Cable Machine?

siany01

I know ideally I should be using free weights but I don't think I am up to the weight room as yet.

At the moment I do 3 supersets (with 3 circuits on each) using the cable machine, apart from the weighted squats with dumbells (only up to 9 kgs in each hand but getting better) I enjoy doing it and it gets my cardio in a the same time as my heart rate is 135-175 throughout.

Every couple of months I get a session with a fitness instructor and they will write me a new program to follow (to stop you getting bored) and I don't know if I should say I want to use the other weight machines, I know that everything I have read says that they are not the best because they isolate muscles and force un-natural movement but are they better than nothing? Or should I just stick with the cable machines and get a new set of exercises to do on them.

Ideally I want to get to doing something like stronglifts but I am not sure I am there yet so looking for something in the middle. At the moment I am increasing the resistance on each of the exercises I do each time I go and have reduced the reps to 10-12 (from 15) and upped the weights but I feel I need a bit more of a challenge than I have right now.

Any suggestions would be appreciated

Thanks

foodie99

All weight lifting is a good thing.

Circuit trainers isolate to focus on only one muscle group. Cable machines focus on the muscle group but require you to engage some stabilizing muscles as well. Free weights will engage more stabilizers than cable columns while also focusing on the muscle group you are training.

My personal opinion is to use the cable columns until you feel comfortable / ready to use the free weights. Improper form during lifting can cause a lot of damage so it's best not to use them if you don't know what you are doing without someone showing you the correct way.

siany01

Thank you. Yes I definitely use stabilizing muscles as I have to hold my balance and position on a few of the moves. I was thinking of asking the coach to take me through barbell squats (back) they have a power cage and Olympic bar so starting with just the bar and, for now, just incorporating them into my routine/program. Would I be right in thinking that would be the most beneficial of the lifts to start off with or should I just wait until I am ready to get going with all of them, if you know what I mean.

Sorry for all the questions, can you tell I am a novice lol

n3ver3nder

Have a look at Starting Strength, Stronglifts etc and jump in with both feet. There's absolutely no reason, barring injury, why you can't start with freeweights now. You want to do squats, deadlift, bench press, shoulder press, and some form of row as a bare minimum. There's a lot of resources online for correct technique, and there's no guarantee the trainer at your gym has any idea over the correct technique anyway.

siany01

I have got the stronglifts stuff and read NROLFW and I have watched LOTS of stuff on you tube re form (including both stronglift workouts) Its a confidence thing for me. That's why I was thinking of dipping my toes in with squats rather than jumping in with both feet. I was just wondering if adding the squats in with a predominately cable based circuit would work or if I should wait until I am ready to jump right in before adding compound lifts.

Thanks

n3ver3nder

Just go for it. Your mission, should you choose to accept it: Next time you go to the gym, get under the bar and give it a go. Minimum of 3 sets of 5 reps with the empty bar, add some weight if you feel OK.
You MUST do this first thing after your warm up.


You have 1 week to report with your findings from your weight room scouting mission.

Stand by for further orders.