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Resistance for all

Resistance machines help exercise specific muscle groups

FIRST CHOICE Machines are safer when you exercise alone

The muscle building equipment in a gym comprises free weights (dumb bells and barbells) and "resistance" machines. Professional bodybuilders use a combination of free weights and "resistance" machines in training, but they are often biased toward free weights. Beginners, on the other hand, are biased towards resistance machines. Which is better?

Every gym has a person who just cannot balance a barbell overhead or is forever dropping weights on the floor or on himself. There is also another who tries to lift way more than he can handle and ends up needing help. Resistance machines are ideal for such people, but they are also good for anyone who wants to exercise safely. Elderly people who find it difficult to balance free weights will benefit from these machines. You change weights simply by unhooking a pin and putting it in another hole. When you let go due to injury or tiredness, the machine does not go lethal on you.

Resistance machines help isolate the muscle group you want to exercise.

This will benefit beginners who cheat by inadvertently using other muscle groups when tired.

Free weights are more versatile than resistance machines. By altering the position of the lifting arm and the position of the body, the same weight can be used to target a different muscle group. Professional athletes love this kind of flexibility, especially since no machine can effectively target all the major and minor muscles in the body. Free weights require explosive power: some trainers believe that this kind of training is better for sports like sprinting and boxing that require similar explosive bursts.

The graded resistance of machines may not be as effective as free weights in his regard.

Barbells and dumbbells are cheaper than machines, and they last for life.

Since most of us are not professional athletes, the choice in a gym should be machines and low-weight barbells during the first few months, and progressively heavier barbells and dumbbells as time goes by.

Learn form and technique on machines and then go on to heavy barbells. When you are recovering from an injury, machines are best in the first few weeks.

Machines are undoubtedly safer when you are exercising alone. Elderly people face fewer risks with machines, but free weights are by no means forbidden.

RAJIV. M

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