On the other hand, barbells are great until you realize you're missing some critical stabilizer and that is why your shoulder or glute has been hurting for years. Then you would kill for a cable machine.
Personally I think smith machines and cable systems are pretty handy for bodybuilding - mostly because they help you isolate certain muscles in a way you can’t do with barbells and dumbbells. Or they allow you to do things like weighted lunges or shrugs or tricep exercises at high weights with much less risk of injury vs doing them with free weights.
Plenty of examples of elite bodybuilders training with them.
Re:How Gyms Make Money (2015)
by AA-BA-94-2A-56 on Saturday January 06, 2024 @05:48AM
(#38890318)
Sorry but this is not completely correct. Many expert bodybuilders use a variety of machines to train each muscle group.
Power lifters, however, tend to focus on the compound movements and therefore probably need less equipment.
> Machines are there for people who don’t know what lifts to do and how to do them
That’s an overly broad generalization. If you look up pictures of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s home gym, it’s mostly machines.
If you glimpse inside the gym of a professional athlete you’ll generally find a comprehensive set of dumbbells, some Olympic bars + plates and a bench and not much else!