Flat bench vs multi gym?

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kazane1
kazane1 Posts: 264 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hi all I was just wondering what is better to use given the choice.. flat bench press vs sitting up on a multi gym and using that chest press. Lying on a bench doing dumbbell flyes or sitting on a multi gym machine and doing the butterfly press? And overall what are your opinions on what piece of equipment is better the multi gym machines or the weights bench.
Thanks all
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Replies

  • stanmann571
    stanmann571 Posts: 5,728 Member
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    1. This probably should be in a different board, Suggest you flag it and requests the mods move it.

    IN general, unless there's a reason to isolate a particular range of motion, the greater the possible range of motion, the better(for strength building) So, from worst to best

    Static machines with cable/plates---Mostly because the plate/load is proprietary and two "identical" machines from different manufacturers can have different resistance with the same load
    Smith/hammer style machines
    Cable machines
    Barbell work
    Dumbell/KBell work

    That being said, Dumbbells/KBells aren't necessarily appropriate or available in certain weights or for certain exercises.
  • kazane1
    kazane1 Posts: 264 Member
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    stanmann571 wrote: »
    1. This probably should be in a different board, Suggest you flag it and requests the mods move it.

    IN general, unless there's a reason to isolate a particular range of motion, the greater the possible range of motion, the better(for strength building) So, from worst to best

    Static machines with cable/plates---Mostly because the plate/load is proprietary and two "identical" machines from different manufacturers can have different resistance with the same load
    Smith/hammer style machines
    Cable machines
    Barbell work
    Dumbell/KBell work

    That being said, Dumbbells/KBells aren't necessarily appropriate or available in certain weights or for certain exercises.

    Ahh okay then thanks, I not sure how to flag the post other wise I would, what topic should it be posted under?
  • stanmann571
    stanmann571 Posts: 5,728 Member
    edited February 2018
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    Probably should be in Fitness and exercise. Recipes is really a food related subforum.

    Flag/Report should be the leftmost option underneath the Post, depending on what platform you're on
  • kazane1
    kazane1 Posts: 264 Member
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    All done thank you for the advice!
  • Cherimoose
    Cherimoose Posts: 5,210 Member
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    Machines that provide support generally isolate the target muscles better than freeweights, and less of your energy is spent on non-target muscles to stabilize the movement. That's a benefit if your goal is to bulk up, but it's a drawback if your goal is overall fitness, where muscle groups need to work together as a team.
  • not_a_runner
    not_a_runner Posts: 1,343 Member
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    Davidsdottir wrote: »
    If you're doing PHUL and it says to bench, then bench. These are the types of substitutions that made me originally suggest that you choose a beginner program.

    ^^^^^
    This.
    Do the exercises as written on the program you are following.



    I have a home gym, so the majority of my exercises are BB or DB, since I don't have machines available. I get just as good of a workout doing this as when I had machines available at a public gym. Even then, I did BB and DB exercises the majority of the time.
  • jessef593
    jessef593 Posts: 2,272 Member
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    I power lift so I'm going to say bench press accompanied by a squat rack. If you want to build raw power
  • kazane1
    kazane1 Posts: 264 Member
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    Davidsdottir wrote: »
    If you're doing PHUL and it says to bench, then bench. These are the types of substitutions that made me originally suggest that you choose a beginner program.

    Thanks for the advice I’m doing PHAT but it’s just that some days when I can’t get to the gym I only have access to a multi gym. But I’ll make sure to stick to the original exercises then thanks
  • kazane1
    kazane1 Posts: 264 Member
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    Thanks all!
  • jessef593
    jessef593 Posts: 2,272 Member
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    You're not doing the entirety of PHAT are You? That program wasn't designed with natural lifters in mind and it has almost 3x the volume a natural lifter should do.

    PHUL would be a better choice honestly.
  • Davidsdottir
    Davidsdottir Posts: 1,285 Member
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    jessef593 wrote: »
    You're not doing the entirety of PHAT are You? That program wasn't designed with natural lifters in mind and it has almost 3x the volume a natural lifter should do.

