THE DEBATE: FREE WEIGHTS VS MACHINES

        Ever wondered the difference between working with free weights and with Machines? Well, I have and what I found was pretty interesting. Let's see.

THE DEBATE

For many years, the debate is going on, whether training on Machines is better or with Free Weights.

If you go back to ‘old-school training’, Bodybuilders like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, preferred working with Free Weights and they have a point because they got the results! They didn’t have the machines we have now, at their time.

Then came a time when Machines were introduced and were the talk of the town. They ruled the gyms for quite some time, but soon people realized the pros and cons.

Well which is better completely depends on the person’s goals, whether he is a bodybuilder, an Athlete, or just a fit person. Working with one form may be beneficial for one but harmful for another.

Here, the facts are just laid out for someone to consider and choose them carefully in a way not leading to injury, because at the end of the day we train to feel better and be healthy, rather than to injure ourselves.

So let’s cut the chase and find out their benefits.

FREE WEIGHTS

When we talk about free weights, we are talking about every exercise that enables us to move the load in three dimensions, such as

•         Bench Press
•         Military Press
•         Bicep Curls
•         Deadlifts
•         Lateral Pull-downs
•         Squats (Not in the Smith Machine!)
•         Dumbbell Fly and so-on

The benefit that free weights give us is that when engaged, we need to stabilize our body, we need to balance it to lift the load. Most of these exercises replicate our daily body movements, such as when we get up from the couch, or when we lift our heavy luggage or shopping bags, etc. These exercises allow us to move around instead of binding us into a fixed range of motion. This is a form of Functional Fitness.

These exercises engage many more muscles in our body than just the ones focused on (helping muscles such as core or your torso muscles), leading to a greater overall Fitness. More Muscle Fibers are engaged in the focused muscle too, helping the trainee put on more muscle mass.

With such Advantages comes a few disadvantages too.

When training with free weights, there is a higher risk of you to get injured if your position/form is not good. Since the load is not bound, it is difficult to lift heavy, trying may lead to injury.

Anyone who is looking for overall fitness should use them. For Bodybuilders, it helps a lot to put on some mass, getting bigger and stronger. Athletes should involve more free weight training, as they help the body stabilization which can result in greater efficiency on the field.

MACHINES

          When we talk about machines, we are talking about machines such as,

·        Pec Fly Machine

·        Smith Machine

·        Leg Extension/Curls Machine

Machines were introduced in training for easing the exercise and focusing (isolating) more on the working muscle group. They provide assistance by doing the job of stabilization for you.

When training on the machine, your body parts other than the working ones, don’t come in action, which provides you greater strength as only a particular muscle has to do the job.

A machine can help a trainee to isolate a muscle and build it particularly, but then balancing the body would leave them in tears.

Training with Machines can be very beneficial for someone who has hit a plateau (plateau – one getting used to the exercise and its intensity to such an extent that they don’t respond to it any more, for resolving this, one must change the intensity and sequence of workout) and can try isolating the lacking muscle in order to improve it.

THE JUDGEMENT

The judgment again stands in favor of both. In order to achieve overall fitness that is Shape, Size, Endurance, Stamina, Power, Stabilization, etc., one needs to include both forms of exercise in their workouts.

I recommend managing your training in such a way that Free Weights should come first in your workout and then the finishers should be on the Machines. Try to include more Free Weights, as we have seen their benefits above.

For eg. A Chest Workout should typically go like this:

•     Warm-up
•      Bench press (FW)
•      Angled/inclined Bench Press(FW)
•      Dumbbell Pullover(FW)
•      Pec Fly(Mach)

This is just a sample to show the sequence, not necessarily follow the exercises given, there is much more to a chest workout.