Audra Yocom is a certified personal trainer based out of Los Angeles and Las Vegas, who brings you monthly fitness tips and helps us to disspell those myths we’ve all been subjected to regarding fitness at one point or another in our battle with the bulge. To learn more about Audra or to inquire about training sessions visit her site http://audrayocom.com.
Most health and fitness professionals agree dumbbells reign supreme over machines. Each workout method does, however, serve its purpose. When training my clients I prefer using dumbbells or free weights over machines when possible, but I find I can’t eliminate machines altogether especially if my client has injuries to compensate for. Before we dive too deep into this though let’s first take a broad look at some of the advantages and disadvantages of each:
FREE WEIGHTS MACHINES
Advantages
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Advantages
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Disadvantages
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Disadvantages
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I believe the most important reason free weights are better than machines is that they work the main muscle and the stabilizer muscles at the same time. Free weights require you to continually adjust and readjust to ensure the exercises are being performed correctly and that your joint is stable. This adjusting and readjusting is what incorporates the use of stabilizing and helping muscles. Take your knee joint for instance. Let’s say you only use the leg extension machine and the leg curl machine to work your quadriceps and hamstrings. These machines both set a predetermined path for your movement leaving little need for your stabilizing muscles to engage as they would if you were doing lunges and squats. So while you may have strong quadriceps and hamstrings, by using machines, you won’t necessarily have stable knee joints. If you are someone who has knee issues and cannot perform regular squats and lunges it’s a good idea to add extra exercises (such as single leg balances) to your regimen to create a more stable joint.
Another great thing about free weights as opposed to machines is that the movements involved in using free weights more closely match natural movement and neurological patterns associated with sports. This can serve to help with simple day-to-day activities (i.e., carrying groceries, moving furniture, and picking objects up off the floor) to playing your favorite sports. In today’s modern society of remote controls and automated systems, whereby our bodies are used less, it’s even more important that we incorporate workout programs to offset the lack of use and help prevent injuries.
Dumbbells usually cost a great deal less than machines and do not take up as much space. Not to mention the fact that you typically need more than one machine to perform all the exercises you can with dumbbells. It is true that you usually need several sets of dumbbells in varying weights to get a well-rounded workout, but there is a nice alternative to this called a PowerBlock (www.powerblock.com). A PowerBlock is a single set of dumbbells that allow you to change the weight on them, incrementally, eliminating the need for several sets of weights.
Even though there are a number of reasons to use free weights over machines there are also some valid reasons to use machines. For instance, machines are great at isolating specific muscles if your goal is to maximize concentration of that muscle. Machines can allow for a quicker workout because changing the weight is a matter of moving a pin instead of re-racking and tracking down heavier or lighter weights. You don’t have to wait for someone to be done using your desired weight to change it. The equipment also chooses your resistance path for you so you don’t have to wonder whether or not you are performing the move correctly. It also provides a great alternative for people with special needs who wouldn’t be able to perform certain exercises without the added help. In addition, lifters find it to be a nice alternative to finding a spotter when they want to lift a large amount of weight.
In summary, I believe the best plan of attack when training my clients and I are to do as much of the workout as possible with free weights. I then default to machines and other methods of training when free weights are not an option in order to maximize my results.
