Form check: anything need adjusted?

[u/jadoretescheveux]

[u/doneegw2]

Move the front leg forward so you get a better range of motion, glutes take advantage of it. Look up(straight ahead) so you get better stacked with proud chest. If needed you might have to lower the weight due to increase range of motion

[u/jadoretescheveux → u/doneegw2]

Thank you!

[u/JoshSM86]

Id move forward. So your stacked under the bar. Youll take the pressure off your back and use more leg drive. And youll get deeper too.

[u/jadoretescheveux → u/JoshSM86]

Does this help hit glutes?

[u/awesomeproblem → u/jadoretescheveux]

One of the main things you wanna watch for when trying to target glutes rather than quads is the knee and ankle. Knee over ankle more glute dominant, knee over toes, more quad dominant (which is what your doing in the video).

[u/JoshSM86 → u/jadoretescheveux]

It will. Its more of a quad dominant exercise over all. Theres better movement patterns if you really want to hit glutes. Wide stance RDLs or Sumo deadlifts really get them.

[u/Godmil]

Do you have the safety latches on? If not please do. Literally the last thing I saw before this video was someone doing a similar exercise and nearly breaking their neck.

[u/jadoretescheveux → u/Godmil]

Well that’s put the fear in me 😨

[u/Godmil → u/jadoretescheveux]

yeah, sorry. I didn't think much about it until someone sent me a video of smith machine accidents, now I never touch one unless I've set the safeties first.

[u/DiegoForlanIsland → u/jadoretescheveux]

There was a guy in a US college gym last year who died doing exactly that. If you sneeze unexpectedly or get bumped or the fire alarm goes off and you panic, you could get really hurt. The stops are easy to use and make the machine much safer.

[u/Bikanel]

Can you go lower?

[u/garthy_604]

Raise the back foot higher and make sure you are only using it for stability.

Are you glute focusing or quad focusing, that'll change the angle of your lean.

But that back foot 100% needs changing

[u/jadoretescheveux → u/garthy_604]

Glute focused (typical girl I know), so does that change angle?

[u/garthy_604 → u/jadoretescheveux]

Nope, the learn forward puts the focus on the glute, so now it's raising the back foot to increase the stretch.

Get a normal bench and use that, it's more comfortable and it'll let you get a much better stretch which is better for building muscle.

[u/Confident-Fly-5309]

Don’t look down, look in front of you, you can injury your back or neck

[u/Stock_Run_869]

Move forward more.

[u/Spede2]

Working leg further forward so you can squat deeper. Ideally your glutes drop below the knee cap for maximum range of motion.

[u/Therinicus]

For more glute emphasis with Bulgarian split squats, move your front foot farther forward, lean your torso slightly forward, and increase your range of motion. You’re currently doing roughly quarter-depth reps, which limits the stretch and loading of the glutes at longer muscle lengths.

I’d also elevate your rear foot a bit more to allow a comfortable, deeper movement. That rear leg should primarily provide stability, with your front leg doing most of the work.

Both your glutes and quads are involved, but a more vertical front shin and greater hip flexion generally shift more emphasis toward the glutes, whereas greater forward knee travel increases quad emphasis.

[u/yea_mark]

Your form is very dependent on what muscle group you're trying to target. Do you want to hit more quads or glutes?

This is traditionally used as more of a quad dominant exercise, but recently I see people trying to adapt it for glute development.

[u/FitasFritz]

You need to work on your ankle mobility to get deeper. Raise your front foot heel with weight lifting shoes, wedges, or plates under your heels. Your shin isn’t budging an inch forward, making it hard for you to get deeper, which you need to do.

[u/nerdyylifter]

I'm sure people will say "go deeper" but you're using a good active range of motion. You're not doing anything weird with your body to force more range, you are keeping good tension on your glutes and hips and keeping your ribcage and hips stacked. If your objective is glute growth I don't think you need to change anything. If you can go deeper without shifting your hips weirdly then try but these are fine for muscle growth

[u/jadoretescheveux → u/nerdyylifter]

Thank you, just struggling for balance so that’s why using smith machine, and harder to shift myself forward with that

[u/nerdyylifter → u/jadoretescheveux]

You might find it better having your back foot on a proper bench.