Haha, excellent. 
10 Machines You Must Avoid
- Thread starter JoseJ
- Start date
To be honest some of the people who only use machines at my gym are huge. Then they turn around and you realise that they are as thin as my sweet ass moniter in front of me
Machines can get some people looking big, but efficiency wise they are awful and only train you to function well in certain 'controlled' movements.
Machines can get some people looking big, but efficiency wise they are awful and only train you to function well in certain 'controlled' movements.
Problem is, gyms (as businesses) prefer machines due to lesser liability risks and no worries about theft or misplacement of free weights.
So you won't function well in uncontrolled movements if you only use machines?
Remember guys...the body has no idea if you're lifting a free weight or a plate-loaded machine or a tree branch
or 2 Sweedish bikini models.
Wait. What?
lol leg press....bull****!
I like the leg press for unilateral work and any machine that uses cables but I would never use any other machine that has a fixed range of motion. I got really bad tendonitis using a chest fly machine but since I ditched all machine work I haven't gained an injury through lifting once
Not exactly. When I first went onto free weights from machines a few years ago my flexibilty and range of motion seemed to only fit what I had been doing on the machines. When bench pressing for example (having used the chest press machine) I just couldn't keep the barbell balanced because I was so used to pushing the straight line I had been on the chest press.
Whenever I run or walk by a mass market chain gym with big windows, it seems that most of the people are using the cardio machines (which never made sense to me, why run on a treadmill when you could run someplace interesting?), while the lesser used weight area (if it is visible through the windows) is all or mostly machines.
I realize what you're saying. I was making a joke more than anything. But still...the body does not realize what you are lifting (machine, free weight, water-filled keg, caber, etc). The body only knows something is heavy and wants to get it up.
But, sure...if you're used to machines and go to free weights, you won't lift as much weight.
Most of those kinds of gyms have big plasma screens set up in front of the treadmills and people can listen and watch the music which helps them in there motivation. I don't actually like doing cardio along a path or outside a gym for many reasons, first i think equipment is comfortable and puts less stress on your joints and ligaments, Its predictable and i am not gonna run into some old lady around the corner and smash her onto the concrete. The temp in the room is always the same and no chance of rain hehe. I don't have to carry around a bottle of water or map out a area where i can get drinks from a public tap. My old gym had huge windows looking out over a river with country all around it and plasma t.vs as well if you were not interested.
Double post, you're fired!
No but seriously, I also think a lot of people aren't comfortable running out in public, so if they can do it in a private gym, it's much easier for them to stick to it.
No but seriously, I also think a lot of people aren't comfortable running out in public, so if they can do it in a private gym, it's much easier for them to stick to it.
Just as someone can lift without free weights.
What you use depends are your individual wants and needs, and many people who only lift get on their high horse and look down upon those who only use the cardio equipment.
Perhaps that's true a bit, I only get annoyed with cardio bunnies when they spend hours running on a treadmill with the intention of getting 'toned' and then moan for hours about their complete lack of progress but refuse to entertain the thought of squatting
I guess I just see a far larger proportion of the clueless people in my gym on cardio machines than I do in the free-weight area
I guess I just see a far larger proportion of the clueless people in my gym on cardio machines than I do in the free-weight area
I hear ya on the majority of the people over their having no clue what they are doing, but hey, they're off the couch and thats, for some, is what they need.
But again, I agree that most people beggining to familiarize themselves with the gym begin with the cardio equipment and slowly move to the free weights. When I started thats what I did for the first month of my membership, but while running, rather than looking at the TV's I studied what the people with the best physiques were doing, went home and youtube'd proper form and slowly moved to machines and on to free weights.
And I know how difficult it is to use free weights if you've never done the exercise before, the motions are new and without any idea of what weight you should be using I can see how people stick to cardio equipment and machines.
But again, I agree that most people beggining to familiarize themselves with the gym begin with the cardio equipment and slowly move to the free weights. When I started thats what I did for the first month of my membership, but while running, rather than looking at the TV's I studied what the people with the best physiques were doing, went home and youtube'd proper form and slowly moved to machines and on to free weights.
And I know how difficult it is to use free weights if you've never done the exercise before, the motions are new and without any idea of what weight you should be using I can see how people stick to cardio equipment and machines.