I had a discussion the other day with a friend of mine about his current workout schedule. One thing that didn't surprise me was the amount of exercises he performed on machines. Guess how many?

80% of his current workout schedule is just on machines. I asked him why, and do you know what his answer was? I quote:

"They are much better then bodyweight and free weight exercises because I can add on a lot more weights on the machines. I mean, I want to build muscle, and I can't do that with bodyweight and free weight exercises".

At first, I didn't know if I should laugh or cry. I pulled myself together and tried to explain the following:

=> We are all different.
Every single individual have a unique body, meaning you have your own height, your own shape and your own weight.

“Machines are created so that no matter your age and unique composition, you can still workout on a machine.” Yeah sure!

Do you really think working out on the same machine as your grandmother is the right thing for you?

Machines are created so that they should fit anyone. How is that even possible? Sure, you can change seat adjustment and maybe another small detail, but it still comes down that “one-size-for-everyone” type of approach.

=> Imbalance injuries
This is not only RESEARCH PROVEN, I have experienced it myself. By training on machines, all of your stabilizing muscles are put out of the equation.

I was quite a talent soccer players a few years ago, but I torned my ACL at the age of 15, and had to hit the weights to get back on the field. I did around 80-90% of my exercises on machines, and sure, I got back to the field and played for a few more years.

However, during the following years I got all different types of injuries that I couldn't understand why I got in the first place.

Today I know that most of those injuries were imbalance injuries. Let me explain why:

Machines do most of the work for you. So all those muscles you usually use in your daily life (for instance your small stabilizing muscles) are not getting trained while your large muscle groups are. What do you think happens when you continue this motion over a long period of time?

Well, you have some muscles that are well developed while some barely don’t get any training at all = muscle imbalance = injuries!

So my message to you is to go for compound exercises that target many muscle groups at the same time, like for instance a squat.

That way you'll work a much larger amount of muscles, and they all work together - at the same time. In order to build a large amount of muscles, you should stay away from machines!

If you want to get a healthy, ripped and functional body, then aim for bodyweight and free weight exercises instead!

Please, trust me on this one, I know what I'm talking about!


Your friend and coach,
Jonas Forsberg

=> Author of BurnFatAtHome.com