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machines

If you look at the history of bodybuilding, what key elements enabled One to add significant muscle tissue?
 
I always prefer free weights. Though if i'm injured or think i'm verging on an injury then sometimes i'll switch to machines, they work great for rehabilitation.
 
Goosey said:
Good discussion
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Yes it is interesting.

Goosey said:
Firstly a muscle doesn’t know whether it’s a barbell, dumbbell. Kettlebell or machine.
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100% correct

Goosey said:
but if exercise doesn’t meet the 10 requirement s for proper exercise an injury is inevitable, that is a guarantee.
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Not sure what this means, I have never heard of 10 requirements of exercise or injury will occur. Can you elaborate on this?

Goosey said:
Thinking about this...I reckon the machine came about because barbells have their limitations and in some cases caused injuries.
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I think machines came about not due to limitations (because really there are none). I have seen plenty of badly designed machines over the years that would cause injury. Free weights used correctly and within the persons limitations do not cause injuries.

I think the main reason we have machines is to suck non training people into training, and paying gym fees, the more shiny machines you have the more you can charge people to use them. Your average non trainer person looking to start training is scared of free weights (my brother is a perfect example of this), so are many women, yet they will happily use a chrome plated machine.
 
Cum Shot said:
I always prefer free weights.
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I do as well.

Cum Shot said:
Though if i'm injured or think i'm verging on an injury then sometimes i'll switch to machines, they work great for rehabilitation.
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Rehabilitation is probably not a bad way to use them. I do own some pieces of gym equipment that would be considered machines (lat pulldown, seated row, incline leg press, PecDec) however I only use them for assistance exercises, my chest workout is not based around a PecDec, it's based on benching a barbell, followed by a Pec Dec, but really I could quite happily live without the PecDec, I bought it cheap off gumtree and I have the space so why not, if I was living in suburbia with limited space the pecdec would go back on gumtree.
 
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One... rotational form of resistance, rotating on a common axis with the involved joint of the body.
Two... a direct form of resistance; resistance that is imposed upon the body part that is being worked.
Three... an automatically variable form of resistance that varies instantly as movement occurs.
Four...balanced resistance that varies in accordance with the actual requirements of the muscles in different positions.
Five... resistance that is provided in a stretched starting position; which requires a range of movement in the machine that actually exceeds the possible range of movement of the user.
Six... negative work potential
Seven... positive work potential
Eight... pre-stretching; a factor that is required during the last one or two repetitions of a set of high-intensity movements.
Nine...resistance that is provided in the finishing position of the movement, the only position of full muscular contraction.
Ten... the tenth factor may or may not be a requirement for truly proper, full range, high-intensity exercise...this being an unrestricted speed of movement.

this is a good rule of thumb to go by if you’re looking for productive and safe exercise.

a good bio-mechanically designed machine is capable of meeting all these requirements, but a barbell cannot.
 
Injuries happen only when the force or load is greater than that which the muscle can stand.

logic says to increase the strength of a muscle throughly throughout the muscles full range of motion, which is what barbells can’t do.
 
I had a lot of fun with my home gym when i last lived in Aussie,prefer training at home anyway but every now and then id pay a casual to go to the gym and hit some machines just for variety.I think you get a lot more done with a basic set up at home compared to having to go to a commercial gym and fight for equipment when its packed.
 

That is a completely different argument and scenario the question posed which was "What are the best machines to use for building muscle"

Plus i would almost guarantee that there is no BBer out there for the past 60yrs who has solely relied on a Barbell, Bench an a squat rack.

So my statement pretty much stands.
 

You make a very good point about Home versus commercial gym.
 

Good response.

i one looks at those 10 points as a check list , it can help determine if a particular “machine” is going to be useful.
 
I will add though, if you’re doing multi joint exercises then it’s going to be challenging to meet those ten requirements with a machine.
 

I've only ever owned a bench, barbells, plates, dumbells, thats it. I trained my whole body with that at home when i was younger in my bedroom during my teen years. I always base my chest workout off either bench or dumbell chest press. There was a while when i was feeling weak and run down that i did use a chest press machine for maybe 2-3 weeks until i got my strength back up then i switched to bench. I have space to make a home gym in my spare room but i still prefer to train at the gym, the equipment is really quite diverse.
 
Goosey said:
logic says to increase the strength of a muscle throughly throughout the muscles full range of motion, which is what barbells can’t do.
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Yeah i notice this a lot e.g. barbells curls, the first half of the movement does next to nothing then from 90 degrees onwards to full contraction you use the biceps a lot more. Then you have the negative going down which you can use the full ROM to its advantages. Its just the positive movement that is restricted.
 
Acme said:
what are the best machines to use for biulding muscle
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The best machines to build muscles for you, are the best machines to use.

If my answer seems too short and (perhaps) ambiguous to some, then I'd add the following. Once you've tried few different machines, you'd be the best person to answer your own question based on your own experiences and not someone else's experiences.
 
DID yo not understand my point, pretty obvious. bb success can come from partial or full movements. Arnold also wrote about importance of partial movements for certain exercises.
 
There are certain body parts that I don't feel comfortable using machines, shoulders and arms.
For everything else I'll use a mixture of barbells, dumbells and machines.
 
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