Free Weights vs Machines
 

Since I've been home for the holidays I've been going to a different gym. It's the fitness center of the prison my Mom works at. They have a lot of machines there compared to free weights. Since I am alone most of the time that I go, I tend to use the machines rather than free weights so that I don't need a spotter or kill myself by dropping weights on my empty head. The machines are nice and help me keep good form, however, I've noticed that I have to do a lot more weight and reps to get a good workout. I normally do 3 sets of 8. But with the machines, I'm not sore the next day or feel like I even worked out. I'll use my bench as an example. I'll do my first set at about 145lbs, increase by 10lbs up to 165lbs. But this isn't working anymore with the machine, which is just a bench type machine that is on a rail and pegs so I can lock it in place, you can use it for squat and military press, ect. I have started to do 4 sets of 8 on all my exercises with more weight, up to 185lbs. on bench, and even today, I don't feel sore one bit. I do have a good burn durring and a little while after working out. I lift until I can't lift anymore, but the next day, nothing.

Does anyone have some insight on why this is? Should I quit using the machines and go back to free weights? Is it normal or ok to not be sore the day after working out. My usualy routine I allow one day of heal time, but I don't even feel like I need it with what I'm doing now. I was in football and power lifting in highschool and I was always sore the day after lifting but we used free weights on just about everything.

Weight machines usually allow for only 1 or 2 dimensional motion. When you are doing free weights your body will need to make tiny corrections at all times to maintain that same 1 or 2 dimentional motion.

imagine doing a bench press on a machine designed for it. you don't need to worry about the weights going off to the side. With free weights you do and are making sure they do not subconciously with small but continous corrections

Ive heard free weights offer better results based on what you just said Lazerred6. The tiny corrections work muscles in ways that machines cannot reproduce.

I dont work out anymore, but back when I did it was free weights... I was ripped pretty good from them.

i prefer free weights also. Personally i see better results in my body with the free weights than the machines. But if i can get access to the machines I will use them. Just use the machines as a supplement to the free weights, not a replacement. When you use the free weights you engage more muscles in your body in order to keep your body and posture stabilized throughout the motion. This is good for your core. Thats how i usually work out, and I have been satisfied with the results. But i am not a personal trainer, and i dont look like arnold either, but that has never been a goal for me so idk

Free weights are always better....

I will start using the free weights then, they just don't have many in this gym, or much room to use them, but it not really too crowded since it's not a public gym. I feel like I could bench 200lbs. with that one machine lol. For those that work out; what is your routine? Like I said, I normally do 3 sets of 8 at about 85% of my max. and just rotate exercises till I get all the muscle groups I want to hit. I don't even do legs anymore, what man needs to squat more than about 500lbs. I do arms and abs one day with a medium amount of cardio, and the next day just a crap load of cardio and maybe back.

free weights are best, by far, because its your body actually doing it and like everyone mentioned above. the only plus to machines is the fact that you dont need a spotter. However there are some hybrid machine free weight things i use at my gym. Theres a big tall thing with a 45 pound bar and u can twist the bar to lock it if u cant get it back up and while benching i lock it in, and theres a leg press hybrid thing that has similar locks as well, i use those, and feel it the next day.

Thats what I've been using. But I seriously don't feel much from it. I think the major factor is what everyone has been saying, it's the matter of controling the free weights that makes the big difference.

I have always liked Free Weights over the machines, but I do like to mix it up in order to get a full workout.

I was just saying the other day to my wife I need to get back in to the gym, but this time of year its the worst time of year to start with all the new year resolution peeps that will be crowding the gyms soon for a couple months.

But I used to go 3x a week, a day of rest in between

Mon/Wed/Fri: I would start with Dumbbells from 45lbs/55/65 ( 10 reps each. ) - with them behind my kneck and then to the sides as well.

Weight bar Curls of 125/135/145 of 15 reps in front and then behind my kneck again

And then do crunches on the machine, pushups on the machine, curls on the machine, legs curls on the machine.

And then finish up on the treadmill for 30-45min, and then cool down shooting some hoops in the gym.

And I normally end up feeling it the next day for sure, I have to be careful since I have 3 plates/screws in my kneck from when I had surgery about 4-6yrs ago and I seem to always go over board and push my self to hard. But I need to try to get my cholesterol under control though.

- Do you guys take any of the over the counter weight gain milk shakes as well? or creatine mix or anything?

I prefer free weights, but it is much easier to use machines certain muscles such as your back.

Also, machines as previously stated help keep good form so you don't cheat yourselft, but again the motion is very repetitive and you can plateau easily.

yep. Free Weights are a much better work out.

You work out in a prison?

WTF?

