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Anonymous
Hey /fit/.

Due to circumstances out of my control, I had to choose a gym that only has machines. I've been trying to compensate for that at least a bit by avoiding the isolation machines and by doing a fair bit of calisthenics in the aerobic room, but I still feel a bit daft.

Any tips on making the most out of this situation?

Pic related.
>> Anonymous
No free weights? What kind of fucking gym is that? Even woman gyms have free weights dude.
>> Anonymous
get yourself some barbells
>> Anonymous
Join a women's gym.
>> Anonymous
Find another gym or buy some good weights yourself... take up a focking job if you have to, just get hold of a good set of weights and a rack+bench.
>> Anonymous
>>178559

My local gym is fail, it had no form of free weights, probably because they'd get stolen lol. Full of shitty machines with hardly any resistance.
>> Anonymous
OP here. It's a franchise gym that mostly caters to people who want to lose weight. The strange thing is that there's a good number of muscle heads who work out there even though there isn't a single dumbbell in the place.
>> Anonymous
OP again. The reasons I chose this gym are as follows:
a) Cost. The next gym that had free weights was literally three times as expensive.
b) Convenience. My mom's place is right around the corner and I can stow my gym bag there as opposed to lugging it 6 km every time.
c) Ignorance. I had no idea that machines were so frowned upon by serious fitness people.

Anyway, yeah, any tips now that the damage is done?
>> Anonymous
>>178602

costs 3 times more for a better gym that you will get a 20x better workout?

I have a gym literally 2 blocks from me that is cheap, but the equipment sucks.

I go to a gym about 8 miles away that costs 5 times more, but has all the equipment one could ask for. been going there for about 4 years and well worth it.
>> ZC !ZcFit7DWNs
Answer mirrored from 99chan.

Emergency checklist:

1) Are you paying for this gym? If not, continue to 2
2) Do you have a job? If so, continue to 3
3) Can you afford a cheap, rusty, used barbell and some old ass plates? If so, get on craigslist.

Otherwise, it's tough. you're in a gym with equipment that, for the most part, you don't need. What kind of machines have they got in there? You can probably emulate most of the simpler upper body exercises on.. nautilus machines... but there's no way you're truly going to get working without getting your hands on a barbell.
>> Anonymous
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When you say machines, are you talking about like the one pictured? (Atlantis workout equipment)

Those are not bad if you use them correctly.
>> Anonymous
>>178619

Thanks for the cross-post. I'll reply here.

1. Paid in advance. Half a year to go.
2. Temping until I start college in the fall. And every cent is going towards tuition. Fuck student loans.
3. See 2.

They have the whole Nautilus catalog as far as I can discern. I can do bench presses, incline bench presses, flys, compound rows, ab stuff and a whole shitload of other stuff.

I've been mostly using the (incline) bench press machine (which has a weird range of motion) and the compound row for upper body. I do a lot of pullups, but the stupid assisted pullup machines doesn't really leave you any room if you don't use the assistance pad so I keep banging my knees on the weight stack.

I'm slowly trying to build a home gym together with a friend of mine (and I'm hoping it's finished when my gym subscription runs out), and we've got some stuff together already, but there isn't anything like craigslist here and it's been hard to buy used stuff.

So far, we've got 2 dumbbells with a few weight plates and a small-ish boxing bag we hung from the rafters in his attic. If we ever find a bench and barbell we're going for it obviously. But that stuff is expensive new and we haven't been able to find it used.
>> Anonymous
Ok, im in this gym there's a lot of machine and freeweight. I'm mostly using the machines because they focus on the muscle whereas barbell can make you bend your back and have a bad posture.

Am I doing it wrong?
>> Anonymous
>>178631

Yeah, pretty much like that one. Nautilus though, not Atlantic. Maybe I'm overreacting and should be happy with what I've got, but I've been reading a lot about the subject lately and ZC's FAQ maybe was the last straw to thinking I was an idiot for joining a machines-only gym.

I guess the bottom line is that it's good that I'm doing anything for my health at all, even if my results won't be as good as if I used free weights. That said, I still do a bit of dumbbell stuff when I find time and I'm doing a fuckload of bodyweight exercises.
>> Anonymous
>>178659
OP here. My understanding is that compound exercises are always better. It's true that it's easier to keep your form on machines, but learn to do the exercises with proper form on the free weights and you'll get a much more intensive workout since you have to balance the weight as well as lift it.