I have never seen anything be so hotly debated among gym-goers. It seems like I have been asked this question as often as any I can think of. “What’s better Franny, Free weights, or Machines?” The truth is, both have their advantages. One exercise myth that should immediately be put to rest is that free-weights are best for putting-on “size”, while machines are more for “toning” – This is simply untrue. Muscles don’t know the difference between 50-lbs of iron, or 50-lbs of feathers. They simply respond to imposed demand and workload-intensity – period.

One of the advantages that today’s exercise-machines and cable-contraptions do have over free-weights, is allowing resistance to be applied to a working-muscle through its entire range-of-motion. The best example being the “Pec-dec” (Chest Fly machine) vs Chest-flies performed with two-dumbbells. Additionally, machines do have an advantage for being more time-efficient (pin-selection vs unloading plates) and safety (the weight usually travels on a fixed-plane of movement and rarely requires the use of a “spotter”).

My “Free-weight” friends would probably counter-argue with the fact that it takes more “balance” to bench-press a barbell. The truth is they are correct. In the case of bench-pressing, the shoulder muscles must contract as stabilizers to keep the arms from flailing-about as the primary-muscles – the chest, frontal-delts, and triceps – perform the movement. It also takes many more muscle groups to balance and stabilize the body during a barbell squat, as opposed to a leg-press machine. » Read more: Free Weights Vs Exercise Machines

Preparing a home gym can make exercising quick and simple, as you won’t have to travel to the gym every time you would like to have a workout. And choosing the best fitness equipment will make it much easier to have the right workout once it has been installed. But it isn’t just a case of going for the cheapest fitness equipment; by spending a little more money to ensure you get the right quality equipment, it is more likely to make for a satisfactory home gym that you will want to use again and again.

There is a lot of multi gym fitness equipment on the market, with each one offering the ability to do a number of different exercises. But most important of all, it is vital to choose the gym equipment that offers the exercises that you are most likely to do, otherwise, it will all likely be left to gather dust in a room without being used. By choosing the exercises you tend to find more enjoyable, then you are more likely to want to return and do more of such exercises. And this is why choosing the right fitness equipment for you is important in this process.

Another important thing for those buying fitness equipment is to choose the tools that will help you achieve your exercise goals, because if the results of the exercises do not become noticeable after a number of weeks and months, it will also discourage those who are looking to develop good exercise habits. For instance, those who are looking to get a washboard stomach should focus their search for fitness equipment to abdominal crunchers and sit up benches that will help them to target that specific area of the body. » Read more: Finding Equipment For Your Home Gym