Leg Press312-16Quads
Romanian Deadlift38-10Hamstrings
Standing Calf Raises312-16Calves

45-Minute Intermediate Leg Workout Routine

ExerciseSetsRepsTarget Muscle
Back Squat3-412-16Quads & Glutes
Reverse Lunges2-310/legQuads & Glutes
Romanian Deadlift3-48-10Hamstrings
Hip Thrust3-410-12Glutes
Standing Calf Raises3-416-20Calves

60-Minute Advanced Smith Machine Leg Workout

ExerciseSetsRepsTarget Muscle
Back Squat312-18Quads & Glutes
Leg Press312-16Quads
Bulgarian Split Squat210/legQuads & Glutes
Romanian Deadlift38-10Hamstrings
Step-Up210/legQuads & Glutes
Hip Thrust310-12Glute & Hamstring
Calf Raises315-20Calves

Download The Smith Machine Leg Workout PDF

Smith-Machine-Leg-and-Glute-Workout-PDFDownload


The Smith Machine is a functional gym machine that you can use to perform various lower body exercises to bolster your quads, glutes, hamstrings, and calves from all angles and build strong, sculpted, and athletic legs.

However, the fixed bar on the Smith machine restricts the full range of motion that free weights can provide. So, I suggest using the Smith machine only when you have no option or you want to improve your fundamental strength.

References

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Murshid Akram

I’m a personal trainer, fitness blogger, and founder of thefitnessphantom.com. I help people achieve their best shape through my science-based and practical workout programs.
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Murshid Akram

I’m a personal trainer, fitness blogger, and founder of thefitnessphantom.com. I help people achieve their best shape through my science-based and practical workout programs.
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Murshid Akram, Author at The Fitness Phantom

I’m Murshid Akram, a personal trainer, fitness blogger, and founder of thefitnessphantom.com. I primarily design workout plans and share science-based and practical information that can help you become stronger, functional, and healthier.

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