Free Weights Vs Machines

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Welcome And Sponsor Shoutout

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome to There Is a Method to the Madness. My name is Rob Maxwell, and I'm an exercise physiologist and personal trainer. I am the owner of Maxwell's fitness programs, and I've been in business since 1994. The purpose of this podcast is to get to the real deal of what really works and most importantly why things work. Hence the name, There is a Method to the Madness. Before I get to today's show, I want to thank Jonathan and Lynn Gilden of the Gilden Group at Realty Pros. They are committed to providing the highest level of customer service in home sales. Why don't you give them a shout and figure out what your home is worth? 386-451-2412.

The Free Weights Vs Machines Myth

SPEAKER_01 0:46

All right, what's happening, everybody? Coach Rob here, getting ready to talk to you about some good health and fitness information. You ever um hear people talk about things and like they're going on and on about something, and then you realize like just how dumb something sounds when you really stop and think about it. Let me give you like a little example from way, way back, and it will introduce what I'm going to talk about today. When I was working out at a uh gym down in New Smyrna when I was in my late teens, early 20s, and I was like a, you know, a typical bro kid, you know, going to the gym, getting strong, getting bigger, hanging out with all the big boys and all that good stuff. I uh hadn't decided I wanted to get into the health and fitness industry yet. I was pretty much uh still thinking about that. I was probably working on my psych degree at UCF at the time, but I don't know. And it's not like it was one time. It was like over this period of time where people would criticize people that went to the Nautilus gym down there in New Smyrna. It was uh under the South Causeway for any uh New Smyrnians that maybe remember the old times. And um, you know, it was an it was a typical Nautilus Center. It was a Nautilus gym, like you don't really see anymore. Now you just see Nautilus machines and then copycats and other types of selectorized machines and gyms. But you don't really see like the classic Nautilus shell Nautilus centers anymore. I think the last one was, well, I'm sure there's some across the country, but I mean the last one locally, and they might still call it that down on the beach side in New Smyrna, but was owned by Dr. Fulton. And uh it did have a Nautilus title in the name, I believe. But uh anyway, they used to be just standalone Nautilus places that had Nautilus machines and uh some warm-up tools, and you went in and you did the Nautilus circuit. So anyway, I remember some of the guys at the traditional gym that I went to was mostly just like a basically it was a dump. Uh, you know, had some free weights, had some other things in there, and uh you paid a monthly membership. It was fine, got me my start. But anyway, the bros in there would say things like, oh, you know, my girlfriend or so-and-so goes to the Nautilus gym, and like everything in there is fake. Like, it's fake strength. It's not real because you can't get stronger on machines. Now, I didn't partake in this conversation other than just listen and kind of, I don't, I'm sure. I mean, now I would just look at them like, what in the hell are you even talking about? But then I probably just gave them a little bit of a cross eye and kept moving, you know. But it's like that was the belief. And I think to, I mean, it was a belief among people that really didn't know any better, but I think there's still some like debate over like what's better, free weights or machines, and there's still like people that think like free weights are superior.

