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  1. #1
    Registered User Reazzurro90's Avatar
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    Weight machines and Free Weights

    I have a question - why is there such a great controversy on whether to use weight machines or free weights? Is either genuinely better than the other? Or are weight machines completely ineffective in a workout?
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  2. #2
    just trifling cooper...'s Avatar
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    weights are weights and the muscle doesnt know what it is lifting, it just feels resistance, breaks down, and then builds up stronger. so in that sense they are the same.

    both have there place in bodybuilding. machines tend to isolate more, while free weights woork supporting muscle [stabalisers] as well.

    but i'm not going to start an argument over which is better
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  3. #3
    Supplement freak LONE GUNNER's Avatar
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    They are both good =P.
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    Registered User platnm's Avatar
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    Machines isolate certain parts of the muscle more. If your just working out to get bigger theres nothing to worry about on whether or not you use free weights or machines. But, I do know free weights are harder to stabilize etc. I think free weights are better, but it depends on what you lift for really.
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  5. #5
    Registered Fistpumper NYY's Avatar
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    They both have their advantages, but free weights have more. Like said above free weights get your stablizers working, machines do better job of isolating a muscle(group). I used both in my workouts, but mostly free weights.
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  6. #6
    Registered User jack_of_all's Avatar
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    Free weights recruit more muscle fiber, they will bring in additional muscles to stabalize the weight because it isn't stabalized for you. long term training based around machines has been compared to firing a cannon out of a canoe, from a muscular balance point you'd be building in innate weaknesses (that doesn't mean that using machines is bad, but the base of any routine needs to be free weights). From a biomechanical point of view, free weights are far safer, machines lock your joints into a fixed path, contributing to pattern overload of the joints and connective tissues.

    Machines require virtually no technique, and the risk of injury due to fatigue will be lower than with free weights because you can't slip out of the relativley safe motion (in other words, machines can be good for someone who is incorporating high volume training because after they are fatigued from free weights, they can continue to lift despite fatigue and not have to worry about losing the weight off to one side or dropping a bar on themselves)

    In conclusion, you don't ever need machines, but they can be a helpful addition to a bodybuilder's routine if used right.
    Jack of all trades, master of none, though oftentimes better than master of one.

    Lift the damn weight, and eat the damn food. It's as hard and as complicated as you make it.
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