Free Weights vs Machines—Which Should You Use?

The debate between free weights vs machines in the fitness world has been a long standing one. It’s also a very common question that beginners have.

Some say it’s a matter of preference, but that’s just not true. Sure, you can do what you want in the gym. But if you want to know what’s “best”; in terms of the most effective for your workouts, you first need to understand the benefits of free weights and machines separately, in their own right.

That’s what we’re about to explore right here…

Free Weights vs Machines—Which Should You Use? Contents

What Are Free Weights

What Are Machines

Racks And Stations

Benefits Of Free Weights

Benefits Of Machines

More Free Weight And Machine Exercises

Which Is Best? Free Weights Or Machines

Free Weights vs Machines Summary

What Are Free Weights

A free weight is any weight in the gym you can pick up and move. So barbells, dumbbells, kettlebells and weight plates.

What Are Machines

Machines in the gym are pretty much any piece of equipment that is either screwed down or too big & heavy to pick up and move.

Racks And Stations

Just to be pedantic; equipment like the squat rack, power rack, curl rack and bench press variations are technically called racks or stations. They should be considered part of the free weights crew, since they can only be used with free weights.

Except in reference to the cable station which is considered a machine.

Benefits Of Free Weights

With free weights you are bearing the entire load, if you’ve ever heard a gym bro say “it’s all you, bro”, that’s what he means. The weight being lifted is “all you”, no spotter and no assistance from the machine.

Free weights give you complete control over the full range of motion. This is beneficial for developing overall muscle and strength.

Other things to know about free weights:

Not All Equal

Compound barbell exercises, like; squats, lunges, deadlifts, bench press, overhead press and bent over row, to name a few are very powerful exercises. They expend the most energy and use the most weight. For that reason, you should do them first in your workout.

On the other hand, dumbbell and kettlebell exercises, for example; dumbbell bicep curls, dumbbell chest flys, kettlebell swings, or the dumbbell shoulder press, are less intensive, use less overall energy. For that reason, you should do these after your bigger barbell lifts.

More Control

Free weights give you more control over the weight, this is especially useful for developing more overall strength and power, since it’s more challenging for you to control the load through the entire range of motion, without the assistance of a machine.

Identifying & Correcting Imbalances

It is easier to identify and correct muscle imbalances with free weights, especially when you are performing unilateral exercises.

Benefits Of Machines

Machines control the range of motion for you, making it very difficult (though not impossible) to do the exercise wrong. They also bear some of the load for you, which is really useful for a few reasons:

Beginner Friendly

Machines are beginner friendly pieces of equipment, they can be really helpful in getting people started. Although you should aim to move over to the free weights as soon as possible.

Rehab Friendly

Machines are excellent to use for anyone rehabbing an injury, they are relatively low risk and you can increase the weight safely.

Squeezing Out Those Last Reps

Finally, the major benefit of machines for regular gym goers is that they help you to rep out those last reps when your muscles are fatigued from the free weights section. This is where the muscles are broken down the most in your workout.

Machine Exercises

Some machine exercises examples are; leg press, leg extension, triceps rope pull down, cable chest fly.

More Free Weight And Machine Exercises

If you would like to explore more free weight and machine exercises, check out our exercise database.

Which Is Best? Free Weights Or Machines

Both free weights and machines are great, they each have their place and any gym rat worth their salt will use both. Not necessarily in the same workout, but overall.

As mentioned above, free weights are best used at the beginning of your workout. Use free weights to perform the big compound lifts and free weight isolation exercises.

Then, as your muscles start to fatigue, get yourself over to the machines where you can squeeze out those last reps. It has long been said that it’s in those last reps where the muscle grows the most!

Free Weights vs Machines Summary

To summarise the debate between free weights or machines in the gym; do both. Free weights first, machines after.

You will build more overall strength and power with free weights and you will compliment your efforts with machines.

Machines are also great for targeted muscle isolation. For example; if you want to grow your glutes, do your free weight glute exercises first and then head over to the cable station to do your cable kickbacks. Apply this to any exercise/muscle group you want to grow.