Your Muscles Cannot Tell The Tool

SPEAKER_01 4:04

So that is what this podcast today is about. I'm gonna give you the method to the madness of like, what's the real deal on exercise modes? And modes is what we use to do what we want to do. What's the science behind it? What's the common sense behind it? And let's talk about that. So the reason why I most likely would have given that person a super dirty look today, I would not even have debated a person that would say such a thing because, quite frankly, uh that is so beneath dumb that I wouldn't even get into it. But like your muscles don't know the difference, people. Can I start there? I mean, think about it. You're inside your bicep muscle. And if we want to get technical, there's roughly three muscles that people call the bicep, the bicep brachii, the brachialis, and the brachioradialis, and all of them have a function in flexing the lower arm, which is what the biceps do. So anyway, you're in one of those bad boys, you're in one of the muscles. Let's just say you're in the, let's say you're in the bicep brachii. That's like the big guy of the biceps. You're you're in there. You're somehow in there like a little computer chip. And you are now flexing your elbow with resistance. Can you feel it? Think about that. You're flexing your elbow with resistance. So you have something in your hand and you're squeezing the bicep, whether it be a dumbbell, whether it be the handle of a machine, whether it be a barbell, or whether it be like a resistance band. You really think inside that muscle, which you're trying to get to grow, you're trying to get to hypertrophy, you're trying to get stronger, you're trying to improve the muscle recruitment. You really think within that muscle, it knows the difference of what the load is. Your your bicep muscle is that smart that as soon as you grab that dumbbell and start squeezing it and start going through elbow flexion, it goes, oh, yeah, that that's a barbell. Mm-hmm. I can tell right away, that's a barbell. And you put it down and you grab a dumbbell, same thing. Oh, yep, just switch to a dumbbell. You have to be a dumbbell to think that. Okay. I mean, come on, think about that. I mean, if we take things that we hear, the silly arguments that like make no sense at all, and people say things all the time. I mean, I don't need to go back into COVID, right? Some of the ridiculous theories people had as far as treating it, and then you think about it and you go, what in the hell are they talking about? I mean, that's how this is. Not that people are dumb, but like people sometimes will just believe the dumbest things, which without even giving it much thought. And then when I see it in my world, which is really what I care about, you know, the people I'm trying to help, I mean, thankfully that doesn't come up a whole lot, but I might get a so what's better this or that, you know, type of thing. And that's a very reasonable question. But like to really think one doesn't work and the other does. I mean, and there are debates out there about that still, but what people I think sometimes aren't smart enough to understand is that the debates are coming from people selling something, you know, though they they might like preach one way because that's all they have. And, you know, they're using that form of equipment, whether it be a kettlebell or something. Oh, this is the cat's meow, man. Everything else is fake. Yeah, it's because they don't have machines, you know, or maybe they only have machines and, you know, they want to diss on free weights or dumbbells. I mean, whatever, but that's where the arguments originate. I mean, somebody is trying to selfishly help their cause, and then people hear these things and believe it. So, no, your muscles don't know the difference, what you use for resistance. So, the

DCER Explained In Plain English

SPEAKER_01 8:11

official term for strength training is DCER, the acronym which stands for dynamic constant external resistance. So that means dynamic, dynamic means it needs to be moving, not an isometric contraction, but you have to move the limbs. Constant means that the load is fixed. So isokinetic basically means that the load is fixed, but the the pace changes. All right. So DCER, what you think of as normal strength training, we used to call it isotonic exercise. Now we've updated the term. I don't know if it's good or bad, but kind of means the same thing. But the load is constant. So if you put 100 pounds in the leg extension, it's 100 pounds. It doesn't change midway through. If you're holding a 25-pound dumbbell, it's a constant 25. That's what the C stands for. External means that the load needs to come from outside the body. So there has to be a resistance outside of the body, cannot just be air. There has to be a resistance that is opposing gravity. All right. And that's it. What you choose doesn't matter. What do you have? What works best for you? If you have a lot of options, that's ideal because then you can break it up and not be bored. But that's the deal. I mean, I really could I really could end it here, you know, but because that's the answer, it doesn't matter, and they both equally work. But I do want to give the pros and cons because there are some things better and not as good with each form, but they all have their pros and cons. And all right, so let's talk about this. The

