Resistance Training Hoax – Weight Machines are for Winners
| Weight Machines are for Wieners. Have you ever found yourself sitting in a chair and you needed to raise your legs parallel to the ground. Neither have I but they have a weight machine for it. The fact is that the leg extension and several other machines were created for the small percentage of weight lifters who want to look unnaturally muscular. Arthur Jones, the inventor of Nautilus, created these machines so bodybuilders could utilize high intensity training techniques which |  |
require executing one insanely intense set. The majority of people tend to sit down and then perform way too many reps with hardly any weight. These machines hamper your range of motion and can cause unnecessary torque on your joints. They tend to inflate the actual work you’re doing while neglecting the stabilizer muscles required for real-to-life lifting. While machines appear to be safe and simple they’re actually the quite the opposite, slightly dangerous and inefficient.
Salvation: Lifting With Free Weights. Free weights such as dumbbells, barbells, and medicine balls work all of those tiny stabilizer muscles that machines neglect. Instead of one very strict motion you can perform just about any movement you can imagine. Some beginners think machines are a necessary starting point but anyone can benefit from a transition to free weights. I have had clients over seventy years old and a few over three hundred pounds but they can still crank out some step ups or lift a medicine ball. These free weight movements are useful outside of the gym and belong in every effective fitness program.
This is Part 3 in a series on Health Hoaxes that are Destroying Society – The full series is Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, & Part 5