Resistance Machines - the root of all evil? We have seen it all before...some middle aged lady performing an unsafe, obscure free weights exercise never seen before! The truth is she was probably taught a totally different exercise to the one she was performing but somewhere in her 1 hour appointment with her trainer, amoungst all the other exercises she was taught, forgot what she was meant to do!! In the current age of functional training we as trainers are taught that you should avoid resistance machines at all costs as they are dysfunctional etc. I remember this very well when doing my first personal training certification some years ago. There is no doubt that free weights have many benefits when used correctly and with the correct audience. However, when devising gym programmes for the general populatioon we need to ask the following questions before selecting resistance exercises? 1) Will the individual feel comfortable coming back and doing the programme? If not the trainer is failing to do their job of servicing and retaining members. 2) Is the exercise safe for this individual? 3) Is the individual likely to remember the exercises taking into account their exercise experience and the limited time that we as trainers may have to coach them (normally 30 to 45 min)? 4) Will the individual be working in a supervised (personal training)unsupervised environment. Many trainers dont seem to realise that giving the individual a little less now will help many members feel more comfortable in the gym environment and ultimately stay longer! Once these members are comfortable with their environment then we can start to introduce the exercises that will really start to benefit them. So patience is the key here. Also with more experinced trainers in the strength training/body building environment resistance machines when used intelligently are an extremely important tool. So in conclusion resistance machines have an important place in the gym environment when used correctly. Rant over :)
Posted on: Wed, 19 Mar 2014 07:53:36 +0000
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