Rather than argue whether free weights or machines are better, smart trainers learn how to best employ both types of training for maximum results.
Recently, almost every coach or trainer seems to have an article comparing machine weights with free weights. Some authors favour machine weights (exercise machines) while others favour free weights (barbells, dumbbells) for strength development. Most articles quote top athletes, bodybuilders, football players and others advocating the use and greater effectiveness of one or the other method.
The debate and controversy continue to probe the effectiveness of using machine or free weights to develop strength and physical fitness. Even if one were more effective than the other, should there be a controversy as to their use? At Old Boys Brigade we believe not. Each method of training has merit. Therefore, if we look at each method and why it is of value, we should be able to see how both methods can be used for maximum effectiveness. Rather than list the pros and cons of machine exercises and free weights, we only have to look at the good points (and some poor features) of each method to see how they can be combined to produce maximal results.
When you begin training for the first time, it is most advantageous to use machine exercises. They are much safer and easier to control than free weights. In executing the various exercises you do not handle the weights but a bar or handle which is free from the body and which moves weights which are also free from the body. If you lose grip of the handles, lose control of the movement or, in an extreme case, black out during execution of the exercise, the weights and handle will return to their original position, and neither the weights nor the handle will hit you.
Machine weights are also much more convenient for beginners because it is much easier to change weights. You merely have to take out and re-insert a pin (or other similar device). With free weights this may sometimes take several minutes.
Because of the ease in changing weights and the safety of using machine weights, they lend themselves to effective use by large groups. This is why many teams, especially schools and colleges, use machine weights. With several multi-station exercise machines or individual stations spread out in a circuit, many athletes can exercise at the same time.
Free weights are as versatile as your needs; the number of plates and bars and, of course, the amount of space depend on your situation. In the gym environment all participants would have to be well educated in safety and correct use of free weights. Supervisory involvement can increase the amount of training time and the expense in a gym operation. Changing the weights for each athlete as his turn comes up at a particular exercise station is very time-consuming, opposed to the efficiency of machines.
Still, the most effective training programs require some free weights, especially free plates and preset dumbbells. The plates are needed for resistance when doing exercises such as sit-ups, back raises and foot exercises such as inversions and aversions. Dumbbells are needed for hand supination and pronation and medial and lateral rotation in the shoulder joint.
There are four phases in most athletes training cycles: general preparatory, specialised preparatory, competitive, post-competitive. In the general preparatory period the athlete develops fundamental all-round strength. He strives to make all the major muscles and joints as strong as possible through their entire range of motion. That means development of primary muscles, synergists and stabilizers.
Machine exercises are safe and easy to control. They are set in one pathway, which means you can get development of the muscle in only one particular range of motion. For variety the machine user can change grip, foot or hand placement. That will allow for more all-round muscle development although it will not reach the degree possible with free weights. Because free weights force the user to control form through the entire range of motion, synergist and stabilizer muscles come into play, enhancing the strength foundation in muscle groups and joints.
When the lifter desires a more specialized, detailed muscular development, he or she should begin using free weights, no matter what was used to build a strength foundation. A bodybuilder who wants maximum definition of the biceps brachii muscles would use dumbbells in various pathways: up and down, inside-outside, outside-inside, neutral-grip, supinated, pronated, etc.
Another athlete might require more body balance in his movements. He might also want the training movements to be as close as possible to the actual skills involved in the sport. He uses free weights to achieve both objectives. For example, football linemen do front and back squats with a barbell to develop more body balance. The muscles required to maintain balance, especially those of the midsection (lower back and abdominals), therefore, are also developed.
Free weights are used by football linemen to do compound exercises (two to four muscle groups act in sequence) such as the continuous dead-lift (sometimes known as a high pull). The exercise begins with a deadlift and then goes into an upright row with the bar raised to head level and ends with ankle joint extension. This more closely duplicates the lineman’s movements and can be achieved only with the use of a barbell.
For development of power (speed-strength), free weights are most effective for use in various jumping, throwing and hitting exercises such as double- or single-leg hops with dumbbells in the hands or a padded barbell on the shoulders.
In some instances, for effective development of specific muscles, a combination of machine ingenuity and free weights called benches must be used, as they are the only or most convenient means. For example, the leg curl exercise is very effective for development of the lower hamstring muscle. Without a leg-curl bench, you would need weight boots and many small disc plates to get the resistance needed, and you would need to stand on something so the weights clear the floor, so you would need an assistant for support.
A specialized bench apparatus such as the Glute-Ham Developer is the only way the entire hamstring muscle can achieve maximum development. The movement cannot be duplicated with free weights in a typical gym unless you have wall bars and gymnastic horses.
Another example is the lat pull-down exercise. The only way the exercise can be done with free weights is to hang the lifter upside down and have him do inverted lateral arm raises with dumbbells. Weighted pull-ups don’t allow full range of motion, and rope climbing can be dangerous. For convenience and efficiency, many exercise machines can’t be beat.
It should now be evident that for maximum strength development we should not argue over which method should be used but how they can be best combined for total effectiveness. Using both machine weights and free weights provides greater variety in your workouts, which, in turn, keeps them interesting and exciting.