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weight lifting
Is it better to do dungbell curls or machines and what are the advantages or each. I do machines like bicep curls, shoulder press, chest press, push downs, and things like that.
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It depends on the type of training and the skill level of lifting invalved if you don't know what you are doing a mechine will keep you in form and will not let you get injured quite as as easly
I love freewates but if not done right the effects are less than with a mechine
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Freeweights all the way. Dumbells and barbells not only work the muscles that are being targeted and do it effectively but also help to work the stabilizer muscles that come into play as well. Machines have a very strict range of motion and don't allow for a lot of movement and true muscle activity. Machines should only be used in 2 situations:
1.) You're lazy and dont feel like stacking weights and cleaning them up off the floor and bar
2.) You're too scared to use freeweights and that's a real lame excuse lol.
I noticed that you didn't list one single leg machine which indicates that you are most likely a guy...and even if you aren't; stop focusing so much on the upper body and start doing your legs with squats, lunges and leg extensions. Squats especially will build more total body endurance and (Yes Iam going to say the word every trainer hates) "Tone".
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Freeweights over machines imo. The problem with machines is that they dont hit all the supporting muscles that are involved in a lift. When you do barbells and even more so, dumbbells, all the stabilizer muscles are used to control the weight as it moves (a machine moves along a fixed trajectory).
This also gives you strength you can actually use. Think about it, if you lift something, e.g. furniture, or push something, you are using several muscle groups at once. Never in "real life" are you going to perform a movement that is simulated by a machine.
This is also why, apart from doing freeweights over machines, one is advised to use a lot of compound (as opposed to isolation) exercises as well. Compounds use multiple joint movements. Things like squats, deadlifts, romanian deadlifts, benching, military press etc.
Finally the other problem with machines and isolation exercises is that they can easily lead to overtraining a muscle.
You also asked for advantages... well as far as I know, isolation and machince work should really only be used by more advanced lifters as a way to target muscles that are lagging behind. Generally you will see a bit more isolation work performed by bodybuilders (who do it for appearance and pump) and less so by powerlifters and olympic lifters (who do it for pure strength).
Anyway, in pretty much everything i have read, they seem to advise that one bases ones workout around free weight compound lifts. So I would recommend you keep the other things to a minimum.
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