Free Weights or Machines
Should you use Free Weights or Machines for your workouts? It’s easy to just sit down in a comfortable exercise machine and knock out your reps, but are you getting the best workout for the time you have available? In this article, we’ll look at the pros and cons of both, and help you decide which is better, free weights or machines. Let’s get going!
Free Weights or Machines: Free Weights
When the talk turns to free weights or machines, one fact rings out: free weights are a huge part of the legacy of lifting. When’s the last time you saw powerlifters smashing PR’s on a Chest Press or Leg Press machine? Historically, free weights have been the mainstay of bodybuilders, powerlifters and weightlifters for decades. To be honest, nothing feels quite like having your hands wrapped around the cold steel of a bar – and then controlling a heavy weight though the range of motion of, say, bench presses, squats, or deadlifts. Free Weights or Machines? Free weights are the clear winner, right? We’ll see!
PROS
- Free weights bring all the stabilizer muscles into play. You have to maintain balance of the bar as well as lift the bar. This means you’re getting the absolute biggest bang for your buck from your exercises.
- You can do more exercises with free weights. Most machines are by their nature limited to one primary exercise.
- With free weights, you can exercise virtually anywhere, even outdoors. Once you understand how to perform the free weight exercises of your choice, you can go into any gym and feel comfortable. You can also grab a pair of dumbbells and train outside.
- With free weights and just a few pieces of equipment, you can build your own home gym regardless of how much space you have.
- The bottom line is that, if mass is your goal, compound free weight exercises are the most common way to get there.
CONS
- Getting the correct form down is not always easy. To avoid injury, you most likely will need the help of a personal trainer. Exercises like bench presses, deadlifts and squats fall into this category, as do clean and presses, and the Olympic lifts. All exercises need to be done right, and sometimes there is a substantial learning curve.
- Some exercises require safety measures. For example, at home, I only bench or squat inside a power rack. If I get stuck, the safety pins are there to save me. I won’t do bench presses at the gym, there’s no safety catches.
- Some exercises just can’t be easily done with free weights. Calf work, for example, is much easier on a machine.
Free Weights or Machines: Exercise Machines
The free weights or machines debate shifted into a higher gear with the advent of all the latest exercise machines. There are quite a few to choose from. You’ve got the standard weight-stack machines as well as plate-loaded leverage machines. The truth is, there are several exercises that can really only be done using a machine. For example, seated and standing calf raises. Oh sure, you can use a barbell, but with standing calf raises you can’t balance well with a barbell. You can use a barbell for seated calf raises by resting the bar on your lap, but how much weight can you really use? Other exercises that must be done by machine are the various upper and lower cable movements, such as lat pulldowns, triceps pressdowns, and seated cable rows. Free weight or machines? This almost makes it seem that machines are better. We’ll haved to wait and see.
Smith Machine
There’s also the Smith machine, a favorite of many top bodybuilders. It was originally invented by 1950’s TV exercise guru Jack LaLanne, who had one in his gym. However, the man who refined it was Rudy Smith. Smith installed it in a gym he was managing, and it took off from there. Nowadays, every gym has one, and many of the self-contained home gyms you can buy are based around a Smith machine. The free weights or machines debate wasn’t really around at this time, but the Smith combines them both into one unit.(1)
Jones and Heavy Duty
I would say that machines came more into accepted use thanks to Arthur Jones and his Nautilus continuous tension machines. Jones teamed up with popular bodybuilder Mike Mentzer, who had a reputation for going against the established bodybuilding protocols of his day.
Mentzer advocated a high intensity approach to working out. He believed in short workouts and very low sets taken past failure. He also worked out relatively infrequently compared to other pros. He used a lot of machines in his routines. One reason is because they keep constant tension on the muscles, which was a great selling point for Nautilus. In fact, the debate between free weights or machines really took off when Nautilus hit the market(2)
PROS
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Machines are ideal for many of the extended-set techniques used by high-intensity proponents. For example, drop sets couldn’t be easier on a machine, you just change the pin.
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If you’re pressed for time, using machines can be a time-saving efficient way to get in your workout. As above, putting a pin into the weight stack is much faster than setting up a barbell. But let’s be fair, the plate-loaded leverage machines take as long as a barbell to load. The other problem is some lifters leave the machine loaded to the max, and you get stuck unloading it. Even so, for the most part, you can move from machine to machine easily.
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If you’re new to the gym and you don’t have a trainer, machines are the safest, easiest way to go. Most machines have instructional diagrams right on the front to help you with proper lifting form.
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If you want to lift heavy weights without fear of safety issues or the need of a spotter, machines make it easy. The security of the machine allows you to lift heavy without fear of getting stuck – just put the pin where you want it, and go!
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Machines are not the only way to train a specific muscle group, but they make it easy. As noted, it is difficult to do certain exercises (like a leg curl) with free weights.
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There are options with machines, you not only have the standard weight stack, you also have, as noted, plate-loaded leverage machines, which give the exercise an entirely different feel.
CONS
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Machines allow you to perform an exercise without bringing in the stabilizing muscles. This means you don’t get true functional strength that relates to muscle movement in your daily life.
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Another negative is that machines don’t always fit your body, even after adjusting the seat or handles. If you happen to be very short or very tall, many exercise machines may not fit your size. That means the exercise you want to do won’t be mechanically efficient which leads to an ineffective exercise, frustration or possibly injury.
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Also many exercise machines create a forced or guided two-dimensional plane of movement. That means you are limited in the stress you’re putting your muscles through.
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If you have been training using mainly machines for a while, you reach a point where you realize that machines can be a little boring. Let’s face it, it’s the same old same old; you get bored, which can lead to a loss of motivation.
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A potentially big problem with using machines is that they get filled pretty quickly as the gym gets busy. This problem is compounded by lifters sitting there busy with their phones, taking 2 or 3 times the rest between sets they should be. You might find you have to wait 30 minutes or more for a machine. This has happened to me, so I just go do something else. As a side note, I strongly suggest lifters put their phones down for a few moments, or better yet leave it in the locker, and focus on their workouts. The world won’t end because your hand isn’t glued to your phone.
Summary – Free Weights or Machines, or Both?
Let’s face it, the controversy over which is better – free weights or machines – has been around forever. The truth is, you should use both to build a complete physique. Both are effective, and as noted, there are some great exercises that can only be done on a machine.
Also as noted, nothing beats the feel of a perfectly executed squat or bench press. I advise a cornerstone program of free weight compound exercises that allow to build a good strength and size foundation by utilizing progressive overload. This can be supplemented with machine exercises, such as calf, back and triceps work. Why not use all the tools you have available to get the most of your routine, right? Free weights or machines? How about both!
References:
- Black, Jonathan (2013). “The Machine Age, 1960s-1970s”. Making the American Body: The Remarkable Saga of the Men and Women Whose Feats, Feuds, and Passions Shaped Fitness History. University of Nebraska Press. p. 49. ISBN 978-0-8032-4370-5.
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Jones_(inventor)