    PHUL would be a better choice honestly.

    Better for the OP would actually be a beginner program, but whatever LOL
  • kazane1
    kazane1 Posts: 264 Member
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    Okay i'll have to look into PHUL then thank you.
    To be honest I'm even find this PHAT routine a bit too easy for my liking. I want a programme that's challenging and makes me feel like I have actually worked my body, I don't really feel this with the PHAT routine so far but I'm only on the first week of it and I have one more day to do tomorrow before I can judge it I think.
  • kazane1
    kazane1 Posts: 264 Member
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    @Davidsdottir I would much rather try an intermediate programme because I have been lifting for about a year and a half now, I'm not that smart when it comes down to programmes and the knowledge of weight training in general but I can lift and I am used to a lot of different types of exercises and I do like to push myself and to learn new things.
  • bbell1985
    bbell1985 Posts: 4,572 Member
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    kazane1 wrote: »
    Okay i'll have to look into PHUL then thank you.
    To be honest I'm even find this PHAT routine a bit too easy for my liking. I want a programme that's challenging and makes me feel like I have actually worked my body, I don't really feel this with the PHAT routine so far but I'm only on the first week of it and I have one more day to do tomorrow before I can judge it I think.

    Really? I think PHAT has a lot of volume. If you want even more, with heavier squat/bench/deads you can try PH3 designed by Layne too. There are excel spreadsheets out there for it so you can enter in your maxes and get the whole program laid out for you.
  • bbell1985
    bbell1985 Posts: 4,572 Member
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    If PHAT isn't enough for you, you won't like PHUL. I call that the baby phat
  • kazane1
    kazane1 Posts: 264 Member
    edited March 2018
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    ahh right lol, when i finish the PHAT workouts i just feel that i could of done more and could of worked the muscles a bit better. but i am coming from being used to doing the classic split training and im not really used to full body workouts so maybe the full body workouts are just a bit easier on the muscles then the split training was, because when i was doing split training i was really working like just chest to the fullest then just arms to the fullest and with this PHAT thats more of a full body workout so I'm working a lot more then one muscle to the fullest each time?
    What would you reccommend then to stick with this PHAT workout?
  • Davidsdottir
    Davidsdottir Posts: 1,285 Member
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    Then you're not lifting heavy enough.
  • not_a_runner
    not_a_runner Posts: 1,343 Member
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    kazane1 wrote: »
    ahh right lol, when i finish the PHAT workouts i just feel that i could of done more and could of worked the muscles a bit better. but i am coming from being used to doing the classic split training and im not really used to full body workouts so maybe the full body workouts are just a bit easier on the muscles then the split training was, because when i was doing split training i was really working like just chest to the fullest then just arms to the fullest and with this PHAT thats more of a full body workout so I'm working a lot more then one muscle to the fullest each time?
    What would you reccommend then to stick with this PHAT workout?

    You're working every muscle at least 2x a week with this program though. You're doing twice the frequency as you would with a body part split, you don't need to be murdering every muscle every single day.

    What are you doing on the days you use the multi gym? Trying to sub machine exercises for compounds isn't going to give you the same workout, which is what it sounds like you have done this week.
  • bbell1985
    bbell1985 Posts: 4,572 Member
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    kazane1 wrote: »
    ahh right lol, when i finish the PHAT workouts i just feel that i could of done more and could of worked the muscles a bit better. but i am coming from being used to doing the classic split training and im not really used to full body workouts so maybe the full body workouts are just a bit easier on the muscles then the split training was, because when i was doing split training i was really working like just chest to the fullest then just arms to the fullest and with this PHAT thats more of a full body workout so I'm working a lot more then one muscle to the fullest each time?
    What would you reccommend then to stick with this PHAT workout?

    PHAT is not fully body. They're still upper and lower splits. You are in charge of tracking your own progressive overload. You don't want to be going to failure this week, if that means it will fatigue you to the point you can't add a rep/set/or weight next week. You're also getting more frequency on body parts with this program and doing a split that only incorporates hitting a muscle group once per week.

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