What is the diffirence between machines/free weights?

Factual Questions
21

Yeah, I was surprised by just how much (good) tension I’d feel in the back muscles with heavy squats. Heck, Matt Furey has made a living out of selling plain old Hindu squats (along with dive bomber push ups) as basically all you need to do. Of course, some guys say, yeah, but Furey looks a little . . . doughy. Which, sometimes I can’t figure out if it isn’t true. He’s certainly not super cut. But Fedor E. also has a bit of a belly and I’m not questioning his essential fitness. Which is kind of to your question – I have to an extent bought into the functional/core strength doctrine, so I’m okay with not having bigger biceps than push ups and pull ups can provide.

Someone mentioned looking for machines that isolate either arms or legs. There are guys who would tell you the contrary, characterizing such motions as not like real-world situations (I think the leg extension/quadricep machine especially gets criticized on that point, plus it seems to tug on my kneecap, which worries me a bit). Those guys emphasize “multi-joint” exercises, like raising a dumbbell/kettle-ball and pressing above your shoulder while also completing a Hindu squat. I do know when I messed around with that I was about to die of exhaustion within about 20 reps, which told me it was doing something right, I guess . . . .

Thanks finally for your clarification. I guess I should have focused, as someone else did, on the discrete muscle groups that are adjacent, rather than asking about a single muscle. I take your point that instability recruits nearby or even distant discrete muscles better than fixed-plane movements.

22

To a great degree, it is personal preference.

Some considerations are that if you want to work out at home rather than go to a gym, free weights are obviously the best answer. A disadvantage of them is that you do have to learn all the lifts and how to do them properly, but there are a large number of books and websites that will show you how to do that.

It is probably easier and quicker to change weights on a machine than changing the weights on a barbell or dumbbells.

I have always used free weights, but have tried machines where have to go from one to another to get all the muscles worked. To me, it is far easier to do that with weights. And of course, you need a bench too, but the total cost of weights is a one-time expense, and a gym will cost vastly more if you stick with it over a long period to time.

I can’t agree that a spotter is necessary except for barbell chest presses.