Often it is asked, "What is best to work out with, free weights or machines?" Of course, the complete answer is more complex than the choice of one or the other. The answer depends on what type of equipment you have access to, will you be working out with a partner or a personal trainer, your time availability, history of lifting, and your budget.
Access to Equipment
Let’s look at "access to equipment" first. This can be looked at as either working out of a gym or fitness center or setting up with your own home fitness room. Space availability and initial investment are two factors that will determine the set up of a home gym.
If you belong to a club or fitness center, you probably have access to both free weights and machines. Dollar per dollar, or minute by minute, you will reap more benefits using the free weights. Free weights provide additional physical challenges that are not available with machines. Challenges such as "balance and coordination" and "individual resistance" per body part (although some newer machines now have accommodated this difference) are a few of the benefits of free weights. With the balance element, not only are the major muscle groups engaging, but the secondary-supporting cast is working deep within the joint to provide stability. This element of stability and activation of the secondary musculature is a paramount difference between machines and free weights.
Usually, when someone is looking to develop their own home gym, I advise free weights because, ultimately, the cost is substantially less than purchasing a one piece, do-it-all total gym. The benefits of balance and coordination, the versatility of free weights, and usually, free weights are much less cumbersome.
The Buddy System
Working out with a partner can influence your decision.
With machines, when you are fatigued with the set, you slowly return the resistance to its starting position, safely. No partner is necessary because the resistance is safely built within the structure of the machine.
With free weights, when working out alone, you must return the weights to the floor in a "body safe" position; making certain that you do not jeopardize your body mechanics or anatomy in the process. It often works best to work with a partner so that they can assist you in your last reps; this will enable you to maximize your work out.
The Time Factor
If you have a time constraint, you can probably work out "more" with machines because you don’t have the issue of picking up and returning the weights to the rack. Usually, all you need to do is adjust the seat and weights and away you go. "More" doesn’t mean a better workout. As I mentioned earlier, you are not only working the major muscle groups with free weights, you are also working out the secondary cast of muscles that support the joint. This can translate into a cleaner and more productive lifting session, usually in a reduction of the time.
History of Lifting
With regards to "history of lifting", starting with machines is a nice way to begin for the novice. The simplicity of the machines usually makes it more user friendly than free weights. Free weights require learning techniques and patterns to avoid injury and maximize time investment. As a rule, the more seasoned a lifter, the more prone he or she is to gravitate to free weights.
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