More and more top coaches and athletes are getting away from machine-based weight workouts and discovering alternative training methods.
Weight machines are expensive, most of the time require a gym membership, and are often ineffective training tools because they focus on isolation exercises.
Depending mainly on machines for strength training may actually limit sports performance and increase injury risk during your sports activity.
Using free weights is an amazing alternative to machines for building strength and fitness. Lifting weights increase muscle size, strength, power, and endurance. Moreover, it also burns calories and increases bone density.
Benefits Of Strength Training With Free Weights
Using free weights is a good way to build functional strength—the sort of strength that mimics both sports-specific and real-life activities that use a variety of movements through a wide range of motion.
The foundation of these functional fitness programs is a variety of compound exercises (multi-joint movements that work several muscles or muscle groups at one time) that incorporate free weights and body weight exercises.
Another unfortunate con of weight machines is that they fail to adhere to the principle of specificity of training. You must train for the sport you play, and the best training activities resemble your sports movements.
If you train on machines, you get pretty decent at lifting or pushing those weights on the machine. Even if you aren’t an athlete and simply want to feel better doing daily chores machines will only get you so far.
A high percentage of daily tasks we do don’t comply with the fixed movements of machines. Most of our daily tasks involve free weights.
Free weights such as dumbbells and medicine balls are better training for sports and for life. Most of the time, you can create much more specificity of training by using free weights than machines. Machines build muscles that you use primarily in the gym.
Another benefit of training with free weights is that you will develop better balance.
Machines require no balance at all—you sit down, strap yourself in, and push. Balance training is a crucial part of all sports and is extremely essential for graceful aging.
When to Actually Use Machines
Machines do have a place in rehab and training, when muscle isolation, or the ability to control movement speed, direction and intensity is desired.
Machines are also useful for novice exercisers who may need a very structured program of movement to build some very basic strength. Machines can also have a drastic role in ‘bulking’ up the body with muscle for unspecified strength.
Obviously, bodybuilders will want as much muscle as possible and aren’t as concerned with how that muscle performs precise, athletes movements.
But functional training should be the core of a fitness program for anyone who wants to develop strength, skill, agility, and balance for sports (and life) outside the gym