Machine Weights or Free Weights: Which Builds Muscles Better?

Remember that when you exercise, you are training for the rest of your life. Keep this in the forefront of your mind forever. Even though you may spend an hour a day in the sports club, that still leaves another 23 hours for your muscles to function without the benefit of workout equipment.

When you exercise, the movement of your body during the exercise is known as the range of motion. The more challenging the range is, the more effective the physical training will be. This is because your body has to exert itself much harder to perform the exercise.

Take, for example, the classic dumbbell bicep curl.  If you are familiar with the exercise, you know that it is done by standing erect with your palms facing forward. A pair of dumbbells is grasped down near your legs. You contract your biceps so as to bring the dumbbells up to your shoulder elevation. You then repeat the movement as many times as you can.

Duplicating that same exercise on a bicep curl machine is done as follows. You should sit down, while bracing your upper arms on a pad and then grasp the two handles that are in front of you, before performing the same movement as previously by lifting the handles in an upward motion.

Let's consider the muscle contractions in this exercise. You are, in fact, just contracting your biceps if you are using the curl machine.  That is pretty much all you are doing.  When you make use of the machine, you are sitting down, which limits how much your shoulders can move. The machine is concerned with your biceps as well as the muscles in your forearms and fingers.

Most of the time, when using machine weights, you will be limited as to what style of workout you can perform.  You are required to follow a strict procedure as you do with free weights.  Unlike free weights, machine weights offer a certain degree of resistance.

A lot of people say that free weights, as opposed to machine exercise, are best for your body. Other people insist on machine weights. There are pros and cons with both techniques, although free weights have been around a lot longer and have been shown time over time to achieve impressive results. Body builders for example, have used free weights for years to build very amazing physiques.  If you ask most of them about machine weights, they would probably laugh at you.

In the end, free weights will employ more of your muscles than the machines can. This makes free weights more effective overall.  That doesn't mean that the machines are a waste of time. They do offer some great advantages.  In some cases, it is more beneficial to stabilize the muscles that are being used in a movement, which is the specialty of machines.

The decision of which method to use should be based on what you hope to achieve with lifting weights and where you propose to use the equipment, at home or at a exercise room.  Both systems are splendid for your physique, although free weights are more beneficial to use if you need the best possible workout.