A great read on why using weight machines to improve athletic
performance and activities of daily living is NOT the best way to go!!
Here at Florida Sports Docs (FSD) we work with all kinds of muscle-skeletal injuries and movement dysfunction. One of the major instigators in causing these problems is the use of weight lifting machines. Then the question becomes, why do so many Gyms and Rehabilitation clinics have them?
This is not a short answer, but I will do my best to not go too deep into the weeds answering this question.
It’s important to first take a brief look into the history of weight machines and their initial purpose. Universal Gym Equipment was one of the first American manufactures of weight training machines. It was founded by Harold Zinkin in 1957. They were developed with the idea that it would be a great way to make strength training safer, more accessible to novices and more appealing to the masses. Using weight machines also made it easier to change the weights and they were less messy than free weights. Weight machines then were incorporated into gyms, rehabilitation centers, YMCA’s, High school and college sports programs. They set them up into circuit training areas and it made it easy to train a high volume of people at one time and assumed it was a safer way to lift weights. Off course over the years they have evolved and manufactures have tried to make them more functional (Hammer Strength).
Now we have a brief history of weight machines and why they were developed. Now let’s look at their structure and purpose as it pertains to how they affect the muscle-skeletal system, sports performance and activities of daily living.
Let’s first look at them structurally and how you physically use weight machines. You can stand in them, sit and lie down. Structurally they are usually built out of steel and one size fits all. Machines stabilize and balance the weight load for the user and you simply move a weight pin to adjust the weight.
When you use most weight machines they function in the saggital plane of motion (front to back movement). Examples of this are: seated Leg press, seated lat. pull-down, seated Leg extension, bench press, seated shoulder press, leg curl, seated arm curl, etc. Weight machines also are designed to isolate muscle groups and target primary movers of the body. For example: biceps, hamstrings, quads, triceps, etc.
Before we look at how weight machines impact muscles and performance, let’s answer a few basic questions about the muscle-skeletal system:
- How many muscles does the human body have? The human body has 656.
- Do muscles work in isolation or in concert with other muscle groups? They work in concert with other muscle groups.
- When you playing sports or performing activities of daily living do you only move/function in one plane of motion? No, we function in three planes of motion… Sagittal plane( front to back), Frontal plane( side to side) and transverse plane( twisting).
- Don’t I want to isolate muscles to get stronger and bigger? No, muscles do not function in isolation.
- While playing sports and performing activities of daily living do we have a stable metal apparatus surrounding us stabilizing/balancing movement and load for us? NO!
- While playing sports and performing activities of daily living are we sitting, lying down or just standing? No.
Now we have answered some basic questions about the muscle-skeletal system I think we’re painting quite a different picture of how using weight machines will affect us physically.
I know when you go to the gym that it’s popular for personal trainers to start their clients on weight machines. I also realize that other health professionals suggest that novices and injury prevention should start on weight machines. Their philosophy is that they are safer to use than free weights and isolating injured muscles to get them stronger is most effective.
I know at first glance this seems to make perfect sense. But, if you answered no to all of these questions that were asked then is it really safe to say that you should be mostly using weight machines to improve your overall health, sports performance and activities of daily living? Let’s say this together, NO!!
Weight machines can actually impede performance improvement and enhance your chances of getting injured. When you play sports or perform activities of daily living your body requires you to adapt to an ever changing and very dynamic environment. Weight machines are not the best at providing this needed stimulus to improve your ability to quickly adapt to constant change. I realize over the years that manufactures have tried to make them more dynamic in the hopes of making their use mimic reality, but they still fall well short of accomplishing this.
Other physical qualities that users are not aware of are, weight machines are designed for individual’s 5’2-6’0 foot tall. If you do not fit into these parameters it will require you to use them improperly and potentially set you up for injury. Something else that usually does not get considered when programming exercises on machines is body types. How you are built can drastically effect how the machines impact your body. Everyone is built differently and exercising on a machine can cause your body to move in an improper pattern potentially damaging joints and muscles. You may not notice this right away because you may not be in any pain while using it. But, months later you may start having aches, pains and tightness for no explainable reason.
Now that I have explained the physical qualities and purpose of weight machines it’s easier to understand why putting someone on them may not be as helpful as it sounds.
The last thing I want to touch on is the effect that weight machines have on improving balance, stability and strength in sports performance and activities of daily living.
The beauty of the human body is it will always try to create a stable environment as a protective mechanism. It will accomplish this by compensating with other muscle groups that are not designed to perform that task. This compensatory action by the body causes it to lose its mobility, the ability to properly balance/stabilize and generate strength. This compensation mechanism by the body can also increase the odds for injury.
We have established that weight machines are balancing and stabilizing the weight for you while you lift. When you’re using a machine to exercise you are leaving a lot of important muscles out of the movement equation. These left out muscles becomes a huge problem when you are playing sports or performing activities of daily living, as you place your body in a dynamic physical situation where those muscles need to fire (work) they won’t.
Florida Sports Docs (FSD) performs a functional movement screen and health assessment on every client before they start an exercise/sports performance program. This information is critical to our health professionals. We need to know how well your body functions while performing fundamental gross movements using just your body weight and if any past or current health/injury issues need to be addressed.
FSD believes that movement before muscles is essential. If your body can’t move or support your own body weight performing basic anatomical movements, then it would be inappropriate to start our clients on any type of loaded exercise program. Once we established through testing protocols our client can stabilize, move functionally and efficiently through all planes of motion, we’ll add load.
Load will be added utilizing free weights, kettlebells, bands and balls. These are essential tools for enhancing sports performance and activities of daily living. They allow the performance specialist to provide individualized dynamic/functional exercise programming that is safe, mimics reality and effective.