Free Weights vs Machines

[NJ Predator]

Relatively speaking. If a 160lb guy is pulling 5+ his biceps are probably going to be bigger than the guy doing preacher curls. Unless that guy is your typical 160lb, chicken legged needle fiend who does nothing but bench press and bicep curls.

 

Personally, I'd rather be strong than huge. If I'm a solid 180 and strong and athletic, I'm happy there. I don't need 24" pythons and a $1000 monthly steroid bill

I like your style my man lol I know a few guys that are def. on the juice.....and I will still disagree with you with all due respect, some dudes just concentrate on nothing but arms so and those who have a huge upper body but chicken legs lmao those guys are hilarious

[newjerseyhunter]

The calories burned during exercise maybe insignificant but that’s not the entire picture. If you exercise regularly you raise your metabolism which means every minute of the day, regardless what you are doing you are burning more calories than you would if you didn’t exercise.  Forget weights, cardio is the key.

Also forget counting intake of calories unless you are a pig and eating for 3. Limit your sugar and refined carbohydrate intake and you will be lean, mean and healthy.   

 

I was taking into account metabolic rate when I made my comments.

 

The bolded statement is true and false. Yes, exercise will raise your metabolism a bit but if you are fat and dieting and working out to lose weight your metabolism will decrease over time if you lose a substantial amount of weight. Most people think skinny people have fast metabolisms and fat people have slow ones, generally the opposite is true. That is why a 5'9" person at 225lbs has a BMR of over 2000 and the same person at 175 has a BMR of under1800.

 

My point was that the difference between your daily caloric needs would not be significantly different if you were 10% body fat vs 15% body fat. A difference would certainly exist because muscle burns more calories than fat but it could be wiped out by a large soda and bag of doritos. Hence my focus on diet as the most important factor.

 

anybody buy into the zillion Testosterone boosting supplements that are advertised just about everywhere?     As men age, the T levels decline. It's a fact of life. Does anyone really believe a pill can reverse this?

 

Most of that stuff is garbage, anything that works comes off the market once authorities realize it works. However, these days for $200 a month you can get HRT and feel like you are 30 years old again.

 

And you won't find any of them doing bicep curls

 

Because curls are for girls!

[Rusty]

Because curls are for girls!

 

The saying is, "do some curls for the girls", there's a difference.  Like the difference between peeing in the pool and peeing into the pool.  

Edited May 4, 2017 by Rusty

[newjerseyhunter]

 I don't need 24" pythons and a $1000 monthly steroid bill

 

 

I don't know anyone who sells roids so I have no idea how much they cost but I think every adult male who wants to live an active, healthy, and long life should probably do a cycle 1x a year or every other year after age 40. They get a bad rap. If I had the time research it correctly, get all the bloodwork, etc I would certainly do a cycle of Test E with the appropriate accompaniments so as not to have negative estrogen effects. 

Edited May 5, 2017 by newjerseyhunter

[Axiom]

Oh you MUST be a trainer then ok I got ya...pretty much all of the BB's and anybody that trains uses machines in one way or another....It's called ISOLATION...machines are the best for that but according to you since I mean you are a pro bodybuilder that uses only free weights then I guess they are garbage

 

 

  Yeah I guess machines can be used successfully for isolation if your into body sculpting.. But I wouldn't say they are the "best" in that respect.. You can "isolate" with Free weights..   I'll stick with my Original post.. Machines are expensive garbage designed to help the wanna be fit part with their money... or help women / femimen  decorate their basement

[Rusty]

 benching 3 days a week although good for the chest, was straining my joints too much. As you age, the joints and tendons start failing long before muscles decrease. Even worse for those suffering from arthritis.

 

Most compound lifts get hit 2x a week and should be a heavy (max) day and an 80% day. 

 

For me 3x a week is too much.  I hit each major group 2x /week followed by only 1x the following week.  

[not on the rug]

For me 3x a week is too much.  I hit each major group 2x /week followed by only 1x the following week.  

Yeah, the only lift I do 3x a week is squats.  

 

A sample of my typical programming is this:

M-

3x5 squats (100%) *This is the day you put more weight on the bar than you used last week

1x5 Deadlift

3x5 OHP

 

W-

3x5 Squat (70% of Monday's working weight)

3x5 Weighted Chins

3x5 Weighted Dips

 

F-

3x5 Squats (85% of Monday's max weight)

3x5 OHP (85% of Monday's weight)

3 sets of BW chins to Failure or AMRAP in 7 minutes

 

I change the programming slightly in the summertime and only squat 2x per week (a Max day and a 70% day) because I'm usually doing more biking, walking, jogging, hiking, etc and need the recovery time).  I'll also go to a 10/6/8 format for OHP and do it 3x per week. That's it.  That's my training program in a nutshell.

 

Throw in some yoga, some rope climbing, some heavy tractor tire flipping, boxing and whatever else I feel like 

Edited May 5, 2017 by not on the rug

[newjerseyhunter]

Yeah, the only lift I do 3x a week is squats.  

 

A sample of my typical programming is this:

M-

3x5 squats (100%) *This is the day you put more weight on the bar than you used last week

1x5 Deadlift

3x5 OHP

 

 

1x5 on the deads once a week? Are you lifting 98% max or something?

[newjerseyhunter]

The saying is, "do some curls for the girls", there's a difference.  Like the difference between peeing in the pool and peeing into the pool.  

