Looked at free-weight training vs. Machine training

Machines are convenient, comfortable, and pretty to look at.
Free-weights are old fashion, boring to look at, and tougher to use.

Illinois State University found that because machines allow joints to only go through a fixed range of motion, that they create excessive torque and unnatural stress.  They also found that machine based exercise were too artificial to create real life functional strength.

The dumbbell and barbell exercises activated more muscle groups and built intramuscular coordination that helped real world functional movements.

If you feel the need to belong to a gym- use the free weights. If you don’t want to spend the time to get there, the gas to get there, or the mental energy figuring out what to do, I would suggest the basic training program I set up for patients.

GET IN SHAPE BEFORE SUMMER.

Join a growing movement of healthier people.

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 14th, 2009 at 8:22 pm and is filed under Exercise. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.