#MotivationMonday: Ditch the Machinery

A great way to stop wasting time and energy at the gym!

As working out has become so much more popular in the last couple of decades, the options for getting fit are seemingly infinite. When it comes to strength training, a multitude of machines exist to replicate the motion of some of the main lifts you do in the gym, like bench press, squats, shoulder press and back pulls. While machines can be great to ensure you’re working very specific muscle groups, they’re also very limiting when it comes to the true point of the exercise, which is to get stronger and healthier.

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via myfit.ca

When you’re doing workouts on a machine, what you’re missing out on is the use of your core and smaller surrounding muscles to stabilize the weight while you’re moving it. Machines trick you into thinking you’re lifting a lot more weight than you actually are, too. If you can do 150 lbs in plates on the machine, odds are you’d probably only be able to do 120 lbs on an actual bar, maybe even less.

The same goes for any other machine in the gym. It’s always smarter to use free weights. Hopefully you’re learning the correct form for your workouts, so that you can get the maximum benefit.

Not allowing the smaller muscles surrounding your bigger muscles to be strengthened through stabilization is a fast track to injuries like straining or even tearing if being overexerted.

Basically put, if your aim at the gym is to get bigger and stronger, stay away from the machines. If you’re only there to break a sweat and feel a little bit better about yourself, then the machines are fine, just don’t overdo it.

If you ONLY have machines, then go for it. Just be careful and understand that they’ll just never be quite as effective as using free weights.

header image via theodysseyonline.com

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