What’s The Difference Between Free Weights And Machines?
Unlike the American criminal justice system acting like there’s a difference between crack and powdered cocaine, there is an actual difference between free weights and machines.1Win 1000 points if you can guess why that difference exists in the criminal justice system.
If you want to lose weight, knowing the difference between crack and powdered cocaine doesn’t really matter. Both will have you slim and trim in no time! But if you want to go the exercise route, knowing the difference between free weights and machines might come in handy.
Because I have shit to do and I’m sure you do too, I’ll save you the trouble: free weights are the better choice.2I’m not really sure that you have shit to do, but I went out on a limb and assumed you do. Hey, I have faith that you’re not a lonely, unemployed, video game playing loser living in your parents’ basement. My sympathies to your parents if my assumptions are wholly inaccurate. My sympathies go out to them indeed!
You can stop reading now…
…but you may also continue on if you don’t take your literacy for granted.
Barbells and dumbbells allow for movement in a three-dimensional plane and the exercises performed with them are usually multi-joint movements that require use of core and stabilizer muscles. In short, you have the potential to recruit more muscles and burn more calories with free weights.3Psst…barbells and dumbbells are otherwise known as “free weights” in gym parlance.
As for selectorized and plate-loaded leverage machines, they generally render the user in a fixed plane of motion and only allow for the training of the target muscle, not others. Because of these considerations, machines are great for isolation work. They’re not so great for functional strength.
Despite the obvious superiority of free weights for muscle building and fat loss, machines dominate the floor space at most commercial gyms.
What gives?
If the gym is where you’re supposed to go to get that body to step out on your significant other, why wouldn’t it have the necessary equipment for you to do so in spades?
Why the fuck are there so many doggone blasted machines taking jobs away from so many decent, hard-working free weights?!?!4Yes, this sounds as stupid as when people say it about undocumented workers to distract you from pinning the loss of jobs and stagnant wages on the industrialist class!
Maybe you’ve noticed, but many commercial gyms are filled with more machines than free weights.
Oh, you noticed before I even brought it to your attention?!
Please excuse the shock.
It’s just that you don’t exactly strike me as the observant type, but okay!
Well, what’s up with that?
You’ve certainly come to the right place to get an answer to one of life’s great mysteries!
First things primero, free weight movements require the execution of proper lifting form to not injure yourself, let alone to see rewards. But who the bleepity bleep has time to learn how to perform a barbell exercise without fucking crippling themselves?!?!
When it comes to machines though, any bozo (YOU, buddy!) can:
1) walk into a gym;
2) go up to a machine and glance at the picture with instructions on it or look at how some other bozo does it;
3) sit down all comfy with their drink in the cup holder;
4) adjust the pin to the desired weight;
5) perform the exercise (or some facsimile of it); and
6) then strut their stuff away from the machine like they possess mastery of it.
This is all to say that machines have lower learning curves and are much easier to use since the weight is balanced, making the user feel as if they’re actually doing something special. What this does is help make the gym a much more attractive place to more people.
What kind of people?
Ummmm…the kind of people that most commercial gyms are built for.
And that kind of people sure as fuck isn’t me!
But you, on the other hand?
That might be a different story!
Most people, the average John and Jane Doe, are looking for the easy way out. They expect to get their dream body by doing the least amount of work.
It’s these people that commercial gyms are built for.
See, commercial gyms cater to demographics, like any smart business. As such, there are two things to consider. One is that a gym needs more than ten times the number of members it can hold for it to turn a profit after payment of staff, rent, utilities, the equipment and its upkeep, insurance, and other expenditures. Second, the out-of-shape far outnumber the already in shape.
These two things being the case, a small free weight section amidst a sea of exercise machines and cardio equipment makes perfect financial sense for a couple of reasons.
As we saw above, machines can make John and Jane Doe feel accomplished the very first time they walk into the gym. There’s nothing for them to learn.
Beyond that, more machines eliminates the possibility of John and Jane Doe seeing people pushing gargantuan amounts of weight. Such a sight may cause them to take their membership dues elsewhere because they’re under the mistaken belief that the gym is a dangerous place. Moreover, such a sight could make them see that their dream body requires more effort than they thought.
Also, with a small free weight area (or nothing heavier than a fucking 25 lbs dumbbell), serious members don’t join the gym in great numbers. Because people like this represent a very small share of the customer base, the gym doesn’t really care about losing their business. In fact, the gym wouldn’t have it any other way. Why? It all points back to all the John and Jane Does out there! The lack of serious members further ensures that they don’t feel out of their element in the gym, as the possibility lessens of them getting surrounded by stronger and fitter people, another potential reminder that their dream body requires more effort than they believed.
The big-box gym you go to is basically designed not to turn off the average John and Jane Doe who’s clueless about working out.
The gym would be fucking up its money if it did otherwise!
Additionally, machines are attractive to gym owners because they take up less space than, say, a squat rack or Olympic lifting platform and the weight trees housing weight plates for their use. How does this help with anything? Well, let’s consider that you only have to move a pin to select a weight versus the oh soooooooo time-consuming process of loading and unloading a barbell. Putting it together, machines allow the squeezing of more people into the facility and them leaving it all the more faster! Most importantly, machines reduce the gym’s liability because the chances are lessened of someone severely hurting themselves or others, though it’s still possible.
And that’s why we’ve witnessed a rise of the machines that would make Skynet proud!
While I’ve done my best to disabuse you of machines, don’t take it the wrong way.
Machines have a time and a place, and any sound training program should incorporate their use.
However, the bulk of your routine should consist of free weight movements, with you performing them ahead of machines in the workout to recruit as many muscle fibers as possible, stimulate the central nervous system, and fatigue the stabilizers.
Oh yeah, and I’d be remiss if I also didn’t tell you, DON’T WORK OUT IN A COMMERCIAL GYM!!!
Glossary: barbell, calories, commercial gym, dumbbell, exercise, exercise equipment, gym, gym member, lifting form, muscle, program, routine, squat rack, work out, workout
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