 

The saying may have started as "do some curls for the girls" and perhaps that still is the saying in places like Planet Fitness but it has been co-opted by Olympic and power lifters to mean something a bit different, ie an excercise for show not for serious lifting. I've heard Louie Simmons say it more than once but he might just be biased since he only has 1 bicep left lol.

Edited May 5, 2017 by newjerseyhunter

[not on the rug]

1x5 on the deads once a week? Are you lifting 98% max or something?

It's always a max effort.  That's why only 1 working set is necessary.  I'll hit my squats.  Then I'll 1 or 2 warmup sets of deads just to feel the movement out. Then 1 heavy working set.  That's it.  More weight than last week, even if it's only 1lb.  If I don't hit the 5 reps, I'll try the weight again the following week.  If I don't hit it 2 weeks in a row, I'll do the set of 4 and then a 2nd set to failure, which is usually only 2 or 3 more.  I'll do that each week until I get a clean set of 5.  then the next week, add weight to the bar.  

 

The deadlift is a max effort exercise, not an exercise designed to be done for reps or for speed.  

 

Same goes for squats.  The only true progress is more weight on the bar

 

Are you familiar with Mark Rippetoe/Starting Strength?  Texas Method?  What about 5/3/1?  

Edited May 5, 2017 by not on the rug

[Rusty]

The saying may have started as "do some curls for the girls" and perhaps that still is the saying in places like Planet Fitness but it has been co-opted by Olympic and power lifters to mean something a bit different,  an exercise for show not for serious lifting. 

 

The meaning hasn't changed at all, that's exactly what the original statement, do some curls for the girls, implies.  Curls are for showing off, not for serious lifting.  

Edited May 5, 2017 by Rusty

[newjerseyhunter]

It's always a max effort.  That's why only 1 working set is necessary.  I'll hit my squats.  Then I'll 1 or 2 warmup sets of deads just to feel the movement out. Then 1 heavy working set.  That's it.  More weight than last week, even if it's only 1lb.  If I don't hit the 5 reps, I'll try the weight again the following week.  If I don't hit it 2 weeks in a row, I'll do the set of 4 and then a 2nd set to failure, which is usually only 2 or 3 more.  I'll do that each week until I get a clean set of 5.  then the next week, add weight to the bar.  

 

The deadlift is a max effort exercise, not an exercise designed to be done for reps or for speed.  

 

Same goes for squats.  The only true progress is more weight on the bar

 

Are you familiar with Mark Rippetoe/Starting Strength?  Texas Method?  What about 5/3/1?  

 

I am familiar with Rippetoe and the rest, I was just curious. I rarely see people adhere strictly to a 1x5 for deads even for a Rippetoe type program, nevermind the others. I'd be curious to know if Rippetoe even stuck to such a program (he does now because of his age - according to his own comments). A lot of his advice seems to be age dependent, ie older you are less you can handle stress of high reps. I thought I heard him in an interview say he only deads heavy 2x a month but I can't be 100% sure it was him.

 

As far as progress... all depends on your goals I suppose but to say the only "true" measure of progress is more weight on the bar    . 250x5 to 250x8 is progress but like I said... all depends on your goals.

[not on the rug]

I am familiar with Rippetoe and the rest, I was just curious. I rarely see people adhere strictly to a 1x5 for deads even for a Rippetoe type program, nevermind the others. I'd be curious to know if Rippetoe even stuck to such a program (he does now because of his age - according to his own comments). A lot of his advice seems to be age dependent, ie older you are less you can handle stress of high reps. I thought I heard him in an interview say he only deads heavy 2x a month but I can't be 100% sure it was him.

 

As far as progress... all depends on your goals I suppose but to say the only "true" measure of progress is more weight on the bar    . 250x5 to 250x8 is progress but like I said... all depends on your goals.

I know Rip has tailored his plans for older individuals, I'm just not sure of the details. I have a good friend who is a Starting Strength Coach, so I could ask him about that.  I think he was just down in Texas with Rip a week or two for the SS Seminar. 

 

I mean, I lift weights to get stronger.  The most efficient way to get stronger is to lift more weight.  You can focus on more reps, hypertrophy plans, etc and as a round about function of that, you'll get stronger.  I want to teach my body to recruit the most neurons so that I can effectively be as strong as possible, based on my size.  I'm really not "strong"  compared to how strong I was in my 20s, but I  don't compete and I don't really care to hurt myself training.  I work smarter than I did back then.

 

I do utilize bodyweight only movements sometimes in order to get some reps under my belt, but when I'm lifting weights, I'm lifting weights.  Low reps, heavy weights.  In that case, progress IS more weight on the bar.  I don't care if I can move a 250lb rock 8 times.  I want to move a 350lb rock once.  Understand that if you train in that fashion, by default your progress on lower weight will naturally improve, but the opposite is NOT true.  For example, the guy who can bench 350lbs 1x, can usually bench 225 15 times.  The guy who only learns how to do sets of 15 with 225, usually can not bench 350 1x  Catch my drift? 

[Racknfin]

I like using free weights for compound movements. I feel like you have to use all your stabilizer muscles , which also helps make you stronger. I do like using certain machines for isolation exercises though such as tricep cable press downs or cable crossovers. I feel like both types of equipment can def be incorporated .

[cecil973]

To many isolation exercises are bad for the joints I recently learned that lesson I already knew the hard way in the form of a partially torn tricep ????

 

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