The Pitfalls of Machines

I have said it many times and still stand behind it…. “If you train your clients with machines you are either lazy or just don’t know any better”.

Lets clarify what I am talking about here – I’m talking about “fixed movement” machines such as cam based machines, smith machines, hammer strength type machines, etc. This does not include cable machines as these provide variation in movement.

Now let’s get back to my statement…. This may upset some people but this could be partly because they know it’s true. Now after reading this article you will not be able to use the latter as an excuse and all you will be left with is the “lazy” excuse which does not hold much water.

Machines provide an unnatural environment to train and can actually increase the risk of injuries. Take the back extension machine for example – a common machine found in most gyms. This machine exerts compressive forces on the spinal discs to such a level that research has shown that there is a substantial risk of disc herniation. Every time walk in to the gym I see people performing this insane exercise, often prescribed by their personal training.

Some make the excuse that a beginner needs to start with machines as they do not have the coordination or stabilization to train with “free movement” – but how are machines going to help? In-fact training a novice on machines may even take them even further from “function”.

You have to stop thinking of training muscle but rather training movements. For too long the fitness industry has been prescribing exercise programs based on bodybuilding. Forget these isolated movements being performed on machines trying to create overload on individual muscles in the hope that this will help produce hypertrophy. Things are not as they seem; hypertrophy is a little more complex than just creating a metabolic overload on an individual muscle – however many of the machine manufactures would like you to believe this.

So what’s the solution? The answers are a little more complex than that can be expressed in this article – I recommend you take a look at our new DVD, “Program Design – An Integrated Approach to Program design.”

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