Machines: Convenience Isolation Safety

SPEAKER_01 9:57

first thing, let's talk about machines first. So machines are selectorized resistance machines. That's really what they are. Selectorized just means that there's a weight stack, you're taking the pin or however the machine is set up, and you're selecting the weight that is based on a weight stack that goes up and down the guide rods. That's all they are. The other part of them that makes them pretty unique. I mean, that part just makes them very convenient. But what makes them unique is they do have a cam, and the cam helps you keep the resistance load accommodating the muscle arc. All right. So basically, what that means is let's say you're using a bicep curl machine that is made by one of the better companies, like Life Fitness, Nautilus, Cybex, Hammer Strength, whatever. They're all pretty good these days. Pre-core, they're all great. Body masters. So the cam is allowing the resistance to stay equal throughout the entire range of motion. Research has shown, for example, like the biceps are strongest at the top part of flexion, they're weakest at the bottom. So the selectorized bicep machines accommodate that resistance by making it feel slightly less at the bottom and slightly more at the top based on how the cable or cam or chain in the old days goes around the cam or the cog. It's just that simple what they do. They that's a benefit. I mean, it keeps the load pretty even throughout, and it's a nice little perk that most people don't even realize are on the machines. But essentially, the biggest thing the machine gives you is two things. So the the two biggest things machines give you is one, I mean, the cam is great. I'm not going to put that in one and two though. The cam that I just discussed is great. But the two best things are number one, ultimate convenience, right? I mean, as a personal training gym owner, it is so critical to have equipment that I can work people through, get them on and off without selecting a lot of different free weights, right? Can you imagine? Like, I'm working with a client and they're paying me for 30 minutes of a strength training workout, which is pretty typical, and I'm spending 15 of the 30 minutes trying to take weights off a bar and put weights back on a bar and all this. Like the setup itself is taking a lot of time. So it's just less convenient. Now, if you have a free weight setup in your house and you're working out by yourself, I mean, obviously, then that's not a problem. But selectorized machines give you one hell of a good convenience and layout for how the workout should flow. Like I have all of my machines set up in order of largest to smallest. I'm not saying I stick to that all the time because sometimes there's reasons to go in and out of that, but it is set up that way for convenience and easy flow and simplicity of the workout. All right. The second thing is it allows you to isolate the muscles. Not all free weights can. For example, it's very hard to isolate your quadriceps without a leg extension machine. You can do squats and you can do um goblet squats and you can do split squats, you can do different versions of what we call a closed-chain squatting type motion. And yes, I absolutely advocate those, but it's very hard to isolate the quadriceps all by themselves because when you're squatting, you're bringing in your glutes, you're bringing in your hamstrings. And sometimes you need to isolate your quads. For example, quad strength is one of the keys to knee strength. So we really, really, really want to be able to isolate the quads to keep the knees strong. And it's very hard to do on a closed-chain squat type exercise. Now, you could argue you can set up, like, say, like an ankle weight and put it on and, you know, tie a band to your leg and then tie it to the back part of the door and do leg extensions with a band. I mean, yeah, that's all possible, but also really hard to overload in time. So you can see why isolation is so key. And I just use one example, but that's the example that is a great example, but you can isolate with machines that you really can't with free weights on every different muscle group. I gotta add a third, I lied, because as I'm sitting here thinking about it, it's very important to add. I don't think about it too much, I guess, because as a trainer, I'm spotting people. But if you're working out by yourself, machines are great because you don't need a spot. When you're done, you just simply lower the weight back. You don't need a spot. You don't need to worry about the barbell if you're doing bench presses come crashing down on your sternum or squats, god forbid, which can be very, very dangerous, you know, falling with the squat. So you don't need to worry about that with the machines. Okay. So I will reiterate and add my third. Convenience, isolation, you don't need a spot. What are the cons? Really, there's just one. Well, there's kind of two, but I also go against that argument, but I will name it anyway. But really, the only con is they're expensive. I mean, if if you're trying to buy a home gym, I mean, they're gonna be expensive. I mean, each machine is somewhere between four and five thousand dollars, you know. So, like my leg extension, it's between four and five, you know, some of them are even a little more than five thousand. So you're gonna spend the buck. So, like if you've got 10 machines, you spend you know, $50,000. Thank you, Siri, for telling me the time when it didn't ask. You're spending $50,000 on your 10 machines at least. So that's pretty pricey. And you know, some gyms don't do that because free weights are a lot cheaper, so they're gonna have a lot of free weights around. So there's that. The other argument is they're not as functional because they don't replicate movement as much. I mean, there's some truth to that, like getting in and out of a chair. I love to use a goblet squat for that exercise, and squatting is the epitome of that. But at the same time, you can't be very functional if you don't isolate your muscles either. So that argument I'm gonna leave to that's splitting hairs. You know, I think both are incredibly functional. And by the way, I love both. So don't get the wrong idea. I think you need both. I have both. I think both are great. But the cost is the number one deterrent to them. But if you're going to a gym and they have them, then who cares? Use them, people. Don't be silly. And like I said, the functional capacity of it. I mean, there's plenty of ways to do functional exercises along with your machines. And again, you need to have the muscle to be functional anyway. All right. I wouldn't have, I mean, I wouldn't want to have, I'll put it that way, a personal training gym without the convenience of having the machines. Not only for convenience, but man, we got to be able to isolate. Like the lower back machine has been a lifesaver for so many people. Yes, you can train your lower back by doing like cobras and hyperextensions on the Roman chair and things like that and Romanian deadlifts, but the back extension isolates better than anything. So that is absolutely critical. All right.

