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Machines
vs. Free weights Debate
Copyright Andy Fairclough
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This debate has raged on in gyms for decades. Many find
themselves lured in by expensive machines, drawn to their
promises for instant success and supported by the claims
of well muscled fitness models. Others completely shun the
machines, and are drawn to dingy gyms and clanking 45 lb.
plates. The truth is that both machines and free weights
have benefits and drawbacks, and understanding this will
lead to greater success in they gym.
Let’s start off with free weights. Most seasoned
lifters would agree that free weights should be the centerpiece
of a good weightlifting program, and I would tend to agree.
The most obvious benefit free weights offer is the incorporation
of supporting muscles into a lift. For example, when you
bench press you mostly use your chest, shoulders, and triceps,
but to keep the bar upright and balanced you use a whole
host of smaller supporting muscles. These muscles would
be completely overlooked in a machine that worked out your
chest. One of the most simple and yet powerful truisms accepted
by exercise physiologists today is that you become better
at a specific movement by practicing that movement. In other
words, a basketball player can do as many squats as he wants
to improve leg strength, but the best way to get better
at a jump shot is to do a jump shot.
Where am I going with this? Well, even though a lot of
weightlifters hit the gym for aesthetic reasons, they would
like some of their hard earned strength to carry over into
real life. For example, there are definitely machines in
many gyms that will work out your lower back, your legs,
and your arms, but where is the machine that simulates the
motion of you lifting a heavy rock off the ground? Working
out with these machines will help you somewhat with a task
like this, but only to a questionable extent.
In this example, the best approximation is the deadlift,
which, because it stimulates the supporting muscles, will
be far better at helping you lift the rock. To summarize
the problem with machines, there is rarely, if ever, a time
outside the gym where you will need to do that exact motion.
Contrast this with free weights; though with free weights
there are generally accepted ranges of motion, there is
plenty of variation in technique to make your muscles more
“usable.”
Maybe some of you out there don’t care at all about
practical applications. Should you completely abandon free
weights? Let’s go back to the idea of supporting muscles.
Not only does the stimulation to these muscles help with
your practical strength, but they also look good! The stimulating
muscles are the muscles that you are never quite sure how
to work out, but they look really cool. Think of the crazy
muscles exhibited by Van Damme or Stallone; those are the
supporting muscles.
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The last benefit of using free weights is greater overall
stimulation of large muscle groups. There are certain free
weight exercises, such as rows, pull-ups, bench presses,
and squats, that no machine can duplicate. Why-Because these
exercises require that a large amount of muscles work together
to lift a weight. You can work out your quads with a leg
press machine, but you could never top the effectiveness
of the squat for a quad workout. Exercise physiologists
have even measured muscle stimulation with things like squats
vs. free weights, and almost without fail the free weights
wins out.
Now that I have completely bashed machines, let’s
go over the benefits they offer. The most important benefit
machines offer is that they are a great introduction to
weightlifting for beginners. The machines can get you into
basic shape, and can teach you how to lift properly. You
can quickly construct a workout just by looking at the diagrams
of the machines and figuring out what muscles each works
out. However, keep machines as your introduction to lifting.
Only once you are going for a few weeks will you want to
construct a workout that incorporates more free weights.
Another benefit machines offer is the ability to do a safer
version of a “dangerous” or advanced exercise.
For example, there is a squat machine that guides the bar
but lets you do the rest of the motion. If you don’t
have any experience with squats, this is a great introduction
and starting ground. There are plenty of other examples
of exercises that would be best learned on a machine and
then done with free weights. Another example is particularly
striking. Many people can’t do one pull-up, or can
only do a few, but there are machines that let you do assisted
pull-ups. This type of machine should definitely be utilized,
because unassisted pull-ups are one of the best possible
back exercises.
To summarize, a great workout will incorporate both free
weights and machines in combination. Try to make the center
of your workouts free weights, but use the machines for
more specialized lifts if necessary. One word of caution
though, do not be lured in by the promises of infomercial
style machines that promise to give you a total body workout.
A lot of these machines use complex pulley systems, rubber
bands, or are just shoddily constructed. If you want to
construct a home gym, your first investment should be a
free weight rack and a sturdy bench.
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