So You Have a New Gym Membership....

This is going to be gym related post. I'll follow up with a recipe one later, but as you can imagine, it's tough to make yet more sweets in the post-holiday aftermath of indulgence and perhaps a sprinkle of regret :)

I got the idea after some great responses to the last post I had, and just like in class, if someone has a question, it's very likely that another person is thinking the same thing. I think it's a topic that is as popular and misunderstood as the high school prom queen... or our beloved Micheal Jackson.

Should I use machines, or free weights, or both? I hear free weights are better, but they are kinda intimating, and all these sweaty guys are around... (I'm paraphrasing of course)

This is a great question, and my opinion has definitely changed over the years. Ask me 3 years ago, and I wouldn't of touched a machine. Ask today, and I just used a machine or two on Monday.

My answer is an indecisive, grey colored... it depends. What do I mean? Well, it depends on your goals, and what you are looking to change about yourself or improve on. Even if you had the most stacked gym ever... with all sorts of equipment, you should pick exercises that focus on a couple of things:

1. Do you feel the appropriate muscles being worked during the exercise?
2. Can you progress with the exercise each week?
3. While you may not enjoy doing the exercise, do you at least not hate it's guts?

These are the most important things to consider when working out. While there are THOUSANDS of weight training routines available, there is no perfect one. Why? Because people aren't all the same. What works for you might not for me. It's the same thing with foods, diet, hair cut styles, eye sight ability, sport team favoritism... on and on. As long as you pick something and stick to it... and progress... you'll be good. You body does not want to change. Trust me. Why would it want to lose weight and gain muscle? That takes work. So you have to give it a reason to :)

I like machines for a number of reasons. I don't need a spotter, and they are great at teaching because they kinda force your muscles into learning a movement pattern, which will allow them to be 'felt' and contract correctly (as long as you focus on the muscle). So that fulfills rule #1.

So what I'm saying is what good is a free weight dumbbell chest press if you only feel it in your shoulders? Sure it's a free weight, so stabilizing muscles come into play, but if it's not working the muscle you want it too... see what I mean.

But I will add another caveat when it comes to exercise selection...

Make it relevant to your goals. Let's say your goal is to do one pullup, all the way up and down. While there are a couple of exercises you can pick from, the best would probably be assisted pullups. You need to train to your goals more than half the time. A pulldown machine will help, but different movement patterns require different activation from your brain. Because of motor units, neural activation, torque angles of force created, etc, the skills aren't exactly transferable.

I mean like, all cars can drive... but ever notice how it takes a minute to "get used to it"... same kind of deal...

I can't tell you how many times I've switched from bar and dumbbell bench presses in the past, and got shocked when I didn't feel stronger right away. It's not because of muscle, it's because you need to learn how to recruit muscles for that particular exercise all over again :)

So you need to focus on the exercise that is direct to your goals. You need to swap out movements when you stall, but you need to change back once you stall out again.

So, the short of the long of that question is... do what works for you, and what will bring you closer to your goals. I think a mix of the two methods each has risks and benefits. One time I had someone younger and smaller than me call me lame for using machines. I smiled...

Just remember results take time. Time is def on your side, and soon you'll become a gym fanatic that's the envy of the town :)

Now if you're asking what exercises give you the most bang for your buck, and you're lost with free weights... well that's another day :)