The Advantages of Free Weights for Strength Training
November 18, 2024
Strength training is crucial in enhancing health, accelerating fat loss, and reducing the risk of chronic diseases. It’s also essential for improving functional abilities for everyday activities and sports. However, the strategy you choose for strength training can greatly impact the benefits you gain.
When exploring different strength training options, it’s important to consider the nervous system’s role in movement. Your nervous system and brain control all muscle engagement, so training with three-dimensional movements—like free weights and bodyweight exercises—strengthens muscles and trains your brain to move efficiently.Whether your goal is to improve daily functionality, enhance athletic performance, or gain health benefits for conditions like osteoporosis or chronic disease management, incorporating exercises that challenge your nervous system for improved movement is key.
Differences Between Free Weights and Machine Weights
Free Weights
Free weights are portable, allowing for movement in various directions against gravity.
Examples include:
- Dumbbells
- Barbells
- Kettlebells
- Weight plates
- Machine Weights
Machine Weights
Machine weights are larger pieces of equipment where you often sit while pushing or pulling through a specific range of motion. These machines require you to select a weight from a stack, typically with a pin. Machine weights engage large force-producing muscles, but offer limited stimulation to smaller stabilizing muscles due to the fixed plane of movement. This rigidity means that machine weights have less carryover to real-life movements, which often require multi-directional stability. Additionally, machine use may increase injury risk by conditioning the body to rely primarily on large muscles rather than the smaller stabilizers that protect joints.
Examples include:
Leg press machine
Lat pull-down machine
Seated row machine
Chest press machine
Cable Machines
Cable machines use a handle or bar connected to a cable, allowing you to pull in various planes at different angles. These machines mimic the biomechanical properties of free weights by requiring stabilization as you lift, offering similar advantages for functional movement.
Benefits of Free Weights and Cable Machines
Similarity to Daily Activities
Exercises with free weights and cable machines better mimic real-life activities, such as lifting and squatting, by involving multiple planes of motion without rigid support. This improved functional alignment enhances everyday movements.
Range of Motion
Unlike machines that lock you into a specific plane, free weights and cables allow for more natural movement, helping replicate real-life motion patterns.
Stabilizing Muscles
Free weights require balance, activating surrounding stabilizing muscles to support the movement. Machines isolate specific muscle groups, like biceps, due to the added stability, but for overall strength, free weights offer greater benefits.
Greater Muscle Activation
Free weights and cable machines activate more muscles and improve coordination by requiring neuromuscular recruitment. While these benefits may be less visible, they enhance the nervous system’s ability to engage a greater portion of muscle mass.
Exercise Variety
Machines typically limit exercise variety, but free weights and cable machines offer endless options for exercises in all planes of motion, including pushing, pulling, swinging, and carrying.
Train Anywhere
Unlike machines, which are fixed, free weights are portable and versatile, allowing you to work out at home, in the park, or anywhere you choose to exercise.
If you’re looking for advice on how to be more active safely, please reach out to Kb Fitness Solutions. Our team of certified fitness professionals will be glad to help you achieve what you are meant to achieve!
