free weights or weight machines or both?

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When I work out on weight machines, I'll do one arm or leg at a time.

I don’t think it matters as long as you’re not cheating yourself by doing the exercises incorrectly. An example would be “throwing” the weight around because you are trying to lift too much weight to impress people.

god, i don't want to injure myself either.

Free weights, you use your stabilising muscles much more than with machines, its a better workout.

the only machines i use are the leg press, sometimes the leg curl, lat pulldown, and seated row. other than that it's all free weights. back squats, front squats, cleans, and deadlifts are my favourite exercises.

Regarding bench-presses or squats, specifically, a machine may be better, because you can get trapped underneith barbells in these exercises if you don't have someone to spot you.

if you know how to drop the weight properly or have a power cage then they're fine. there's a cage at the gym at school which i've used on a few occasions when going for that one last rep but you can't quite make it so i drop it down on the cage. those exercises should definitely be done with free weights rather than machines because you don't properly strengthen your supporting muscles when you use a smith machine and you can end up hurting yourself if you eventually do use free weights because your quads will be able to handle more weight than your supporting muscles can. they also use a lot of muscles and you cancel that benefit when you use a machine.

Personally prefer free weights. But only when there's a partner with me. Otherwise I stay on the machines. I've several weakened joints I'd rather not re-injure, so I'm very conservative when it comes to my own programme.

i don't always have a partner, so i keep the weights close to comfortable as i can.

The gym I go to has a machine that is similar to free weight in which the bar can move in any direction. There are safety catches you can put in place too.

It's like your doing free weight bench press on a machine.

yeah, that's what i was talking about, some people call them power cages. you can do free weights without a spotter if you use those.

It's completely about which you prefer. I used to lift weights, I used machines mostly but I sometimes used free weights too. It's really about which one is more comfortable for you.

that looks like it'd eat you up with those jaws.

I have found that both work equally.

in general if you can perform a movement safely with free weights it'll be more beneficial. the only time machines are better (that i can think of) are when you're injured and need to use them to work a specific muscle or avoid a specific muscle while trying to keep your strength, or if you're a body builder who's trying to even out and need to avoid building certain muscles to keep everything proportioned. for anyone trying to get useful strength, anyone doing sports, or anyone simply trying to improve their general fitness, free weights will be more beneficial.

using both is definitely an option but if you're limited in time and have to choose between the two, free weights are almost always the better choice. in the strength training program my coach provided we use very few machines. most days we'll have 6-7 exercises with no more than two of those being machines or cables.

Free weights, free weights, free weights!

They are much better and efficient than any other machine or contraption unless you are doing an exercise that requires the use of a cable. Why?

1. Free weights require the use of stabilizer muscles which are very important for correct movements and technique.
2. You develop more flexibility and a greater range of motion, developing strength in positions or locations that machines couldn't provide.
3. More versitle

Machines may be good for stacking up the weight and impressing your friends but the motions in the exercises are fixed. Meaning you have to push or pull in a certain path that may be incorrect technique for a specific exercise.

For example, it is much better to squat with an olympic sized barbell than it is to use a smith machine or leg press.