The fixed bar path lets you row heavy without balance worries.
Set your stance so the bar path lands at your lower ribs, keep your torso angle locked.
The Smith machine's fixed vertical track removes the balance demand of a heavy row, so you can hold your hinge and pour everything into driving the elbows back. The lats and mid back handle the pull from arms-long stretch to the squeeze at your lower ribs, with the biceps assisting. It earns its place as the rowing option that lets you chase load and reps without your stabilisers or lower back calling time early.
For back stimulus it is arguably easier to push hard, because the fixed path removes the balancing act and lets you focus purely on pulling. You lose some of the free-weight stability work, which is a fair trade if back growth is the goal.
Stand so the bar's fixed line meets your body at the lower ribs when you hinge, then lock that torso angle for the whole set. Since the bar cannot come to you, your position is the entire setup, take ten seconds to get it right.
Only if you stand in the wrong place. A rowed bar travels close to vertical anyway, so once your hinge lines the bar up with your lower ribs, the track and the natural pull agree with each other.
