Free Weights vs Machines – 6 Reasons To Avoid Machines
Jan 13th, 2011 | By Todd Bowman | Category: Exercises
Over the past month and a half I’ve been getting asked the question free weights vs machines so often it’s going to warrant an entire post. What’s the difference? After emailing too many people to count I figure I should end the argument with a single blog post and hopefully end that debate and show you which one to choose.
Before I launch into my diatribe as to why free weights are better on just about every level, I feel like I have to give machines their fair shake. There are pros and cons to all sports equipment. That being said, machines do have their place in your muscle building routines.
Workout machines and resistance training can be beneficial for:
- Beginners or athletes just starting out
- Those who have taken a long time off and are getting back into the “groove” of regular strength training
- Those who have been injured and are rehabilitating their joints or muscles
- Older guys and gals who need a simple (non Arnold Schwarzenegger) workout
I have to be honest here, I do use machines but very rarely. Sometimes I use them to warm up or I might use them for the first week of my routines after I get back from an extended vacation to Australia (my home away from home).
Typically workout machines are very easy to and functional to use. You can change the weights rather quickly. Instead of taking off a 45 pound plate from a bar ball all you have to do is take the pin out of the slot and increase or decrease the weight (typically in 10 lb increments).
Machines are adjustable as well but not as much normally as you’d like. Usually the part you sit on or lean on is padded and can be moved up or down, sideways or back depending on your body type, height and weight.
Workout machines can serve a purpose, although a very small one in your overall health and fitness quest.
This blog is dedicated to the more serious guys and gals who are looking to really make some big time changes in their body.
Let’s leave the workout machines to “those other guys…” shall we?
So without further ado,
Free Weights vs Machines – 6 Reasons To Avoid Machines
Let’s get to the meat and bones of why workout machines should be excluded from your training regimens.
Machines Don’t Build As Much Muscle As Free Weights
Free weights simply build more muscle than machines. If you watch the people who workout in your gym closely, you’ll notice the guys or girls who get the most results, don’t use machines (of if they do it’s probably less than 10% of the exercises they do) on a regular basis.
Anybody who is serious, quickly realizes that machines are like training wheels on your bike. Workout machines are like breast milk before you can start eating solid foods.
The problem is that people will graduate to free weight isolation exercises using dumbbells, barbells, kettlebells or maybe body-weight exercises like pushups, pullups, situps, dips, crunches and so on. They don’t realize there’s a whole other world of free weight compound exercises like benchpress, squats, deadlifts, overhead presses, and barbell rows that can take your body to another whole level.
But that’s for another article.
Suffice it to say, you’ll never really build that much muscle if you’re content to using machines vs free weights.
Vince Delmonte has probably been one of the more outspoken people on this subject and his opinion is highly regarded in the fitness industry.
Machines Don’t Boost Your Metabolism As Much As Free Weights
Because machines use only a limited and predefined linear range of motion, they simply don’t have as much physiological impact on your nerves, tendons and muscle fibers as free weights.
Free weights work on a 3 dimensional plane whereby they exert the most resistance and force over a larger area of your body. Because of this, your heart rate increases (which is helpful for increasing aerobic stamina and is good for the heart, lungs and circulatory system) and you build more muscle. Because you build more muscle you AUTOMATICALLY lose fat right out of the gate. Want to lose weight? Build muscle. It’s that simple. The more muscle you build the faster your metabolism and the more fat you burn.
Machines Only Offer A Limited Range Of Motion
The range of motion most workout machines allow for is quite disgusting to say the least. The predefined, linear 2 dimensional range of motion is never going to impact your musculature system or skeletial system in the ways you want.
Better said, you want to be able to control your range of motion at every level and in every dimension possible. Workout machines don’t allow you to control that.
Machines Don’t Allow For A Natural Range Of Motion
What happens if you’re 6 feet 7 and weight 290 pounds and need to use the same bicep curl machine or bench press machine that the 72 year old lady who’s 5 foot 3 and 130 pounds? You both get to use the same machine. Sure you can adjust it here and there but your range of motion just isn’t the same.
What’s natural for you isn’t natural for the next guy or girl who uses the machine right before or after you.
Machines Don’t Allow You To Load The Max Amount Of Weight
Workout machines are somewhat customizable in form and function, there is no doubt about that. But if you’re really serious about free weights vs machines this alone should answer that question. You simply cannot add more than the predetermined amounts of weight to them. This is the number one con for me, and there aren’t many pros.
As serious weightlifters you need to be able to stack on tons of weight to your exercises and machines simply max you out and that’s the end of it. Sure you can add on some of those rubber horseshoe shaped Machine Add-On Weights, to the weight plates but this is only a partial solution to a bigger problem. The machine itself.
Machines Don’t Work The Stabilizer Muscles
As we’ve mentioned machines only work 2 dimensions on a linear predefined plane of motion. This is what robs you of functional gains and functional strength. Take two guys who both weigh 200 pounds with the same muscle and body fat and all things being equal, the guy who trains with free weights is going to be much stronger on every level than the guy who uses only machines.
There are two main types of muscles, movers and stabilizers. The mover muscles are usually the main muscles involved in the main movement of the exercise while the stabilizer muscle helps to keep the main muscle locked into place an attached to the tendons, ligaments, joints and ultimately the bones. The stabilizer muscles have nerve endings which attach to the bones sending signals that your are going to failure. They also help to provide bone density along with core stability of that particular body part.
When you strengthen your mover muscle along with the tendons and ligaments, you create massive strength. But when you only strengthen your mover muscles when your using the machine which doesn’t trigger any other muscles, you rob yourself of strength, size, metabolism gains as well as bone density. It’s just not smart. Why not get strong on all levels using the same weight resistance and effort?
Conclusion
I hope that if you were thinking about free weights vs machines, this article helped you make the right choice. Again if you are one of the people I mentioned at the beginning of this free weights vs machines article, then by all means use machines but eventually you’ll want to graduate from kindergarten and take your workouts to the next level.
If you’re new to working out or if you’re a guy who’s been training for years and are stuck hitting plateaus in every direction, I strongly consider you take a look at No Nonsense Muscle Building because it includes literally all kinds of incredible compound free weight workout routines specifically designed to take skinny guys to a level they’ve never been to before.
I hope you enjoyed this article on free weights vs machines!
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