Can someone confirm or deny the myth that training strictly with machine weights won't maximise full potential for training, and that to bulk up significantly you have to partake in using free weights. I think it would help some people a bit. Can one use machines to a certain level of satisfaction in their training?
Free weights are essential?
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Hi- using machines won't maximize full potential for training- the reason is this- the machine stabilizes the weights for you and actually already performs your track of motion, the machine does everything for you except lift the weight.....but using a dumbell you have to do ALL the work- you have to stabilize the weight, move in form, and lift the weight.
..anybody truly serious about getting the FULL benefits of weight/strength/and overall health of muscles must use free weights in routine...
There are a few beneficial machines, however:
1. The low pulley row station.
2. The high pulley pull-down (woodchoppers).
3. The pull-up/dip assist machine. If this isn't available, then #2 if you don't have the strength to do enough pull/chin-ups.
Also, for a more athletic core, a cable cross in a push/pull move is very good.
1. The low pulley row station.
2. The high pulley pull-down (woodchoppers).
3. The pull-up/dip assist machine. If this isn't available, then #2 if you don't have the strength to do enough pull/chin-ups.
Also, for a more athletic core, a cable cross in a push/pull move is very good.
I had an argument with my mate about free weights and machines.
He said I was 'talking wet' saying that weights were better lol.
Compare a man who is 6'5 250lbs and a man who is 5'5 100lbs on the chest press machine, they are obviously going to get different results as the machine can not adjust enough to develop a good range of motion for the both of them.
But if they both used dumbell bench press, they could work out to their own range of motion, rather than having a machine restrict the movement.
He said I was 'talking wet' saying that weights were better lol.
Compare a man who is 6'5 250lbs and a man who is 5'5 100lbs on the chest press machine, they are obviously going to get different results as the machine can not adjust enough to develop a good range of motion for the both of them.
But if they both used dumbell bench press, they could work out to their own range of motion, rather than having a machine restrict the movement.
It sort of depends on what your goals and constraints are.
If you can't afford a gym, don't have much space at home for free weights, and want to make sure you can train ' safely ' at home etc. etc. , you could opt for something like one of these home multi-gyms like Solo-flex, Bow-flex, Para-body, Body Solid multi-station home gyms etc. etc. . While they may not have as much weight available to lift or allow you to do as many exercises as a gym would, if it comes down to a choice between exercising and not exercisng, then they're a good option.
But if you go to a gym and want to engage in training to maximize your results - " maximise full potential for training " - and the choice is whether to make free weights or machines as the foundation of your training - then free weights have an edge to the machines you find at the gym IMO.
One reason free weights are better has to do with the number of muscles you recruit to lift the weight. Lifting free weights works more than one muscle group at a time. So what happens is that with free weights you get resistance applied not only the target muscles you're working but on, but stabilizer muscles as well. Stabilizer muscles are the ones that help you stabilize your body ( keep it from moving ) and control ( i.e balance ) the weights your lifting. So free weights will prompt more activity of the joint stabilizer muscles than a machine will. With a machine, the weight is stabilized for you and it's only the specific targeted muscle is dong the work. In my view, the more muscles you work in an exercise the better, so in this regard free weights are better.
Another reason is due to something related to the number of muscles you use , it's called a plane of motion. Weight machines only use single-joint exercises ( think isolation exercises ) and when they do that, the weight moves in a single plane - it's a fixed and pre-determined plane of motion. With free weights, the movement takes place in 3 dimensions because of all the balancing of the weight I already mentioned. And since ' real life ' day to day activity is in a 3-dimensional environment, free weights doing a better job of duplicating the ways you use your muscles in everyday life not to mention sports etc. The other issue related to this is that the unique of plane of motion you see on a given machine may not be the same as the plane of motion the person using it would ' opitmally ' use. In most cases a person's body will alter a plane of motion in a free weight exercise to allow for the most efficient movement of a joint or muscle ( i.e do what feels most comfortable ). If it can't do that because a plane of motion on a machine is fixed, you increase the risk of injury IMO. So again, I think free weighst are better in this regard.
A third reason is strength development. I think free weighs do a better job. If you were to always use machines, you train on a fixed plane of motion that I already talked about. That means you're hitting all the same muscle fibers of not only the target muscle you're training , but the the secondary muscles used to help that muscle as well. And you're hitting these same fibers over an over again. So, the fixed plane found on a machine may not engage other fibers that might be recruited as part of that 3-D lifting orientation I already talked about - an orientation in which the potential to recruit more fibers exists IMO. Again, the more muscle fibers you recruit, the better IMO. That's why if you were to compare 1 exercise head to head - i.e free weight bench press vs. machine bench press - you'd likely find there is a greater carryover of strength going from a bench press using free weights to a bench press weight machine than goiing from a bench press weight machine to a bench press using free weights. In other words, it'd be easier for a guy whose being doing free weight bench for 6 months to switch to a bench machine than asking a guy whose being doing a bench machine for 6 months to do a free weight bench IMO. So, from this perspective, free weights are better IMO.
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i dont really count cable stuff as machines
cynic is right, and I agree with Karky because cable machines give you a very wide range of motion and resistence, unlike most machines which use levers and thus un-natural ranges of motion.
machines can be great for isolation work...but the bulk of your weight training is always best served by free weights, AND proper form