LOL, no it's the prison's fitness center that is for employees and family, not the inmates. A lot of the guards and people on the special response teams have to be in shape. There are some inmates "trustees" that are allowed down there to clean it and straighten up so sometimes you do come into contact with inmates but they normally don't bother you. I have grown up around the prison and been inside many times and been around inmates so it doesn't really bother me. There was one time where I was helping my mom set up some tables, an inmate was in there, I guess my Mom called me by name. About a week later I was going to her office and while walking down a hall an inmate said "Hey Matt." I said hey back, but then realized how strange and odd it is for an federal prison inmate to know and remember your name.

Free weights will always be better. I only use machines when its so busy and I don't wait around when I am at the gym. So if there is no other choice, then I will use them.

For my workout this afternoon I used as many free weights as I could and I can tell a difference. I also worked upper body two days in a row since I didn't feel much from the day before, so it's a little compounded, but I know it made a good bit of difference. I couldn't do everything with free weights but I did bench, bicept curl, and tricepts all with free weights.

Hey, how fast can you guys run a mile? I swear I can't run a mile in under 8.5 minutes, but I hate running and I'm short (5'7''). I've got buddies who can run a mile in around 6 minutes, and in highschool knew a girl who ran 4 minute-something mile. It took me 18 minutes to run two miles tonight.

Fastest mile I've ever done was 7:30 and I'm 5'10 and was probably around 185lb at the time. Now..probably 9 minutes, haha. I need to start running again and get a 3 mile time under 24 minutes.

running is bad for you(sort-of)... I mean there are less harmful ways to get the same results.

Do you mean like joints? I do a lot of exercise on ellipticals because of that, but I get on the treadmill too.

in highschool i ran in the low 7 minutes, im two years out and still play college baseball so i should still be around that area but who knows lol

keep doing what you do. free weights or resisitance machines. You will benefit from either one. I used to work out when I was younger, Now if I can grab a few chin up's from a low hanging I-beam at work, I will. But when you reach 50, you have to be careful. Some days at work I might lift 100 lb rolls of wire, or steel, 30 or 40 times aday. So that's a workout in itself. Plus I'm making a path from one area to another 100 times a day. My back feels it along with every other associated joint. I probably walk a few miles a day without realizing it. I can tell when i've had a busy day by the way I feel after an 8 or 12 hr shift.. But there's no better feeling of a good muscle burn that just gets the blood pumping.. Even when your sore the next day, it's a good sore..

I gotta try that new shake weight too. I could master that. WHAT!!
:eek:

depends on the person, but if you are a person prone to joint issues, running for exercise is not a great idea. You can get the same workout and cardio riding a bicycle with none of the joint worries.

Free weights all day.
Do upper work outs one day lowers next.
Core every day.

Bascially at my school we do this,

Uppers: Bench and Incline 10x4, 8x4 6x4 blah blah increasing weight along..same for lowers
Auxiliary: Step ups and chin ups

Lowers: Squat and hang clean
Auxiliary: some wrist work out...kinda odd, and straight leg deadlift

Core: V-ups, crunches, 6 inches(hold you feet up 6 inches from the ground) random crap really.. 70 of all the above

Running...not into running season yet, track will be after this break im on..i hate running yet somehow im in track...

in high school, i could run it in 6:25. all because of wrestling. the stamina that is aquired from wrestling was to thank.

i am 5'9 and was probably 165 lbs then. Now, i weigh 225. that was only 4 years lol. i need to get to 190, that would be nice.

as for me, i prefer free weights. it helps the stabilizer muscles. I NEVER had dropped the bar on me. if you drop the bar, or feel like you are, you are lifting too much. on the days that you wanna do max reps, then get a spotter, but on days where you are doing a normal routine, lift just enough to do 3 sets. the last rep should be tough, but not impossible.

I can ride the wheels off a bicycle. When I'm at college, it's nothing for me to ride 10-15 miles. We have a good nature reserve on campus with good riding trails and there is another trail about a mile from campus that is a decent distance also. The girlfriend like to ride too, but she slows me down. She likes to look at stuff, ducks, rabbits, peoples dogs, yeah.

free weights. Machines are great if you need to focus on a particular part of a muscle to get the definition you want (they can really isolate a muscle like nobody's business) but they're suck sauce for building total body strength, especially balanced strength in related systems. You need to have a pretty strong wrist to bench 200lbs free weight, but you only have to worry about chest, tri's and shoulders when using a machine. Your forearms are just pegs when you use a machine. In free weights they're a really important part of controlling the motion of the bar.

I think the muscle developed with free weights looks more natural. You get unnatural bulges in groups of muscles from too much machine work in my experience.

Everyone is different when it comes to getting results from the gym. For me 3 days of lifting and 2-3 of cardio are where its at. I never do the same muscle groups together every week as you have to keep the body guessing whats gonna happen.

such as last week was back/chest on Monday. Tuesday cardio. Wednesday was legs/shoulders, Thursday cardio, Friday bies/tries.

