Have you ever wondered what the differences were between free-weights and machines? Or if one was better than the other?
In this article, we will discuss this by looking at a 2021 review which explored this subject.
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FREE-WEIGHTS vs MACHINES
According to the review mentioned above, there were no significant differences between machines and free-weight exercises for muscle and strength development.
It was found that machine based exercises increased strength on machines the most and free-weight exercises increased strength on free-weight exercises the most.
This basically means if you have a specific goal such increasing your deadlift (a free-weight exercise), then training with free-weight exercises is better.
The advantage of machines for muscle building is that it minimises the stability requirements which allows for greater focus and intensity to be placed on the target muscle while having less risk of injury. For example, going all out on the chest press machine will be much safer compared to reaching failure on the dumbbell bench press where one may lose control over the dumbbells.
A potential disadvantage of machine based exercises could be the fact that they will not incorporate the stabiliser muscles the same way free-weight exercises do. For example, completing a lower body workout by utilising only machines (leg extensions, hamstring curls etc.) and without any free-weight exercises (squat, lunge, deadlift variations) will result in minimum core training. This could mean additional exercises may be required to complete a balanced training programme.
In summary, they are both beneficial and can complement each other. I highly recommend that both should be included in your training programme strategically in order to optimise the results.
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