At 12:04 PM, September 27th, 2005, Dave called me and asked me to meet him at his house. He had a strange sound of excitement in his voice, but wouldn’t give me any details over the phone. I was a little nervous but I knew this had to be huge.
As soon as I walked in the door, Dave handed me a memo that was faxed to his house. It read, “Congress passes the “Machine and Free Weight Bill.” As I paged through the memorandum, it became clear to me: Free Weights and Machines can now co-exist. After years of separation, verbal and physical lashings and riding different buses to work, we can now come together and work towards a common goal – Getting stronger.
As absurd as the above reads, it’s really not that far from the truth. You are either Free Weights or Machines and there is no Jungle Lovin’. But now that the U.S. government has intervened (thank god) we can now use both. Since most of the people that read EliteFTS are pro-free weight, I’ve decided to give the Machineocrats a platform on which to speak.
[Before the commentary, let me just say that I did not define such pieces as the glute ham raise or the 45 degree back raise as machines. They are benches designed for a specific movement(s). They are no different than a bench press or an incline press.]
Belt Squat Machine – This is one of the best pieces of equipment to train your legs while NOT straining your lower back. I was commenting to a coach yesterday that if I were still in the collegiate arena, I would have 2 or 3 belt squat machines for my athletes. This will allow for a great squat workout without putting your shoulders and lower back at risk. This would be great for all in-season athletes as well as injured athletes. Training these two groups can be an incredible challenge and having this machine would certainly make things easier.
From a powerlifting perspective, this machine is great for the same reasons as above. Even if you are healthy, this is one other way to train your legs and hips without having to put a bar in your hands or on your backs. Now you can save your time and energy for the bigger lifts.
Hammer Strength Upper Body Circuit – Rather than listing these pieces individually, I decided to lump these together as one large unit. (Insert penis joke here) As a die hard free weight man, I use to lift my schnozz at these pieces. These pieces are – the Hammer Shoulder Press, the Hammer Chest Press, The Hammer Low Row, and the Hammer Incline Press. Now I’m not telling you to use these every single workout, but it’s a nice change of pace. The best part of these machines is the lack of thinking one needs to have when using them. What I mean is this: after a grueling bench workout in which every part of your form is analyzed and adjusted, there are some days when I don’t want to do another lift that I have to think about. That’s where the Hammer pressing machines come in. Just do a little pressing, for x sets of x reps and you are good to go. Again, this doesn’t have to be a staple in your training, but it is fun to do every so often or every couple of weeks.
As for the Hammer Low Row – this machine was the base of my lat/upper back training a number of years ago. I did at least 5-6 sets of this a week, usually more. This is a very smooth piece of equipment and built my back for my bench. Highly recommended.
Power Squat/Leg Press – The Power Squat has been a staple of my training for over two years. This machine is a big reason why my squat improved. Every Monday, I would do the Power Squat as my first exercise. This is what I noticed when I started doing these; stronger out of the hole, more stability when I unracked the weight from the Monolift, more power throughout entire lift (what I mean by this is that my eccentric and concentric phases had no glitches in it) and increase in muscle mass. Plus, I did a set of shrugs after every set of Power Squats. All in all, I think it was a good decision to add these in.
Now I mention the leg press because few people have access to the Power Squat machine. The only problem with the leg press is getting one with a wide foot plate. I did a lot of narrow work on the Power Squat on my lighter sets, but would move my stance out for the heavier work sets.
Now a lot of people hate the leg press. It can be uncomfortable to get in and it can put added stress on the lower back. But it can also be a great tool to develop overall leg strength and mass. This is especially true for those that box squat exclusively. These people tend to lose a lot of quad mass. I see a lot of people doing a lot of good mornings and reverse hypers but not a lot of total leg exercises. Last time I checked your legs squat.
Both the Power Squat and the leg press offer the same advantage as the Hammer machines; you can get a workout without thinking. This was brought to my attention by Matt “¼ ton” Bash during a training session about a year ago. Matt was training on the Power Squat and we got to talking about such issues as: The Power Squat. Anyway, he commented to me that the reason why he liked it was that it put him in the correct position every time and allowed him to strengthen his hips and his legs without worrying so much about his form.
Lat Pulldown/ Low Row – (My apologies to Glenn Buechlein for the following paragraphs.) The lat pulldown has gotten beaten down as of late and though it deserves some of the criticism, it’s really no worse than any other machine. I have always felt that pull-ups and chin-ups are a better option, but unfortunately many people don’t have this option. This is because they CANNOT do them! Plus (now let’s all think about this one for awhile) just because you do lat pulldowns doesn’t mean you have to do them all the time. You can do them for a couple of weeks and move on to another exercise. This is a novel concept that seems to have escaped many people.
The great thing about the lat pulldown is that they can teach young athletes how to pull their scapula together and hold that position. This can be very difficult with the pull-up as their bodyweight may be too much for them to handle. This is also true for women, who (how much hate mail am I going to receive for this statement?) have a harder time with chins/pulls than their swinging-richard counterparts.
Plus, don’t ever tell me that a couple sets of DD Handle pulldowns haven’t brought a massive pump to your back/traps and a smile to your face. And I do mean that literally and metaphorically.
Now the low row and its role as the machine-version of the bent over row seem to have escaped the criticism of its overhead brother. I’m not sure why, but it’s true. Maybe the Low Row caught the Squat and the Chest Press in the steam room together. Who knows. The low row is another great lat movement, but this part of the machine can be used for a variety of other lifts – pull-throughs, straight leg deadlifts, up rows, and curls.
Reverse Hyperextension – This has received rave reviews from many powerlifters and athletes. This is because it strengthens the lower back and hamstrings; two areas where most powerlifters and athletes lack development. I personally like other low back exercises, but have seen too many people with bad backs rehab themselves with the Reverse Hyperextension. For many people, this is a life and career saver.
Pec/Rear Delt – I can honestly say that I’ve never used a pec deck, so it’s going to be hard for me to comment on it. But I have had the opportunity to use a rear delt machine and love it. Since most people lack the balance between the front and rear delts, this machine is perfect. Now here’s the most important thing – whenever I see people doing shoulder raises, it’s the equivalent of watching a grand mal seizure. This is because there is shame in using a dumbbell less than 50lbs. So how does this change with the rear delt machine? Because you don’t know how much weight you are doing! Now you can leave your ego at the door and actually do an exercise correctly. Again, the concept of using good form is revolutionary so you may want to hop on the bandwagon. I know I’m being very critical here but this is an exercise that really doesn’t need to be trained very heavy. By doing these correctly (full ROM and pulling the scapula together) you can save yourself a lot of trouble in the long run. Plus, this kind of exercise helps develop the yoke.
4 Way Neck – I couldn’t leave this one off. My admiration for all things neck-related is well documented. The 4 way neck machine is a great tool for training all angles of your neck. While most of my neck training does involve the neck harness, I still think you should devote one or two days to the 4 way neck machine. I am not going to bore you with the importance of a big, strong neck; you probably already know it.
So now that we all been giving the opportunity to embrace the “others” let’s do the weight training community a big favor and get along. You might as well use whatever machine or barbell you need to reach your goals. Don’t get caught up in being part of something or neglecting something in order to save face. The detractors can’t say much if you are making progress.
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