Resistance training, or the process of exerting your muscles against an opposing force, is the key to gaining muscle and building strength. For many people, it comes in the form of lifting weights. Weightlifting, however, can come in a variety of forms, since there are many different types of gym equipment to help you achieve this purpose. If you’re new to working out, you might be wondering what the unique benefits and drawbacks of each are, and more importantly, which of these you should be using to reach your fitness goals.
In this post, I want to help you answer some of these questions. Even now, I still experiment with different kinds of equipment to see if one might be more effective for performing a specific exercise or training a particular muscle, so I know that this can definitely be a confusing topic. First, I’ll go over the main types of workout equipment that you’ll typically come across, then explain the pros and cons of each in order to ultimately help you figure out which is the best for you.
The Main Types of Gym Equipment
The first type of equipment you’ll almost certainly find at any gym is free weights. Free weights are objects that you can pick up and move around, such as dumbbells, barbells, kettlebells, and medicine balls. They’re not affixed to anything and their movement isn’t restricted in any way.
On the other hand, most gyms also have a vast array of machines that you can use. Unlike free weights, which can be used for many different purposes, machines train your muscles in very specific ways. Despite how complex they seem, they’re often designed for performing one fixed movement and training a certain muscle or set of muscles.
The last type of gym equipment you’ll commonly encounter is cables. If you look closely, a lot of machines utilize cables and pulleys in their mechanics, but when we talk about cables in particular, these are machines that expose the ends of the cables. You can add attachments to these ends for different handles and grips, as well as adjust the height of the cables. In terms of what they can be used for, they fall somewhere in between free weights and machines: they provide more flexibility than other weight machines, but not as much as free weights.
Free Weights
Pros
Free weights are the most versatile type of equipment. Because they’re not bound to anything or fixed in place, they can travel in any path and be utilized for almost any movement. They’re great for both isolation and compound exercises, and can be used to strengthen any muscle group.
In addition, because free weights aren’t supported by anything else, you need to constantly stabilize and control the weights yourself. This means that whenever you use free weights, you’re also subconsciously training and strengthening your core muscles.
Because of these reasons, free weights are often the preferred way to build functional strength. You can easily replicate real-life movements, and the forces exerted on your body by free weights most accurately represent the kinds of resistance you would encounter outside of the gym.
Cons
While the nature of free weights gives them many advantages, it also hinders them in some ways. Free weights rely on the force of gravity to strengthen your muscles, which means they’re only effective when working directly against it. In other words, free weights are most effective when traveling in an upwards direction; there won’t be any resistance if you move them horizontally, because all their force is exerted downwards. While free weights are capable of moving in any direction, they’re only useful for building muscle in a limited range of movement.
Another downside of using free weights is that because there’s no assistance with supporting the weight and nothing to hold you in a fixed position, exercises might be harder to perform and come with a higher risk of injury. To avoid hurting yourself, it’s crucial that you stick to weights that you’re capable of supporting throughout the entire motion of the exercise, and that you learn how to do the exercise with proper technique before trying to increase the weight.
These are simply general pros and cons of using free weights as opposed to other kinds of workout equipment. However, this doesn’t mean that all free weights are the same; in fact, there are many differences between the two main forms of free weights, dumbbells and barbells. If you want to better understand the unique purposes that each one serves, check out my post Dumbbell vs. Barbell: The Ultimate Tool for Strength Training.
Machines
Pros
Unlike free weights, machines rely on weights and pulleys to generate resistance rather than gravity. This setup allows for several unique benefits.
First, machines let you train your muscles in various positions and directions that wouldn’t otherwise be possible with free weights. Instead of only being able to move weights up and down, you can generate resistance by moving weights horizontally, at an angle, or in a circular motion. Training a muscle with a variety of movements and angles is important for developing all parts of that muscle and enhancing overall muscle growth.
Another advantage of this system is that while free weights only create tension when working against gravity, machines provide constant tension at all times. With exercises like bicep curls or lateral raises, you can activate your muscles for a longer period of time with each rep if you use machines as opposed to free weights.
The last notable benefit of machines is that they put you in a very fixed position and stabilize the load for you. This makes them especially beginner-friendly, since you don’t need to fully support the load yourself, and there isn’t much room for error when it comes to your form.
Cons
Again, however, this type of equipment has its flaws. The fixed movement path of machines makes them easy to use, but also comes with a lack of flexibility. Using a particular machine may cause discomfort and even pain if it forces your body to move in a way that feels awkward. Not only does this limit the effectiveness of the exercise, it could also be quite dangerous.
Furthermore, while the weights being supported by the machine makes an exercise easier to do, this means you don’t need to recruit your core and other stabilizing muscles when performing the movement. This might not sound like a big deal, but training these muscles is integral to improving your general strength in the long-run.
Cables
Pros
As I mentioned in the beginning, cables incorporate elements of both free weights and dumbbells in terms of how they work, so it makes sense that they also combine the benefits of both. Like machines, cables also rely on external weights and pulleys as opposed to gravity, which means you’ll experience constant resistance at all times when using them, regardless of what direction the cables are traveling in.
At the same time, cables are similar to free weights in that they don’t force you to move along a fixed path. Although cables are attached to a fixed structure, you still have plenty of freedom to adjust how you perform an exercise so you can maximize muscle activation and prevent discomfort.
Cons
While there are clear, objective drawbacks to free weights and machines, it’s a bit harder to tell with cables. That’s not to say there aren’t any, they’re just a bit more subjective and may vary depending on your preferences and the exercises you like to do.
In my opinion, the biggest flaw of using cables is that even though you have the flexibility of a free weight, the tension applied by cables doesn’t really replicate natural movements the way gravity does with free weights. As a result, some exercises can feel weird with cables, and I generally find it harder to activate a target muscle when using cables than when I perform similar exercises with free weights.
Like I said, however, the experience may be different for you. You might not have the same issues with cables, and may actually prefer to use them over other types of equipment.
What Equipment Is Best for You?
Given the pros and cons of different gym equipment, what should you use to build your workout routine? Should you just find what you like to use and solely stick to that?
Regardless of what you might prefer to use, I wouldn’t completely avoid any type of equipment altogether. Using a combination of free weights, machines, and cables will expose your muscles to different kinds of resistance and exertion, which will greatly help with achieving well-rounded muscle development. Plus, there are many exercises that can only be performed with certain types of equipment, or at the least, are most effective with one type over another. As such, a comprehensive training routine should involve using different kinds of workout equipment.
However, if you do have a strong preference, you can certainly base more of your routine on that type of equipment, and incorporate more if its use into your workouts.
