Don't waste time on machines: how to replace them effectively

Author: Nikolai Borisov - coach, champion of Russia in powerlifting.
2017-06-03

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The Purpose of Exercise Machines.

Initially, exercise machines were designed to help people with disabilities. For example, a person with poor coordination due to a congenital condition would find it very difficult to learn how to squat with a barbell. The Smith machine allows them to squat while significantly reducing the risk of falling. If someone happens to break their ankle or both, exercise machines will enable them to train their casted legs by performing adduction and abduction movements.

Sometimes, exercise machines are needed by healthy athletes for isolated training of lagging muscles. A machine may also be necessary for an "extra pump." When you can no longer do five reps after 6-7 sets of pull-ups, a top-down pulley machine can help you do another 2-3 sets of 10-12 reps.

However, over time, exercise machines began to be used instead of free weights in cases where their effectiveness is negligible.

Why Fitness Enthusiasts Love Machines.

1. You can sit or lie down and take selfies.

2. The technique for exercises on machines is significantly simpler than the technique for exercises with free weights.

3. It's easier to adjust the weight on a machine than on a barbell.

4. A fitness enthusiast believes that a modern machine is the pinnacle of engineering that will bring them closer to their desired goal.

5. You can feel cool by pulling all the weights. With a barbell loaded "to the brim," nothing like that will work out.

Why Instructors Love Machines.

1. Less time will be spent teaching the client proper exercise technique compared to exercises with free weights.

2. There are fewer risks of injuring clients.

3. There are fewer weights and dumbbells scattered around the gym.

About Effectiveness.

If you haven't exercised in a long time, your coordination may not be sufficient for working with free weights, making it more reasonable to start with machines. After starting to exercise on machines, you will feel muscle soreness in the first weeks. This means your muscles received a sufficient load. However, by the second month of training on machines, the effect becomes less noticeable.

Undoubtedly, some machines are necessary for a full workout. Typically, these are the simplest of them:

There are effective machines that simulate seated presses, on which the front deltoids are worked better than with free weights. Other useful devices also exist. However, most of the "furniture" in fitness centers merely distracts people from comprehensive workouts.

If your training goal is weight loss: exercises with free weights or without them, just using your own body weight, will allow you to burn more calories, as they engage more muscles due to their complexity, compared to machines.

If your training goal is muscle mass gain: the criterion for exercise effectiveness is the degree of soreness you feel 2-3 days after the workout. The sensations during the exercise and the evening after may be misleading. Microtrauma in muscle fibers causes prolonged soreness, sometimes lasting 5-6 days. It usually starts the day after the workout, sometimes 2-2.5 days later.

From this, you can independently determine the effectiveness of each exercise. For the sake of a clean experiment, you only need to perform one exercise for that muscle in 5-6 sets close to failure and observe the feelings in the muscles for several days.

The experiment with each exercise needs to be repeated at least 3 times, as sometimes a muscle doesn't respond for unclear reasons; the body is a complicated thing.

EXAMPLES OF REPLACING MACHINES TO INCREASE TRAINING EFFECTIVENESS

1. Side Squats vs. Machine Adduction and Abduction

This exercise is quite popular among many women. The more love it gets, the less effective it becomes. Usually, unloved exercises develop lagging muscle groups.

Side squats target the adductors, abductors, extensors, flexors of the thigh and the glutes. This exercise is very energy-intensive.

Many refer to it as lateral lunges. However, "lunge" is a fencing term. A lunge implies bending the knee up to 110 degrees. In a squat, the knee should bend to 40-50 degrees; those with sufficient flexibility can press their glutes to their heels. The greater the range of motion, the higher the effectiveness. In the lower phase, lifting the heel of the supporting leg is allowed. Rising onto the toes will help achieve a smaller angle in the knee.

Before doing side squats, it’s good to warm up with regular squats. Self-massaging the knees will also help, as it speeds up the warming of the joints. Position your feet such that the knee of the free leg is bent to 160-170 degrees in the lower position. Keeping the joint straight (180 degrees) is dangerous. You should descend slowly (more slowly than you rise) to avoid injuries. Try to keep your torso closer to vertical, with your hands behind your head; a simpler option is to have your hands in front. Look forward and up.

When you can perform 4 sets of 10 pairs (a pair being a squat on the left and right leg), you can place a barbell on your back and gradually add weight without compromising your technique.

If you cannot perform 6-8 pairs of squats without weights, stand in front of a Swedish wall or some machine. Grab the bar or the machine's frame with your hands and do side squats while helping yourself with your arms.

Your legs and glutes will improve much faster than your friends, who continue to move their legs on machines.

