Comments on: Iron is King! Machines vs. Free Weights

By: learn to draw

learn to draw — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 21:03:31 +0000

nothing beats the free weights, especially for sports that require power without a bench to support your body, ie, football, boxing, mrial arts, etc.

Machines cradle and make everything smooth, you dont get a change to work those little stabilizing muscles and connective tissue, nor your core.

Machines have only been of one use to me, if i ever have a major injury ( I boxed for years and now I am cage fighting) they are easier on the body and i can work out a little bit and not have me going to waste.

Other than that, stick to the free weights for at least 80% of your workout.

By: Project Swole - Build Muscle and Lose Fat

Project Swole - Build Muscle and Lose Fat — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 19:08:25 +0000

Oh, how I agree. Most machines are not only far less productive than free weights, but will also lead to injury over time. Some machines that offer varying planes of motion are slightly beneficial, but there’s nothing like free weights. Preach on.

By: kovano jelyazo

kovano jelyazo — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 15:31:11 +0000

Your problem, and mine, is that you’re sitting in front of the screen for too long periods of time. You need to free some endorphins or whatever by getting out and about, nab some fresh air, or just do something else. Being crammed in the oh so comfy but not very healthy blogging chair all day isn’t a good thing.

By: Augustin

Augustin — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 10:55:43 +0000

Overall, I think free weights are better than machines for the reasons you mentioned. But like you also said, free weights require spotting to get optimal workouts. When I do my usual free weight chest exercises when I’m alone, my chest doesn’t get torn up or feel as sore the next day as they do when I use machines. For example, I can really max it and force rep on a machine chest press, than I would be able to using free weights with no spotter. On a chest press machine, there is that little foot thing that you can use to force rep or use as a spotter. All the bar benches have the safety spotter things that Mike (post above) mentioned, but it doesn’t allow you to have forced reps.

So when I’m training alone, I usually do a combination of both. My chest day goes something like this:

• 100 push up warm up ( i can’t do 100 in a row, so I usually do 40 + 20 + 20 + 10 + 10 )
• 3-4 sets of max/heavy chest press on machine (with 3rd and 4th set having force reps)
• 3-4 sets of dumb bell chest press, 3-4 sets dumb bell incline, 3-4 sets dumb bell decline, 3-4 sets dumb bell fly
• finish off with regular push ups, ball push ups, half ball push ups, clapping push ups, clock push ups and other varieties of push ups to complete failure.

By: Steve's Used Bowflex Machines

Steve's Used Bowflex Machines — Mon, 26 May 2008 13:27:01 +0000

Nice post! I agree to a certain extent about the safety issue. Anytime you are lifting, whether it is with a machine or free-weights, you need to be careful. Not so much with the motion, but know your body. If something starts to hurt, then stop.

Trust me, there is a difference between a good burn and injury pain.

By: Awesome post!

Awesome post! — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 15:18:00 +0000

latest news

What you said is just sooo true

By: Albert

Albert — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 15:16:52 +0000

I agree with you. But I have a few questions that I would like to ask (if you don’t mind). (1) Can you give me & my friend (he’s been doing weight-lifting for yewars) a good steps on weight-lifting? (2) Are there any medicines or drugs that might help on weight-lifting?

Thanks…

By: Mike

Mike — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 18:10:35 +0000

I just wanted to comment on the safety of free weights. I agree with everything you said but the whole point you missed about the safety of free weights is that most Gyms have cages with safety spotters built into them for things such as squats and bench presses so you can pile on the weight wthout the fear of killing yourself. They are also fairly inexpensive for home use as well. You can buy a rack, a bench for it and weights for about the same price or less than if you bought some of the home machines including bowflex type machines.

The “don’t be a freakin’ idiot” comment did not explain exactly how they can be made safer.