Machines Vs Free Weights: Are Your Beliefs Misguided?

I disregarded resistance training machines earlier in my career.

I didn't think they were functional, and were best used for beginners or trainees who were "less serious" about resistance training.

I believed that free weights built more muscle, were more functional and better for you as they trained the "stabiliser" muscles and developed co-ordination.

As strength coach and powerlifter Matt Wenning said:

"Machines train muscles, free weights train movements. You move, your body doesn't isolate. Real strength comes from controlling loads in space." 

I whole heartedly agreed.

While there's no definitive start date to the free weights vs machines debate, it’s possible it began in the early 1970's with Arthur Jones creating the Nautilus brand of resistance machines.

These machines revolutionised resistance training as the resistance was manipulated over the range of motion to match where the muscle was weaker OR stronger.

Jones was less convinced about free weights believing that muscle growth and stimulation were optimised when tension was maintained through a full ROM in an exercise.

He was a pioneer who trained and influenced many big name bodybuilders of his era, and certainly had credibility.

This might explain another long held belief that machines were best used for targeting muscles and bodybuilding purposes.

But if you were seeking performance and transference to sport, the belief was they offered little and you were better off with free weights.

Bearing in mind that powerlifters and olympic weight lifters were some of the strongest and most explosive athletes in the weight room, it was an easy conclusion to come to.

Fast forward to the 90's and into the early 2000's there was a building trend towards "functional training" which was much more movement focused and movement specific.

There was a growing popularity towards more integrated full body exercises using cables, DB's, BB's as well as Swiss balls and BOSU balls as equipment diversity increased.

You could argue the world of physical therapy and rehabilitation began to have an influence on the industry as well as sports sciences and sports in general.

More focus on restoring and improving movement patterns, and training for injury prevention became commonplace.

The free weights vs machines debate gained more traction around this time as many of the biggest names in the industry made their preferences known.

So who is right? Or more importantly what does the science imply?

A recent study by Hernandez-Belmonte et al (2023) showed no significant differences between muscle size, strength and athletic performance between free weight and machine based strength training.

Differences found were that the machine training group developed more upper body anaerobic power, and the free weight group developed more balance and ability to change direction.

Another study by Haugen et al (2023) came to a similar conclusion. This was also a meta analysis of 13 studies with over 1000 people to pull data on.

The study found no significant differences between either regarding dynamic strength, isometric strength, hypertrophy and jump performance.

What it did find was that improvements were specific to the type of training used. As in those who got stronger using free weights tested better on free weight tests, and vice versa.

Anyway enough of the science, there's more out there obviously and the above is there just to indicate that there's merits to both styles of training.

Even if using resistance training for the goal of helping athletic and sporting purposes.

So if both can work how do we decide what to use? Lets look at some key questions to help make these decisions.

What is your overall training goal?

If your goal is to get better at the barbell back squat then you're going to need to perform that exercise as there's obviously a skill element involved.

If you just wanted to build bigger and stronger legs then it probably doesn't matter. Use what works for you, what you enjoy and exercises you can load and tolerate safely.

The back squat is not always the "King of exercises" if you have serious low back issues, or just built and structured in a way that restricts how well you perform it.

What is the goal of the exercise?

This is a bit more nuanced than your overall training goal as EVERY exercise and piece of kit is a tool for the toolbox.

For example, you want to get stronger in the barbell squat but you have an issue or weakness around the hip or the knee that is hindering you.

In many cases single joint or machine exercises such as leg extensions, leg curls and the hip abductor/adductor machines can assist your overall goal.

As an example, you could say the goal of using the hip adductor machine is to strengthen the adductor muscles to assist you in the back squat.

One fallacy around machine exercises is that they don't contribute to "functional" strength.

If you develop quadriceps strength in the leg extension machine this still contributes to activities such as climbing the stairs, jumping, squatting and running.

You may need to still work on the skill of any of those activities but to quote Tom Purvis of the RTS (resistance training specialist) program, "you get to take it with you" however you get strong.

Empirical evidence on myself and also training clients over 21 years support this statement to.

Who are we talking about?

If you are a powerlifter or olympic weight lifter then outside of "accessory or assistance exercises", machines likely won't fill too much of your program.

You are competing in sports that require you to be very good at a specific few barbell exercises.

If you are a 65 year old lady with osteoporosis then you might need to use machines and cables a lot more, at least initially.

Very tall individuals with long thigh bones (femurs) often don't make the best squatters so the leg press might be more suitable for building thigh strength and muscle mass.

You might have an injury history that just makes certain exercises out of bounds for you and therefore require different exercise options for safety.

Lastly it could also just be a specific phase of training you are in.

You might have a goal to deadlift again but currently recovering from an injury that is requiring different equipment and exercises to get you back there.

The point is you should focus most on what is currently right for your body, your health and injury status, and your current goal.

And while it’s totally fine to have a preference one way or the other, you don't need to neglect the health of your body.

"Don't be married to any exercise" as the saying goes.

Practical solutions…

So when it comes to the debate on whether free weights or machines are better, the answer should depend more on the following:

• The goal of the individual

• The goal of the exercise

• The injury status of the individual

• The unique anatomy of the individual

• Preferences of the individual

Training is also allowed to be fun of course, so all things being well use what you enjoy most provided its effective and safe for you.

I personally love to mix it up depending on my current training goal.

The goal of this newsletter is not to tell you one way or the other is better.

It is to highlight that both can be used effectively depending on your goal, and it’s the specific individual that must be taken into consideration.

Hernández-Belmonte, A., Buendía-Romero, Á., Franco-López, F., Martínez-Cava, A., & Pallarés, J. G. (2023). Adaptations in athletic performance and muscle architecture are not meaningfully conditioned by training free-weight versus machine-based exercises: Challenging a traditional assumption using the velocity-based method. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, 33(10), 1948-1957. https://doi.org/10.1111/sms.14433

Haugen, M.E., Vårvik, F.T., Larsen, S. et al. Effect of free-weight vs. machine-based strength training on maximal strength, hypertrophy and jump performance – a systematic review and meta-analysis. BMC Sports Sci Med Rehabil 15, 103 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13102-023-00713-4