Anyone use the machines at the gym

nicola8989

The strength training ones rather than cardio - e.g. chest presses, leg curls?

I have been using them but I heard they're quite bad for you??

Chrisparadise579

They arent necessarily bad for you but they are not very effective. This is due to the fact that it isolates one body movement and doesnt allow you to use any other muscles that help build overall strength and increase you calorie burn. So while it wont hurt you in the gym it could hurt you in the real world and you will achieve better results with free weights

VegasFit

I use both but free weights far outnumber the machines I use.

onefortyone

Our apartment's gym doesn't have freeweights so I use the cable machine for biceps/triceps and then the lat pulldown machine, and the chest press machine. Gives me a decent upper body workout, though I have to use MUCH higher weights to get the same burn with freeweights (ex. we have two 35lb dumbbells at home - can I lift them/stabilise them enough to do tricep workouts? Heck no! But I am comfortably doing 40lbs each with tricep pulldowns on the cable machines). So I'd prefer freeweights to get those stabiliser muscles nice and strong, but what I'm doing for now is working

ThePhoenixIsRising

I use them for burnout. They are great for isolating a specific muscles that need extra work.

212019156

Using can be ok if you use them with the right reasons. What this means is that they can have their place but should not be used to replace free weight movements unless you have a reason to do so. Of course there could be exceptions.

corgarian

They are better than not doing anything at all, but freeweights are better than the machines.

dbmata

I use the smith all the time. I hang my towel from it and deadlift in front of it so I don't get in the way of the squat racks.

nicola8989

this is really great advice thanks everyone