Advantages of the cable machine?

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amandaeve
amandaeve Posts: 723 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I get the advantage of free weights (more control, bang for your buck) and weight machines (more precision, easier to be in healthy alignment) but what about a cable work out? Who uses the machine? Why choose that over other lifting styles? I tried a few arm lifts on one the other day and am wondering what would be different if i moved more of my work out over there.

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  • singletrackmtbr
    singletrackmtbr Posts: 644 Member
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    Cable machines can be useful for exercises that can't be done otherwise, such as a crossover. I wouldn't choose a cable machine for something I could do with free weights.

    Regarding your statement about machines I don't necessarily agree they put you in healthy alignment. Machines typically move back and forth in a straight line, which is not always how your body is supposed to move. (Examples squat and OHP).

    I guess it's a matter or preference, but like cables, I wouldn't use a machine for any exercise I can do with free weights.
  • grob49
    grob49 Posts: 125 Member
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    I use everything just depends on what I am working. I like lat pulldowns and seated rows. Tricep push downs I will do bicep 21s. I find that a combination of free weights weight machines and cable machines help me take my muscles to total failure
  • SonyaCele
    SonyaCele Posts: 2,841 Member
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    i use the cable machine for seated rows, lat pulldowns and triceps also. but not much else.
  • amandaeve
    amandaeve Posts: 723 Member
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    singletrackmtbr wrote: »
    Cable machines can be useful for exercises that can't be done otherwise, such as a crossover. I wouldn't choose a cable machine for something I could do with free weights.

    Regarding your statement about machines I don't necessarily agree they put you in healthy alignment. Machines typically move back and forth in a straight line, which is not always how your body is supposed to move. (Examples squat and OHP).

    I guess it's a matter or preference, but like cables, I wouldn't use a machine for any exercise I can do with free weights.

    @singletrackmtbr I'm just guessing on the reasons people choose the different options, what's your reason for preferring free weights?
  • cgvet37
    cgvet37 Posts: 1,189 Member
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    They each have their advantages and disadvantages. I use all three.
  • lemmie177
    lemmie177 Posts: 479 Member
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    I'd imagine the advantage of cables is that the direction of the resistance is more flexible. With free weights, the direction is always down, so you end up doing things like bent-over rows (which I find awkward). Personally, I do everything with a barbell cause that's what I have at home. But if I had access, I'd do cable pull-throughs, kickbacks, and probably some kind of row.
  • Willbenchforcupcakes
    Willbenchforcupcakes Posts: 4,955 Member
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    About the only thing I do on a regular basis machine wise is wide grip seated rows. A better carryover to bench than other rowing moves.
  • etruscansunited
    etruscansunited Posts: 18 Member
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    Multiplanar movement - best able to replicate either natural movement you seek to enhance or protect or the sporting movement you seek to optimise - either is likely to be far superior to machine movements and sometimes not possible with free weights.
    Eccentric resistance is possible in the plane you move cable - can be impossible with machine or free weights (straps can come close). Eccentric work can be superior to concentric.
    Thirdly the force of resistance thru entire movement can be identical which is vip for max strength and power development and injury minimisation but unobtainable with free weights or machines.
  • singletrackmtbr
    singletrackmtbr Posts: 644 Member
    edited October 2016
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    amandaeve wrote: »

    @singletrackmtbr I'm just guessing on the reasons people choose the different options, what's your reason for preferring free weights?

    As others have said, there are definitely some cable exercises that can't be done with free weights, and I would definitely advocate for cables in that circumstance.

    That said, using free weights contributes to better balance, stability, coordination, and form (i.e. you can use bad form using free weights, but you'll likely end up injured. When doing exercises like squats, deadlifts, and OHP, your body is allowed to follow its natural motions instead of being forced into one plane by a machine).

    I like etruscan's post above but disagree with some statements. Eccentric work is absolutely possible with free weights; I do it all the time.

    As far as strength curves, this can be done with free weights as well. Depending on the exercise you can change up strength curves using chains or bands, or alter the curve by changing the amount of time you spend in specific parts of the movement.

  • Leadfoot_Lewis
    Leadfoot_Lewis Posts: 1,623 Member
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    amandaeve wrote: »
    I get the advantage of free weights (more control, bang for your buck) and weight machines (more precision, easier to be in healthy alignment) but what about a cable work out? Who uses the machine? Why choose that over other lifting styles?

    Cable machines are great for isolation exercises (Cable Crossover, Tricep Pushdown, Bicep Curls, etc.). The pros of a cable machine are you have some resistance on the eccentric portion of the lift. The cons are you use your stabilizer's less because the cable does a lot of that for you.
  • canadianlbs
    canadianlbs Posts: 5,199 Member
    edited October 2016
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    Leadfoot_Lewis wrote: »
    The cons are you use your stabilizer's less because the cable does a lot of that for you.

    i actually like the isolation factor sometimes, when i'm doing compound lifts and i'm not sure if a specific muscle group is being lazy or not. i have an awful time with feeling my lats even when they're firing like a steam train, for instance. so i do my pendlay rows and eccentric chins/pulls. but i use the isolation you get from the cables to really pinpoint the sensation itself. otherwise, it's just too easy for me to 'lose' my lats while doing the free-weights version.
  • Cherimoose
    Cherimoose Posts: 5,209 Member
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    I only 2 do cable exercises regularly. I like the single-arm chest press because the position is more functional for me than being supported by a bench. It can be done with 2 arms at time, but using 1 arm makes it an awesome ab exercise since you have to keep your torso from rotating.. a skill that's undertrained with freeweights.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlIPW0nyM50


    The standing cable row complements the barbell rows i do. Not as much of a core workout as the chest press above, but it does train forward/back stabilization, which again is undertrained in most freeweight exercises. :+1:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6z-5ZFbuYQ&feature=youtu.be&t=1m17s

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