2. Resistance Bands vs. Graviton Machines

The idea of the gravitron is good – to assist those who cannot perform enough pull-ups or dips on their own. The problem lies in the technical implementation of this idea. A machine, like any mechanism, has friction force. In all the gravitons I have seen, this force is quite significant. Let’s say we set a 30 kg assistance. In practice, this becomes a 20 kg assistance, and when descending, it’s a 40 kg resistance. It could be even worse: 15 kg assistance and 45 kg resistance. For a good workout, the opposite is needed.

The ideal option is a capable partner. A partner can help you pull up or dip and remove their hands when you reach the top. Lowering down on your own allows you to effectively work your muscles in a yielding mode. However, the perfect partner is not always in the gym at the same time as you. Plus, it’s not good to constantly distract someone from their workout. Let’s reserve this effective method for parents teaching their children.

Buy yourself a resistance band, preferably 6 meters long. Its friction force is so low that it can be disregarded. Attach hooks to the ends, as shown in the photos. With the hooks, you can secure the band in the desired position in seconds. You can adjust the level of assistance in three ways: changing the number of layers of the band, adjusting the height of the band’s attachment, and regulating the tension of the band.

The resistance band is simply ideal for teaching women and children how to do dips. The assistance of the band increases in the lower, more challenging phase and decreases at the top. You can secure the band so that in the upper centimeters, the learner will perform dips entirely without assistance. The undeniable benefit of the band is that the learner "standing" on it gets used to keeping their legs straight, vertical, and steady.

3. Single-Leg Squat vs. Leg Press and Leg Extension Machines

In the first point, we discussed women's preferences. Now here’s

This is male love. You can load 400 kg and feel like a hero. But will that hero be able to squat 200 kg in a way that counts in competitions? Will his legs be bigger than those of individuals who diligently squat 150-180 kg?

On this machine, you can see guys with huge quadriceps. Many beginners, imitating them, include leg extensions in their program, not realizing that the quadriceps grew not from leg extensions. Have you ever seen a person who built their thigh working solely on leg curls and extensions without squats? There are many counter-examples: large muscular thighs of athletes who never did curls and extensions. Tens of thousands of such impressive thighs existed long before any leg curl or extension machines were available in the USSR.

Training legs only

is possible, but this idea has its drawbacks. When working to failure, technique is compromised, which increases the risk of injury. Many squat sets can lead to overtraining, back problems, and mental strain. You need an additional exercise.

The single-leg squat works the entire thigh and glutes while placing no strain on the back. It successfully replaces both the leg press and the combination of leg curls and extensions, saving time and increasing efficiency. A prepared athlete should hold a dumbbell in hand. In one suburban gym where many practice single-leg squats, some women hold up to 16 kg in each hand; they have mastered the exercise so well that they don't need to hold onto anything for support. Many of them have achieved the standard for MS in FPR.

4. Calf Raise vs. All Machines

I have tried training my calves on various standing and seated machines. I have never felt a significant effect. Often, it's due to uncomfortable or slippery foot supports, and sometimes for reasons I cannot understand.

Only by performing calf raises while standing on an elevated platform (with wooden or rubber flooring) at a support (usually near a Swedish wall) do I almost always achieve muscle soreness. To do this, you must follow several rules: descend slowly, several times slower than you ascend; lower until you reach failure with maximum muscle relaxation; raise your heel to the maximum height and hold it at the top; alternate legs without resting during all sets, typically from 3 to 5. Lighter athletes may need to hang a weight on their waist. Heavy weights aren't necessary; the effect of the exercise decreases with a reduced number of repetitions. Your hands should hold onto the Swedish wall or another support. Otherwise, you will have to think about maintaining balance, which will interfere with focusing on the technique of execution. For this reason, I consider calf raises with a barbell on the back, which some demonstrate on the internet, completely unacceptable. Press your free leg against the working leg to avoid unnecessary oscillations. In the video, I sometimes move it to the side so you can better see the muscle in action. My right heel drops less than my left due to an injury; I'm not slacking off.

This exercise should be performed in shoes with a flexible sole and good traction. Do the exercise no faster than shown in the video, and the calf activation is guaranteed.

5. Disk or Dumbbell Press on an Incline Bench vs. Butterfly Machine

Here, it’s just like in the third point. Large pectoral muscles grew long before the appearance of the machine

using barbells and dumbbells. Oh, and let's not forget about working the central line.

Try pressing a dumbbell or disk, holding the weight by the sides. Experiment to find the right incline angle for you, somewhere between 0 and 20 degrees to the horizontal. The exercise has its drawbacks. Large diameter disks are not suitable.

Holding more than four dozens can be too risky. You rarely find a kettlebell over 2 poods. Beginners can work comfortably with lighter weights.