Barbells And The Spotter Problem

SPEAKER_01 17:14

Let's talk about just regular barbell free weights next. All right. I mean, they work too. I mean, you know, a barbell means that you have a bar, you put plates on them. Classic exercises you would do with that would be bench press, barbell squat, barbell curls, bent over rows, uh, deadlifts. I mean they're great. And a lot of my early years were spent using them. So, so they're fine. The pros to them is that you can replicate a lot of human movement by doing them for sure. They definitely give you resistance like anything else. They're cheap, meaning compared to machines, they're not very expensive, usually about a dollar a pound. And you don't really need a huge set if you're working out at home, whatever. But you know, that's probably not what this is geared towards. They work and they're cheap. But the problem is with especially free weights, is you absolutely need a spotter. I mean, if you're gonna be doing back squats, you have to have a spotter, which is fine if you've got a workout partner. And don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking them. Free weights bars with that you put plates on are definitely not my go-to as a trainer because I just think there's better ways to strengthen the body. But I'm not gonna get away from them completely either. There are certain exercises that I do like with them. So they are convenient, they are pretty cheap, and they are portable, meaning that you can move them around quite a bit. If you had a gym, moving your machines around all the time would not be fun, although I've moved mine several times. The other thing with barbell free weight stuff is that there is a big learning curve. It takes a lot longer to learn how to squat proficiently with a barbell, to bench press proficiently without hurting your rotator cuff, doing a lot of the exercises correctly, where again, with a lot of the machines, it's harder to do wrong because they do keep you lined up in the right groove. All right. So they will work. Again, remember what I opened this with. Everything is going to get you stronger. They will work. There's just pros and cons. Next,

Dumbbells For Balance And Motion

SPEAKER_01 19:24

dumbbells. Now, I love dumbbells. I love dumbbells and I love the machines. I can use the barbells fine, but again, most of my gym is going to be the machines with dumbbells. All right. Dumbbells are just your handheld weights. That's just all they are. They are technically a part of free weights, just like barbells are, but dumbbells you hold in each hand. What's great about them is they're extremely portable. You can move them around. They're pretty easy to adjust the load. You just go up the next five pound, or in some cases, two or three pounds, on the dumbbell. Another great thing about dumbbell exercises is you can work one side independently of the other. So it really helps you with maybe muscle imbalances you have. Like I work with quite a few people that their right arm might be stronger than their left, so they can work on their left side a little bit more with a heavier dumbbell or an extra set. So they're great for that. They're great for full range of motion because you can definitely get through full range of motion with a dumbbell. Again, they're very convenient. You can move them around wherever you need them to. You do need a spotter on certain exercises, but they're definitely safer to use without a spotter than say uh a barbell exercise. Like a goblet squat is one of my favorite exercises to do a closed chain squat exercise. I prefer it in most cases over the leg press, which is a machine. I love the goblet squat where you hold a dumbbell in front of you essentially. It's a great exercise. I mean, if you get tired and you're starting to fatigue, you can simply bend forward and put the weight down. So you don't need a spotter as much, although it never hurts to have one by any means. Dumbbell chest press, sometimes I'll see people doing really heavy, heavy dumbbell chest presses. And I'm thinking, why are you doing that? Like if you have to contort your body to get the weight up, to get into the position to do the exercise, and then you have to slam them on the ground afterwards, chances are it's too heavy for you. So I don't like when people use them that way, and you definitely will need a spotter there. But for the most part, doing normal exercise the normal way with dumbbells is a great, great way to strength train. All right. I mean, there's not a lot of cons with them, other than the fact that there is a learning curve. I mean, you know, and again, the spotting thing, if you're doing an exercise that is probably too heavy, that there's better alternatives to. Then there's better choices, maybe. But other than that, dumbbells are great. Again, they're a go-to. When I travel, most of the hotels I stay at Owens have a dumbbell rack. I mean, I get a great full-body workout. I can do everything with the dumbbells. Again, mostly my choice is going to be the machine, selectorized machines with dumbbells, using them both and doing different exercises. But again, all modes of resistance work.