This week its back/bies,cardio,chest/tries,cardio,legs/shoulders. And so on and so on. I change it every week and try to never do the same workout for each muscle each week. Such as I don't do flat bench every week I do chest. Some times its incline,decline, and flys. Then maybe incline,flat,Arnold flys etc....

The key is to do different things and keep it moving. I rest 30-90sec between sets. Which will kill you for a few months till you get used to it.

But now that I know what works for me, I am the leanest and strongest I have ever been (also the heaviest). So its working for me. And of course a good diet is a major part of the puzzle.

I try not to work out anymore... I'm just this damned secksy all natural like.

somethings just come natural to some...

A. You need to work out legs in order to grow. Your legs have testosterone in them and by working them out and getting a good burn you are releasing that testosterone into the rest of your body so it can also grow faster. In order for the rest of your body to grow, your legs needs to grow.

B. You shouldn't be exercising the same muscle group two days in a row. Muscles grow when they rest. Even if you feel like you did not get a good workout let that muscle group rest for at least 2 days before you work it out again. You will not always feel sore the next day after working out.

C. You want to hit each muscle group once a week and don't only do one exercise. You need a good three exercises per muscle group to hit the muscle from every angle to stimulate growth. Doing one chest or one bicep or one back exercise isn't going to help you grow.

This is my break down (I use all free weights and workout in my basement)

Day 1: Chest/Triceps/Abs - incline,flat, decline, incline flys, flat flys, pullovers, overhead tricep extensions, kickbacks, crunches, leg lifts.

Day 2: Back/Hamstrings/Biceps/Forearm - bent over row, one arm dumbbell row, dead lifts (lower back and hamstrings), seated alternate dumbbell curls/concentration curls, preacher bench curls, incline bench curls, hammers, reverse curls.

Day 3: Rest

Day 4: Shoulders/Quads/Calves - dumbbell military press, lateral raises, 45 degree lateral raises, front raises, shrugs, squats, calve raises.

Day 5: Rest
Day 6: Rest

REPEAT

I would be doing a lot more leg exercises if I had the equipment for them.

Every week start with a different exercise. If you did incline bench first last week, start with flat bench first this week. If you did alternate curls first last week, do seated incline curls first this week. If after shoulder press you did later raises last week, do 45 degree lateral raises first this week and work your way forward to lateral raises then front raises.

Every month or so you really want to shock the muscles to stimulate growth because they get use to your routine. Go with lighter weights and do more reps, or do back to back exercises without a break in between, or go real heavy and so that you can only get 5-6 reps out of each set, or do burnout sets, or drop sets, or negatives. All these different types of exercises will shock your muscles to help them grow.

If you have dumbells you can do a lot of different workouts you can bench you can curl you can work tri's and you can do back. what I do is bench about two sixty pound dumbells 3 sets of ten then do butterflies with 35 pound dumbells and then for curls start with the thirty fives and do as many as possible while sitting on a incline bench and then grab the next weight down and do as many as possible and so on and then for tri's I do the over head pull with a thirty five 3 sets of ten. free weights are the best thing for me and I used to run cross country and ran 3.1 miles in 22 minutes with a mile of 5.50.

Ok i have to say something about the running comments. I run track in college so i do a fair amount of it and know my fair share about excercise, running is bad when; you have bad shoes, are on a tredmill or hard surface all the time, have terrible running form, and eat extremely bad. If you get a good pair of shoes running is not a bad thing at all, quite to the contrary its awesome for you. Another solid point is cross training to give your joints a break, something like swimming or biking.

As far as weights go as long as you go form before weight freeweights are much better. Weight first leads to torn muscles and unequal muscle building.

I haven't lifted in about three days due to hurting my right elbow. It was slightly sore yesterday, and I haven't felt any soreness in it today so I have been considering going to lift today. If nothing else I will take blownstang's advice into account and do legs or cardio. I played football with some highscool friends the other day for about 4 hours and that fucked me up for a good two days, I considered that my gym time for that day.

that's about the most concise way to be correct.

I have been running for god it must be 9 years now and I have no problems with my knees or legs. And I am a heavy guy who squats very heavy weight too. Its all about the shoes, warming up, and stretching.

i use resistance bands and running. I dont want to have any more bulk of muscle than i already do. I'm 6 ft tall barefoot and weigh 195 pounds. I wear like a 42 in jackets, and a 32 in pants. I like the form but i feel top heavy.

Then you need to start doing some real leg workouts and gain some mass down there.

The next weekend I'm off from work I'm gonna lift some 12 ounce weights, lots of reps.. :p

LOL, that's a good one. 3/4th pounders FTW.