Weights Fitness: Free Weights VS Machine Exercise
How far we can extent and flex joints in the body is known as range of motion. The greater the resistance on our body while doing range of motion exercises, the more effective our exercise will be. Therefore, exercising with weights is essential for overall fitness to help strengthen muscles and stimulate new bone growth to guard against diseases like osteoporosis. Now, let’s examine your choice of free weights and machine exercise equipment.
Take for instance the classic dumbbell bicep curl. If you aren’t familiar with the exercise, it is performed by standing up straight with your palms facing forward, and a pair of dumbbells held down to your sides. Then contracting your biceps muscles while bringing the dumbbells up to shoulder height, and slowly lengthening them again by using full range of motion. Using that same movement for exercise on a bicep curl machine, you sit down, brace your upper arms on a pad, grasp 2 handles that are in front of you, and then perform the same movement as above by moving the handles in an upward motion.
By using the curl machine, the only muscles contracting are your biceps. This is because you are sitting down and of the additional support the machine offers, your range of motion will be confined to the muscles you want to exercise. In this particular weights fitness example, the biceps and the muscles in your forearms and fingers are challenged. When using machine weights, you will always be limited to what type of exercise you can perform. Exercise Machines are designed to follow a strict procedure and thus enforce perfect body alignment to help protect against injuries. The main drawback perhaps is that the exercise may become repetitive and boring enough for some to want to quit. Another point to consider is that exercise machines often are bulky and inconvenient to move around from your home or gym.
Free weights, like dumbbells, on the other hand, are easily transported from home to work or to the park. You can achieve dramatic results building muscle tone with just a set of weights. Your range of motion is only limited to keeping your body from being injured. If you want to press weights you will need a bench to align your body safely and a partner or trainer to overlook your body posture. Bad body posture while exercising with weights for fitness may lead to injuries, even if you are only using 1.5 pound dumbbells.
To conclude the comparison, exercise machines are designed to be safer on our body than free weights generally are by letting you exercise only selected muscle groups and by limiting range of motion. Not so using free weights. In order to get the most out of a workout with free weights we need to also engage the mind by concentrating on the muscle group we want to tone. Keep our balance by using other muscle groups in support to a particular exercise, and by tightening the stomach muscles, keeping the back straight. This makes working with free weights a harder and more effective exercise for overall body fitness.
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