Are Machines a Thing of the Past?

As we move into a new decade are machines going to become a thing of the past?  New technology, better education, more resources and money are all things that have led to the extreme advances in the fitness industry.  Just look at the results of our last Olympics, records were broken like crazy.

I can almost guarantee with 100% certainty that the Olympic athletes breaking all those records did not train using the machines found in the gym.  Even more so, I can almost guarantee with 100% certainty that those machines are not even found in the gyms they train in.

I certainly do not have any machines in my studio, granted it is small and machines would make for a tight fit.  But even if I had a gym this size of a football field, I still would not have any machines.  At one point in time machines had their purpose and to an extent still have a small purpose.  (I will get to that in a bit).  Even in the 60′s and 70′s as crazy as they were those belt generated jiggling machines had their purpose.

My husband just had his ACL replaced, I have him doing leg extensions and hamstring curls on a machine at a gym.  Rehab situations are a perfect use for machines.

So what’s the problem with them?  For starters as I stated earlier our education and technology has allowed us to create far better exercise equipment and the knowledge we have gained allows us to create much more effective workouts.  Workouts that do not utilize machines found in a gym.  With the direction we are headed, you will even begin to see the treadmill and elliptical machines becoming obsolete.

With that being said, then why is it, when someone signs up for a new gym membership their free orientation session involves nothing but the machines.  The personal trainer (may be qualified, maybe not, more on that another time) in charge of new client orientation, gives the same bland machine circuit to every new client regardless of the clients goals, experience or even the shape the clients body is in.

This happens for multiple reasons, it is safe, easy, gets people using the expensive machines (that would otherwise sit idle) and people feel comfortable starting out on machines.

Regardless of right or wrong, if you want to train to see results get off the machines and start hitting some of the other equipment found in your gym.

Stay Motivated,

Karen

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