You’ve spent months, or even years now trying to get a more showy body, you’ve tried machines after machines, nothing’s worked… but! At least the only machines you tried were weight training machines, not those kinda gimmicky-lie-down-melt-your-fat-in-a-wrap kinda machines…
We applaud you for that. For willing to do the sweat work at the gym that might feel like “torturing” at times as opposed to the easy way out most people get sucked into.
Now, we have a problem to face.
Remember back then anything you did, your body responded almost instantly? Remember you only had to work machine number 1, 3,6,7 and 10 in the gym, 3 sets of 12, was enough for you to wake up to check yourself in the mirror every morning?
But now… The newbie gain is no longer happening. The “honeymoon period” of working out is over. You’ve tried to do a few more reps, a few more sets, or load up the machines with a few extra kg’s
But… You’re still back to square one. Except this time, you might have gained the praises from other gym kakis (gym buddies) for “always at the gym”.
In the next 3 minutes and 17 seconds, you will discover the 3 underlying reasons that are little known to most, but are costing millions of gym enthusiasts around the world the results and fitness goals due to them. No more feeling lost, no more doing more of the same thing expecting different results!
1. Your muscles are falling asleep…
Well, to a certain extent, this is what it feels like. You sit on your favourite seated chest press machine, put your hands on the handle bar and before you know it, your muscles already know how “little” they need to be doing.
See, the human body is programmed in a way that it will only be using the littlest effort if possible to perform tasks given because doing the opposite simply doesn’t make sense to sustain its primary purpose, which is SURVIVAL.
The fact that there is no need for stabilizing the handle bars and pushing them through the desired movement path, it could only mean that the number of muscles recruited would be kept to the minimum…
Well, just enough to push those fixed handle bars forward that’s about it.
On the contrary, a barbell bench press will greatly challenge not just the primary muscles involved, but also a bunch of “stabilizer” muscles around since there is a great deal of stabilizing needed.
2. You’re on Calorie-saving mode…
Sitting down with your back against a backrest sounds comfortable ain’t it? And isn’t that what we do all day on our desk anyway?
Why is it that we are still doing the same… except it’s on a weight machine this time round?
Now, things must be starting to make sense. If calories burn was your focus, then the weight machines are not doing you justice especially if you’re strapped for time. Yes, you’ll still burn calories without a doubt compared to doing nothing…
But the amount of calories burnt won’t be significant enough compared to a circuit of free weights based exercises such as man-maker, bent row and squat thruster…
All are commonly known as compound movements which involve multiple joints moving at the same time which also means…
- A lot more muscles being used
- A lot more calories being torched!
3. You’re becoming a machine…
Weight training machines work… until they don’t.
If your entire workout plan has all been based on weight machines, chances are, the movement varieties haven’t been great and what your body is used to are all pretty much what the machines have been putting you through.
Just take a walk through the gym you’re currently at… Have you managed to find 12 different types of machines just for chest, another 12 just for back and another 12 for something else?
Most likely not! Because it would be a very large gym with over 80+ machines! …though there are some gyms like that and it does indeed feel like an amusement park!
Back to reality. In order for your muscles to get the constant new stimulus which is crucial for growth in size, strength, range of motion, power or endurance. You need to change up your movement patterns every 6 to 12 weeks. But just imagine by the time you’ve hit your 9 months training mark, you would’ve run out of machines choices.
There are 2 things you can do
- You can either request the gym owner to buy more machines to cope with your needs,
- Or you can start picking up some free weights.
I think the second one is more feasible.
Conclusion:
The ultimate purpose of training should all be about the constant growth along the journey and that’s what makes it fun, exciting and fulfilling.
Switching from weight machines to free weights could be daunting, especially in front of strangers surrounding you who seem to know it all and moreover it could be an unpleasant experience if the fear of injuries are constantly lingering in the back of your mind.
My advice here is, don’t go cheap on this.
Hire an experienced and sought after personal trainer in the area of strength training with free weights to take you through at least a 4 months program to master the fundamental strength training techniques. It will be the best investment you would ever make because its return never stops for the rest of your life.
P.S. Though this article is written in a way that speaks to those who have been spending day 1 til day 200 lingering around weights machines, it does not imply that free weights are the be-all and end-all choice.
