Workout Without Weights

So, I really got into working out when I was 18 or so. I knew nothing whatsoever about working out… I just knew that I wanted to add some muscle. I wanted to have a variety of exercises to do, so I bought a fairly cheap all-in-one workout station that would allow me to do my chest workout, back workout, arm workout, and at the same time, workout at home.

So, did I add some size and muscle with this machine? Of course… but machines are the absolute worst if you’re looking to get some real world strength. If you’re a newbie to the whole working out thing, do NOT only use machines, and I would highly recommend also not wasting your money on some expensive machine. If you’re looking to workout with weights, using freeweights (dumbbells, barbells, etc) is much better than using machines.

Do bodybuilders use machines? Yes… but they use it as a supplement to other free weight exercises. What is actually good about machines is that they isolate and target very specific muscles… so they may add some good definition… but it’s not useful real world strength. When using a machine all of the stabilization is done completely (almost) for you… this is not good… and you’re also set to use one very specific plane of motion.

Finally, if you are gonna get a machine, do NOT buy a bowflex or some bullshit like that. They just take you further away from what a real workout should be.

Ok, went on a bit of a tangent there… enough about workout machines. Stay tuned for what I tried next.