Smith 1 Leg Squat
This is safer than regular barbell squats. It may not be as effective though since your stabilizer muscles are not used quite as much, as with all machine exercises. Avoid using heavy weights, especially when getting use to the action of this exercise.
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Position the bar of the Smith Machine to rest across your shoulders / upper back, avoiding any contact with your neck throughout the movement, using either a towel or foam pad to protect your shoulders on the bar.
Always set the height of the bar before placing any weight on it, making sure that any locking devices is safely in place, also ensuring that the lower safety locks are set for the correct height, to enable the bar to travel through your full exercise movement.
Rotate the bar around, lifting the bar away from its locking nuts, keeping your legs straight, smoothly lower yourself down, keeping your back straight, however leaning slightly forward throughout the movement, with your knee going in the direction of your toes. Learn the correct movement of how to lock and unlock the bar, prior to placing any weight on the machine.
Aim to take yourself down smoothly and under control, lowering no further than your feel comfortably with, stopping if there is any instability in the movement. Once in your final lowered position, clench your gluts, as you rise back up to the starting position to repeat again, either on the same leg (harder) or alternate your legs.
By performing single leg squats, you will find that your knees will travel over your toes, which is not always recommended, hence why you should warm all the leg muscles up prior to performing deep squats, in order to avoid injury, especially from the patella tendon.
Concentrate on keeping your back straight and head up, focusing on preventing your knees from extending over your toes.
Exhale as you return back up from your lowered position, focusing on keeping your foot and knee facing forward, avoid letting your knee point out to your side.