Gym member, what are the best machines to use for Primal workout page

[preacher]

I know we don't need to hit the gym and body weight is good enough, but I have a membership seeking words of wisdom to which machines would fit Primal Fitness best. Any suggestions?

[snoops]

Free weights are the best. Machines allow you to train specific muscles in specific ranges of motion. That is not functional. IN other words in life those are not the movements you need to be fit and strong. Squats, deadlifts, bench press are all functional movements. Your body has to balance and lift all at the same time. Just like real life. ANy good gym should have someone who can show you how to use the wieghts properly. I would highly recommend a personal trainer for a time until you feel comfortable. It was the best money I ever spent. I'd still be with her if I hadn't moved.

[preacher]

Thanks snoops, they have a pull up machine as well and a personal trainer is free with my membership, so i'll definately get with one of them.

[snoops]

Also, I have read several people saying that body weight is good enough. I don't get that. Doesn't Mark advocate lifting heavy things? I would not be anywhere near as strong as I am now if I had only been doing body weight squats. You have to stress a muscle for it to grow. And then it adapts and you have to do it again. No?

[EvRevFit]

Agree with above, but I want to expand on why machines are not just not ideal, but downright useless. Machines guide your range of motion, requiring only the activation of prime movers, the big guns of any strength movement. Your stabilizers and synergists (muscles that keep your joints safe and help the prime movers) are taken completely out of the equation. In the long run, this sets you up for injury instead of helping to prevent it.

[preacher]

I too am much stronger now from adding weights to my body weight routines, however if you are just getting started and have not been active then body weight only workouts maybe enough and all they can handle. Better to start with that than see those injuries by jumping quickly into the weighted workouts.

[preacher]

Agree with above, but I want to expand on why machines are not just not ideal, but downright useless. Machines guide your range of motion, requiring only the activation of prime movers, the big guns of any strength movement. Your stabilizers and synergists (muscles that keep your joints safe and help the prime movers) are taken completely out of the equation. In the long run, this sets you up for injury instead of helping to prevent it.

Thanks

[Mr. Anthony]

Yeah, I can't remember the last time I used a machine, and I'm in the gym a lot lifting very heavy things. There are tons of resources out there to learn about proper technique for all kinds of machine-free exercises. A personal trainer or someone who really knows what they are doing would be great, but you really might have to insist that they not start you on machines if you're a workout novice. I see trainers all the time just plopping people (especially women) onto machines. Conversely, I also see trainers all the time starting overweight people who are completely new to working out on things like box jumps or really intense weight complexes like I am doing. This is begging for an injury. Start with bodyweight/light weights, figure out your form on everything, then go from there.

[pacificBeef]

Machines have their place but if you're new, freeweights and bodyweight are the best place to start.

[Mr. Joshua]

My opinion, learn how to use a pull up bar, a squat rack and a bench.