You see them in all the big box gyms.

Row after row of pulleys, hinges, and weight stacks. Each one stares you down and promises an easy solution. Each one silently communicates to you, “use me and I will fulfill all of your dreams of a hot body.”

Each one perpetuates this big lie.

The lie is a promise of a magic pill, or in this case one of a magic machine. The falsehood that by using some gizmo or gadget, you’ll be quickly turned into the fitness god you see on the covers of the fitness magazines. I have two sophisticated words for this: Bull. Shit.

The truth should always be clear — you have to work if you want to see the right results. And as they say, the truth does hurt.

It’s also the truth that you don’t need any particular machine or piece of equipment to get into the best shape. There are useful pieces of equipment, and even a machine or two, that can help your fitness regimen. But they are by no means necessary.

So what’s this problem with machines for successful fitness training?

Problem #1: Forcing the body to move along unnatural lines of movement.

The number one guilty party here is the Smith Machine. I’d really love to put all the world’s Smith Machines into one large heap and melt them down so their raw materials could be more useful – in making stainless steel urinals, for example.

The Smith Machine forces movement into an absolutely vertical path, which is not how the body was designed to function. Whether it’s either a squat or a bench press, there will always be slight deviation from a perfectly vertical path as the bar moves.

This deviation aids in the strengthening of stabilizing muscles and is more like movements the body finds outside of the gym in the real world. Stay away from the Smith Machine; love that squat cage.

Problem #2: Machines encourage single joint exercises.

The leg curl. The leg extension. The pec dec. And please don’t let me start in on the preacher curl machine. Once again with these machines, we are forcing the body to move in ways that are not nature’s way.

You are wasting precious time anytime you are doing an exercise where only one joint is involved. This is obviously because if in the same time it takes to do a leg extension where you work the quadriceps you can do a squat where you work the quads, gluts, hamstrings, and the core stabilization of the torso then why are you doing that leg extension?

The time it takes to use the preacher curl machine where you work only the biceps would be better spent on the pull up bar where you work all sorts of muscles from the lats, rhomboids, and deltoids to the biceps.

Use big movements with big effort and avoid single joint machines at all costs.

Problem #3: Inconvenience

If your fitness training is based on the availability of machines you will not know what to do if you can’t make it to the gym.

Having a set of dumbbells in your closet or having a knowledge of body weight exercises gives you a freedom from the gym that will really pay off when your schedule gets packed and there is no room for the gym.

Or when you’re traveling and the hotel is unfortunately not equipped with your favorite workout apparatus.

Relying on machines can limit your options and makes it too easy to miss your workouts.

Ok so I’ve cut down on the machines pretty hard so far. While I cannot stand the majority of machines in a gym, there are two of them that I find beneficial and to form a worthwhile part of a fitness workout routine. Each of these provides a healthy workout.

The Concept 2 Rower and the AirDyne exercise bike both receive my stamp of approval. Each of these machines use both lower and upper body motions to create metabolic stress.

Many workouts neglect to incorporate the pulling aspect which a rowing machine is perfect for. Rowing is a great natural movement that works the entire body and provides functional training and strengthening for everyday movements.

Overall, it is best to limit your use of machines to a minimum and keep your training “organic” so to speak.

Go sprint up a hill while dragging an old tire. Do a superset of push ups and pull ups. Lift a barbell or practice with some dumbbells.

Real training doesn’t take place on a machine.

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