Bodyweight Training And Overload Limits

SPEAKER_01 22:29

Now, I mean, the body weight exercise is technically not like a DCER dynamic constant external resistance because the load is your body. So bodyweight exercises are essentially doing the same thing in a lot of cases that you would do with dumbbells, but you wouldn't be holding the dumbbells. In other words, a bodyweight squat is a bodyweight squat. It's great. I mean, I work with a client remotely who doesn't have a lot of equipment and she basically trains in her office because she's a physician after she gets done with her patients. She's so fit that we can do bodyweight type exercises, and then she might have some light dumbbells laying around. But we'll do a lot of like push-ups and bodyweight squats and lunges and split squats and things like that. And when she does get the opportunity to train outside, we'll do that and she can do pull-ups. But like she's super fit. And it's funny, and I'm not not, you know, I'm not trying to like shame anybody by any means. My my point is this bodyweight exercises are harder than people think. It's so funny when I hope, when I'll hear people say, like about their kids, they'll say, well, no, they're only doing bodyweight stuff now. I'm going, bodyweight stuff is hard. Like if you're expecting a 10-year-old to do a push-up, you have to keep in mind if they're doing a standard push-up, they're doing 60 to 70% of their body weight in a pressing motion. That's not easy for most people. They haven't developed the strength yet. If you put them on a selectorized machine, you can go as low as 10% of their body weight. So when you say, oh, I'm just doing body weight, body weight is hard for most people. Like even doing a bodyweight squat is typically a foundation when I know I'm getting somewhere with somebody. Not everybody can start out doing that to come to the gym. So bodyweight training to be able to overload, like to be able to increase load and do more is very hard. Like in order to be able to overload a pull-up, you have to be able to do a pull-up. And most people in this country cannot do one pull-up. In order to be able to overload a push-up, you have to be able to do push-ups. So bodyweight training is great. I've got really nothing bad to say about it. Its pros are you can do it wherever. Its cons are it's very hard to overload. And a lot of people can't do enough bodyweight exercises for them to have a complete resistance training program.

Bands As Rehab And A Supplement

SPEAKER_01 25:00

Finally, let's just talk about bands, plastic bands, rubber bands for resistance. I mean, they're great. They're a big part of rehab and what I like to call prehab, protecting your joints before they get hurt. But that's all they are. They're just a supplement. So they're just bands that are different colors. Typically, the black and the purple and the blues are the heaviest, and the greens and the yellows and the reds are the lightest, you know, and then there's mediums. They're great. They're great to do different exercises on. The problem with using only bands is again, it's very hard to overload. I mean, you could say, well, I can go from my red to my black. That's true. But even then, it's hard to go up after that. And you really can't do every single exercise with them. I mean, you can in some ways if you get super, super creative. And look, if you're going on a trip and that's all you have, I think bands are absolutely great to take with you. And they they do work. Now, they are what we call the isokinetic resistance because the further you stretch them out, the harder they get. So if you remember, that goes against the DCER dynamic constant external resistance. They're more of an isokinetic resistance, meaning that the resistance kind of changes as you go. When there's not a lot of laxity on the old band, then it gets pretty easy to move, right? But the further you pull out, the tighter it gets. So it is harder to overload for that reason, but it is great for supplemental exercises. I love to use them for like rotator cuff work, shoulder work, sometimes posterior dealt stuff, sometimes triceps. Sometimes I'll use it for warm-up for different activities. So bands are great, and I absolutely keep a drawer of them here and I keep a roll of them that I'll cut and give to clients to do supplemental exercises at home. They're great. They're really, though, need to be looked at like a supplement. All right.

The Real Answer And Next Steps

SPEAKER_01 26:58

So if you hear people arguing over what's best, what's worse, get out of the argument. They're all great. I mean, so much of it comes down to what do you have? What do you have access to? Can you overload it? Meaning, can you get better at it? The more variety you have, the better. But if you only had dumbbells, I promise you, you would be fine. A lot of times I encourage people to get dumbbells because they can do them wherever they are at home, you know, anywhere they go. So all forms of strength training work. There is no best. There might be a best for you. You might find where you are absolutely at your best. I doubt it's going to be on only one mode of equipment, though. Like, for example, there are exercises that I feel the most and I benefit the most of on a machine, but then there are exercises I feel the most and benefit the most with dumbbells. And that's probably true with barbells too. So, you know, that's why it's good to have a variety. And it's not always going to stay the same. I mean, sometimes you'll find that you're doing a machine exercise and it bothers you a little bit, but then you switch to a dumbbell and that same exercise doesn't. So sometimes it's good to have those to kind of bounce back and forth with. Just remember, there's no best, there's only a better for you. And you kind of have to learn that what works best for you. Hope that helps. Please share this with people again. Download it, subscribe to the show. It's free. It helps me. Pass it along to your friends, share the wealth, share it on your Facebook or whatever you want to do. And until next time, we will catch up. B Max Fit and B Max Wealth.

SPEAKER_00 28:40

All right. Thanks everybody for listening to today's podcast. I want to ask everybody to please help the show by following it wherever you get your podcast, and please select automatic download. That helps me to keep track. Now I want to thank our second great sponsor, Procharge Liquid Protein Enhancer.

SPEAKER_01 29:02

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