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Machines... the truth Anonymous
/fit/

I know free weights are better than machines. That is not what I am asking.

I go to my gym, and I use a mixture of machines and free weights and it is working for me at the moment (I might change, I might not - at some point I the machines might not offer enough weight, but I'm not there yet). But this isn't about me either.

I see some big guys, who appear to be strong doing the same thing. Some of them use pretty much nothing but free weights, some of them use a mixture. There are some of guys who use nothing but machines.

So my question is this, /fit/, are machines really so bad? Or can one expect to gain strength/mass/definition using them?
>> Anonymous
Machines are good for isolation excersises.

Free weights use a lot of secondary.

I mix it up depending on what I'm doing, but I tend to use more free weights then anything.
>> Anonymous
the big guys using machines already have developed their stabilizer muscles, have a good strength base, no muscular imbalance. if you're starting out, you need free weights to get strong, to have a foundation to build on. Once you're where they're at then you can use just the machines to isolate specific muscles.
>> Anonymous
can you travel 100 miles quicker by bike or by car?
>> Anonymous
>>382709

OP here, seems a sensible enough answer to me. Thanks bro.

I like using free weights, but my gym is crappy for them. I hear there is another one nearby my friend goes to, so I might check it out. On the plus side, it is grittier than my current gym too.
>> Anonymous
>>382718
>bench 1.5x, deadlift 2x, and squat 2x your own weight

No prob. This is the strength standard for novice lifters. When you can do this, you've built a good strength base.
>> is this awesome? Anonymous
>>382718

how is that even possible?
>> Anonymous
machines have been proven not to increase bone density as free weights do
>> Anonymous
>>382732

How is what possible? If you are referring to the lack of free weights there are a couple of racks of dumb bells, wich obviously see heavy use when there are a reasonable number of poeple in.

There are no power racks - only smiths machines.

There is one bar and almost all of the weights are being used for guys benching on the smiths.

>>382750

...what?
>> Anonymous
>>382759
LOL that sucks
>> Anonymous
>>382767

Yes, it does. Hence why I do a mixture (well, partially anyway) and am considering going elsewhere. I dont pay a membership so I'm not tied to the place thankfully.
>> Anonymous
Terminator 3 was a fantastic movie.
>> Anonymous
>>382774
Terminator 3 was a terrible excuse for a terminator movie.
>> Anonymous
>>382814
No actually it was better then the other two.
I can't wait for Terminator 4. I think it's gonna be awesome.