Free weights or machines
- Thread starter aamar
- Start date
whistledixie
New Member
I can't tell you which is best because what is best for you might not be what is best for me (we all have different goals), but I'll tell you what I like best. I like free weights. I feel like free weights help with true strength gains and that is what I seek. Machines take away the stabilizing aspect of free weights. Free weightlifting has greater carryover to real world tasks.
And I like to workout at home. For what a year's gym membership costs, you can get a used bench, bar, and some plates and work out at home at your leisure.
For your 2nd question, I really don't think squatting one day could hinder your press the next. Different muscle groups.
I agree with WD on squatting. I do legs and chest the same day and don't find much hindrance. On the free weights vs machines question, unless you are forced to choose one over the other, why choose? Variety is important to continued progression, IMO, so having both is the best possible option. I like machines for things like laterals for delts, and butterflies for chest, because using free weights for these irritates my shoulder joints, which took a beating from too many years as a banquet waiter (carrying many heavy trays full of dishes every shift). Also, on some exercises free weights fail to provide resistance through the full range of motion, such as on preacher curls where the bar is moving almost horizontally on the top third of the movement giving the biceps no resistance at all. Most curl machines don't have this problem. I would stick with free weights for the basic movements at the very least, however.
I used free weight exercises as core parts of my routine at all times, and use machines for some things on top of that. There is nothing wrong with machines. Some are quite nice. I like the chest supported row machine that I use at the gym, made by HammerStrength. It's great. I use a tricep dip machine, and when I feel the need a leg curl machine, leg press and sometimes a machine for situps/crunches. Machines can be very useful. However, I still think you should keep the mainstays like squats, deads, flat bench, etc as core parts of your routine.