Login | June 08, 2026
Fitness Mythbuster
PETE GLADDEN
Published: June 8, 2026
Over the years you might have engaged in, or at least overheard, conversations concerning the best method with which to workout, in other words how to get the most bang for the buck.
And I bring this up because springtime usually means that people are looking to “finesse” their workouts such that they can quickly catapult themselves into summertime shape.
Now within this quest reside two very common opinions.
On the one side there’s the opinion that machines are the best way to get fit, and on the other side there’s the opinion that free weights are the best way to get fit.
So which opinion is correct, and more importantly which is a myth?
Well, as it turns out what we have here is a double sided fitness myth, because both of these opinions are incorrect.
There’s really no “best” method with which to get the most bang for your workout buck.
So let’s dig into this myth so we can gracefully usher it into the dustbin right along with the rest of those oft parroted fitness myths.
Okay, first of all understand that both methods absolutely provide a host of fitness benefits.
On the machine side is the benefit of users being guided through an exercise via proper and predetermined movement patterns, that along with increased stability, easy weight selection and typically with well composed instruction placards attached to the machines explaining the exercise, the muscle groups to be worked, and how to set the machine up to accommodate one’s physical dimensions.
Now for novice fitness participants such setups make machines much more comfortable to use - not to mention the fact that they’re far less intimidating than grabbing ahold of a barbell with little in the way of instruction.
Conversely, on the free weights side, which can include everything from kettle bells, barbells and dumbbells to everyday items like sandbags, weighted blocks and your own body weight, we’re talking about the benefit of developing functional strength.
Functional strength?
This term refers to strength developed via multi-joint, multi-muscle group exercises where balance, agility and concentration play a much bigger role in the lifting process, this as opposed to machines where the movement patterns are predetermined and where balance and agility play minor roles.
Free weight exercises generally build the kind of strength necessary to perform everyday tasks more easily.
So understanding the differences between these two modes of training makes it much clearer what the trade-offs are when you’re going from machines to free weights and visa versa.
I personally use both modes of training in my fitness routines,
and what’s more, I change my routines periodically such that both my exercises and my training modes change.
I may do pull-ups, a free weight exercise, for four to six weeks and then change my routine so I’m doing wide-grip pulldowns on my multi-station machine for four to six weeks.
Both exercises work the lats, both can be really challenging, and both will build muscle and strength.
To me it all comes down to changing things up so that I don’t get bored and don’t loose interest in my routine.
Even more important though is the fact that muscles are pretty “cagey,” in that they can gradually adapt to a given stimulus, thereby making it harder and harder to experience gains.
And this is precisely where switching up from a weighted exercise to a machine exercise can throw a curveball at the muscles, coaxing them to once again adapt to a new training stimulus.
Then there’s the aspect of using machines to isolate a muscle group vs using free weights to work a host of muscle groups.
For example if you really want to concentrate on the hamstrings you could choose to use a supine hamstring curl machine rather than doing barbell deadlifts.
The deadlift is a multi-joint, multi-muscle group exercise while the supine hamstrings curl machine isolates the hamstrings.
Conversely, if you want to work on core stability in addition to hamstrings strength then you would do the barbell deadlift where you’d work hamstring, low back, glute, quad and trap muscles.
As you can see, using both modes of resistance training in your fitness routine enables you to maximize the potential for muscular strength/growth by consistently changing the stimulus and consistently challenging the muscles.
And that’s precisely why this double-sided fitness myth is hereby busted!