ARTICLE: Why Machines Are Inferior To Free Weights

Why machines are inferior to free weights

Whether you’re a Powerlifter, Bodybuilder, Boxer, Rugby player or a recreational weight trainer, machines are bad news and have little or no place in your routine, here’s why;

A common misconception among inexperienced trainees is that machine exercises are safer than their free weight counterparts, however this is absolutely not the case.

Any exercise which requires you sit rather than stand increases pressure on the lumbar spine and prohibits the lifter from making any corrections to technique or absorbing load with his knees, hips and ankles.

Smith machines force the lifter to press the weight in an unnatural plane, increase joint loading and encourage poor technique. In short if you squat in them they will ruin your knees and god help your shoulders if you bench in them, the muscles of the rotator cuff are there essentially to keep the ball in the socket and control the articulation of your shoulder capsule during natural 3D human movement, if you don’t allow them to do this by using free weights they inevitably become disproportionately weak for your deltoids and before you know it you have perhaps the most common and debilitating gym injury around.

I all to frequently see 140kg smith benchers struggling to free bench with 60kg, 200kg smith squatters huffing and puffing with 100kg free, their form is atrocious and they’re quickly injured because they don’t know how to lift and in reality they are weak. I have a million times more respect for someone with low numbers using only free weights over a guy leg pressing 500kg because I know they have worked for their lifts, machine training is a dream world, it’s easy, it doesn’t hurt much, and you can move weights you wouldn’t otherwise be able to, but put the machine trainer in the real world for a minute, ask them to lift up heavy things and the shortfall in machine training immediately manifests itself, lack of functionality.

Machines do not train stabiliser muscles, correct movement pattern, balance, skill, coordination or proprioception (your body’s sensory system which sends and receives signals regarding the position and loading of your joints) and in a skilled athlete can actually have a negative effect on technique and skills both in the gym and on the field.

It takes years to perfect lifting technique, and many underestimate or have no understanding of the importance of skill in physical strength. Over hundreds and hundreds of training sessions your body learns the movements you are asking of it, your central nervous system programs neural pathways, muscle firing rates and movement patterns to become completely efficient in the motor tasks asked of it, machine training unlike free weight training does not replicate natural human movement and interferes with motor pattern programming reducing motor skill and thus having a negative impact on not just your squat, bench and deadlift but on how high you can jump, how fast you can run and all other aspects of sporting ability.

Machine training is inefficient, why would you choose to train your quads with a leg extension, and then your hamstrings with a leg curl when you could train them both, with more weight, more ROM, recruiting more muscle (70% of your entire muscle mass no less) releasing more natural testosterone and with more real world functionality by squatting?

You have to give your body a pretty good reason to grow, this mean making it work damn hard, it means suffering a little, sometimes a lot, sitting on your arse on the pec deck will not suffice, you have to get out of your comfort zone and accept that like all things of any worth in life, getting somewhere requires effort, it’s not easy and it will hurt, the machine with the padded seat and backrest is exactly that, a seat, when did sitting last make your muscles bigger?

To summarise, your body is three dimensional, most machines require you to move two dimensionally, they are less safe, less effective and less efficient, they do not train natural human movement and reduce skill in the athlete’s sport, free weights make you bigger and stronger quicker, so do yourself a favour and leave the smith machine for the squat rack, just don’t do your curls in there…

“It requires at least 12 machines to rival the training effect of the clean and push press”
Mel C Siff

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