Bench Press Machine Vs Free Weight
In a study from illinois state university researchers measured the amount of muscle activity among participants who performed a machine bench press and a free weight bench press.
Bench press machine vs free weight. The barbell bench press and smith machine bench press differ in the way the bar moves the weight of the bar muscle activation and the safety of the exercise. Before we dive into the major differences between free weights and machines let us first agree on what we are calling a free weight or a machine. The smith machine is a tricky one and could potentially fall into this category but for the purposes of this article i ll be considering that on the free weight side.
Instead of waiting for that guy that has been on the machine bench press for 20 minutes to get up. Not free weights vs. There was a time not too long ago when machines ruled in the gym world.
Some of the more common free weights found in a gym would be. Valdosta state university georgia researchers found that when subjects trained on a free weight bench press or a machine bench press for 10 weeks both groups increased their strength by about 10 on the free weight bench press which was used to determine the subjects strength both before and after the 10 week study. Free weight power racks are designed for performing free weight exercises such as squats bench presses and dead lifts.
However free weights do have a number of advantages over machine based movements. Also known as half racks squat cages or power cages this type of exercise equipment is typically constructed from steel and shaped as a simple open cage. This includes machines like the leg press leg extension chest press lat pulldown and machine curls just to name a few.
Machines free weight machines. It s not a bench press and it s not a shoulder press. It s like the incline press for the back.
In other words this machine allows us to hit the back in such a way that s hard to match with other exercises. Free weights require your stabilizer muscles to work harder than they would on machines.