Why do people use these machines instead of free weights?

[DOMS]

Yeah, tallcall is pretty damn cool.

 

[min0 lee]

Yeah, tallcall is pretty damn cool.

Very cool, they had a guy on TV with tourettes and they somehow cured him....I think it was tourettes. I'll see if I find it.
Akira didn't mean to be mean, I'm sure.

 

[KelJu]

Very cool, they had a guy on TV with tourettes and they somehow cured him....I think it was tourettes. I'll see if I find it.
Akira didn't mean to be mean, I'm sure.

Did he learn to fly planes, because I think I saw that on Discovery Health or NPR.

 

[Pound for Pound]

The only time I use the Smith Machine is for shrugs and that's only occasionally. I don't like how the smith limits my range of motion on everything else. My joints are pretty messed up so they need all the freedom they can get. Free weights are better as they work your stabilizers but like everyone said, if you want to isolate or don't feel safe without a spotter then hop on the machine.

 

[min0 lee]

Did he learn to fly planes, because I think I saw that on Discovery Health or NPR.

I didn't see the whole episode, but had I known a IM member had it I would have written down the info.

 

[RasPlasch]

Well it all depends on how you use each of them, but the bench in the long run is probably better because you use stabilizer muscles around the muscle you are working. But I do a bit of both. The machines tend to focus on a muscle and that muscle only, it's good to use them, you can gain a lot of strength from them if you mix them properly with free weights. But if you use machines solely, the thing is then you go and switch to freeweights you are putting yourself at risk for injury because those stabilizer muscles haven't been worked, you see what I mean?

I looked on ExRx.com I looked at Smith Benchpress and barbell benchpress, the site said that they both worked the same muscles and used the same stabilizers. Is the site wrong then?

 

[Pound for Pound]

I looked on ExRx.com I looked at Smith Benchpress and barbell benchpress, the site said that they both worked the same muscles and used the same stabilizers. Is the site wrong then?

Yes and no; they work the same primary muscles, being the pecs, but free weights ALSO work the secondary muscles, the stabilizers. There's no stabilizing on a machine because you're locked into a certain range of motion.

 

[tallcall]

I didn't see the whole episode, but had I known a IM member had it I would have written down the info.

I saw those shows, the deep brain stimulation thing. Sorry, but I still don't want anyone messing around with my mind unless it comes down to life or death (or being a potato or having some kind of brain damage). I'm already screwed up enough in the head (seeing a psychologist, have a nervous disorder, maybe more)!

 

[KeenanB13]

Yes and no; they work the same primary muscles, being the pecs, but free weights ALSO work the secondary muscles, the stabilizers. There's no stabilizing on a machine because you're locked into a certain range of motion.

^^^That pretty much sums it up^^^