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Free Weights Vs Machine Exercise Research Paper

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Free-weights vs. Machine Exercises
“Free-weight exercises are better than machine exercise!” Many amateur exercise enthusiasts and even myself have said this at one time. When I first started exercising regularly, I believed free-weights were the only thing required to improve body mass and muscular strength. I only focused on the three main powerlifting exercises of barbell bench press, squat and deadlift. Not very long did it take for me to notice a peak in improving my strength when utilizing only free-weight systems. Once incorporating both systems of exercises I increased my overall 1 rep max(1RM) in the three types of exercises.
Free-weights and machine exercise systems are both extremely crucial to implement when trying to improve muscular strength and not one is better than the other. Free-weights generally pertains to barbell and dumbbell, while exercise machine is a system for physical activity that is influenced by resistance and being in a fixed position. However, each system of exercise has its own characteristics and can be more beneficial than the other under different circumstances.
ADVANTAGES
Free-weight (FW) exercises are a great source of exercise because of the many advantages it implements towards physical …show more content…

For example, in a study the results had “A significant difference was found between bench press and squat 1RMs for each mode of equipment for all participants. The squat 1RM was greater for the SM than the FWs; conversely, the bench 1RM was greater for FWs than the SM. When sex was considered, bench 1RM for FWs was greater than SM for men and women. The squat 1RM was greater for SM than FWs for women only” (Michael L.

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