Free weights V/S Machines

• By vishwa on Training

• December 9, 2013

My gym, Ironcult, consists of 2450 square feet. One section of the area consist mainly machines and the other contains free weights with free space to execute the HIIT drills that we perform. Many of my gym clients have asked me,” Why is that though the gym consist many machines you hardly ask us to operate on them?” I have answered it before and I will repeat it again.

There are three planes in which our bodies move: The sagittal plane (forward or backward), frontal (side to side, and transverse (rotational). Machines cannot move involving the three planes of motion. Machines by their very nature restrict freedom of movement. A machine locks you into doing the movement in the same pattern, time and again. This causes pattern overload. Pattern overload describes injury to soft tissues resulting from repetitive motion in one pattern of movement, or restricted movement in one or more planes of motion. Isolating the muscles occurs in bodybuilding training where machines are extensively used. This in turn causes repetitive stress to the soft tissue leading to pattern overload.

Operating on free weights that involve a variety of movements mostly include all the three planes of motion. Your bodies are not meant to move on a fixed path as the machines dictate. They ought to move freely. So, the answer lies in dumbbells, barbells, kettle bells, sandbags, and calisthenics. If you want to train injury-free free weight is the way to go. So, pick the dumbbell and hoist it; don’t press weight on a smith machine and become a robot. HA! A robot, however, any day is better than a not-in-working-order-robot.