Have you ever had an old weight lifting school gym coach say to you “Use machine weights for mass and free weights for strength”? No? Just me? Regardless, shoutout to my old gym coach Mr. Benson for instilling that belief in me as I began my lifting career (and you can see the benefits I have seen since I began weight lifting by clicking here). Today I’ll take you through what the science/experts have to say when comparing machine weights and free weights.
Disadvantages of machine weights
1. Disregards stabiliser muscles
Machine weights neglect your stabiliser muscles. Weak stabilising muscles are often the cause of pain and injury for many people and is one of the primary things physical therapists look at when treating a patient.
2. Restricts full range of motion
Due to the one-dimensional nature of machines, machine weights encourage very undemanding movements. Consequently, this simple movement restricts the body of its natural ability to reach its full range of motion when performing exercises. This in turn can increase your injury risk over time.
Disadvantages of free weights
1. More complex to learn
Free weights are generally harder for new weight lifters to learn than their machine weight counterpart. This in turn can cause heightened anxiety for beginners new to a gym who have no guidance on how to perform the free weight exercise.
2. Higher injury risk
Although free weights do strengthen the stabiliser muscles as compared to their machine weights counterpart, the injury risk when using free weights is high. The high range of motion allows for a lot to go wrong when performing a free weight exercise and thus can potentially end in injury due to poor form.
Advantages of machine weights
1. Great for beginners
Machine weights tend to have both visual and written instructions on how to perform the exercise. Due to this it is much easier for beginners to use machine weights rather than free weights. Also, a beginner’s anxiety can be lessened as the machine weights tend to be located away from the free weight area.
2. Isolates muscles
When you are weight lifting and want to target a muscle, machine weights are your friend. For example, when you are training back and biceps and want to end with a bruising finisher for your biceps: machine weights reign supreme. You will be sure to feel that bicep pump as machine weights are great at isolating target muscles.
Advantages of free weights
1. Full range of motion
The body is one complete system where everything affects everything. When used correctly, the full range of motion used with free weights can strengthen not just your intended target muscle but also surrounding stabilising joints. In turn, this actually reduces your future risk of injury.
2. Helps you ‘master’ the gym
If you only use machine weights, you may be forced to wait for someone to get off the machine you want. When using free weights however the amount of exercises you can do becomes limitless. Additionally, you will feel more confident and ‘at home’ in the gym when you know you can perform more exercises.
Studies done on free weights vs machine weights
The answer to the question I’m sure you all want to know is which exercise gives you the most gains. Well, a study was done on 46 people that measured for many different variables including muscle thickness and strength. The study was over an 8-week course and each muscle group was trained 2-3 times per week, for 3-4 sets and between 4-10 repetitions. The findings of the study determined that there was no significant differences in muscle mass or strength between the two groups (free weights vs machine weights). Having said that, there was a significant difference in testosterone levels between the two groups. Men that performed free weight exercises had higher testosterone levels than their machine weight counterparts [1].
