I notice alot of different walks of people using machines and equipment at the gym incorrectly or upon talking to them, for the wrong reasons. Heres some light on the subject of when to and when not to use machines! ***for the purposes of this rant, Cable machines do not equal machines*** WHEN to use weight machines at the gym: -goal: SIZE, and to lift as much weight safely as you can -goal: REHAB, and to isolate specific muscles in need of building -goal: SYMMETRY - to strengthen and even out your weaknesses with 1-legged / 1-arm exercises -goal: TECHNIQUE / POSTURE / NEW TO WEIGHTS - to correctly learn how to manipulate weight and lifting tempo and correct posture to take out into the free weight world WHEN NOT to use weight machines at the gym: -goal: WEIGHT LOSS - weight loss = using as many muscles as possible and not sitting down which is exactly whats not happening on this piece of kit. Do cardio / circuit training instead. -goal: FUNCTIONALITY - isolated machines often do movements that dont translate well into real world situations. Try free weights or cable exercises instead. -goal: STABILIZATION / BALANCE - sitting down and using muscles on their own is not how mother nature intended us to use muscles. Dont think that because you can machine press 100kg, that it will translate into being able to push anywhere near that weight in real life...(especially if you skip leg day!). If you want to get better at squats / barbell & dumbell presses and free weights, machines arent for you - as they take out any element of stability. -goal: CORE STRENGTH - please please please please dont do any core or ab work on machines (Cable machines excluded). Not only do they not translate well into real life situations [whats the point of having muscles if you cant lift heavy things? & try and think of a situation where you are mimicing a sit-up machine in real life...] but your CORE muscles are STABILIZERS, so if youre not using them to stabilize you are doing it wrong! Try plank & leg raise variations for the front and superman / bridge / deadlift variations for the back! MACHINES TO AVOID ALTOGETHER: abdominal machine (come see me how to do it the right way if you must), back extension, abduction / adduction machines, core rotation machines. Any of the core exercises mentioned above for the former and squat / lunge / step variations for the latter. One final note, ever notice how dated your gyms machines look? Thats no surprise because Im guessing they were made in the 1980s/1990s and ALOT has changed in fitness and gyms since then! Let me know if this helped clear up things or if you have any further questions! Now get out there and lift! Cheers to Liam for inserting that assisted pull-up / dip machines are exempt from negative stigma of this post. They are good. Use them often.
Posted on: Wed, 24 Sep 2014 06:50:22 +0000