Well-designed gym machines enhance the effectiveness of your strength and hypertrophy training. They’ll minimize instability, allowing you to focus on and overload specific muscles. They’ll apply variable resistance and resistance to patterns of motion that free weights simply cannot. Good machines can even enhance safety when working with heavy loads or training to failure.

Credit: Prostock-studio / Shutterstock

The issue is that not all machines within the gym are good, useful, or worthwhile. To preface, this review isn’t the biased opinion of a fragile physio or some two-bit trainer who labels random machines as “injurious” or “non-functional.”

That is an objective, biomechanics-based, physiologically-informed discussion from a strength coach and physical therapist who uses certain machines just as often as free weights. With that said, not all machines are created equal. Listed here are five machines to avoid and five machine problems to avoid. 

The Five Worst Exercise Machines

The Five Worst Machine Problems

The Five Worst Exercise Machines

Some machines must be avoided because they “take” more stress and energy than they “give” results. Should you’re focused on training efficiently and effectively, double-check your training program to see if any of this avoidable equipment is in your plan.

Squat Machines That Bottom-Out Before You Do

Many lifters may struggle with achieving full depth in a free weight squat. This will occur for various reasons — poor coordination, limited ankle flexibility, or a insecurity of their ability to arise after hitting depth.

Hack squats, leg presses, and other lower-body machines that enhance a lifter’s ability to attain full range of motion within the “squat” movement pattern are value their weight in gold (or, more specifically, iron).

For lifters with stiff ankles, placing your feet higher or further forward on the platform decreases the quantity of ankle dorsiflexion (raising your toes towards your shin) required to hit depth. The upper-body support and guidance afforded by the machine assists lifters deficient in trunk control.

Built-in safety features may empower even probably the most apprehensive lifters to attain significant depth. But these built-in safety “stops” can backfire in the event that they end the squat movement too early.

Why Avoid Them

Perhaps you’ve experienced this scenario: You hop on a shiny recent hack squat or leg press. The whole lot feels great until midway through the rep…clunk… you’ve hit the machine’s safety stop before reaching the coveted “ass-to-grass” position of full hip and knee flexion.

The machine can have been working easily otherwise, but its design could also be shorting greater than your depth. It’s likely robbing you of potential gains.

Full range of motion squatting has been related to superior strength and power outcomes in comparison with partial depth squatting. (1) Although other research showed no difference in strength improvement between those squatting to full depth and people training with partials, it did report significantly greater thigh hypertrophy in the complete depth group. (2)

Altogether, evidently most lifters would profit from squatting deep. Squat machines should facilitate, not limit, full range of motion training. If the squat machine in your gym hits bottom before you do, it’s probably not value your time.

The “High Five” Pec-Deck

Quite some time ago, many pec-deck or chest flye machines appeared to share a typical ill-conceived design — the “high five” arm position. The machine requires users to take a seat and reach their arms barely behind their body at shoulder-height, after which externally rotate their shoulders to put their forearms involved with vertical pads.

To perform the exercise, the user pulls the pads toward one another in front of their chest. These machines train the pectoralis major, anterior deltoid, subscapularis, and few helper muscles. (3) They’ll still be present in industrial and residential gyms.

Why Avoid Them

To be clear, there may be nothing inherently “fallacious” with this machine. It undeniably hits the pecs. (3) In truth, the whole contribution of pectoralis major is probably going underestimated since the muscle is put under substantial passive tension during full shoulder external rotation.

The difficulty with the “high five” pec-deck is just not it’s lack of effectiveness, but that it’s unlikely to be universally tolerated by lifters who’ve existing shoulder issues. For instance, when a team of physicians examined 20 weightlifters with painful shoulders, each weightlifter reported reproduction of shoulder pain within the “high five” position. (4)

Interestingly, half of those weightlifters improved and ultimately avoided surgery with rehab and avoidance of the “high five” position. Heavy strength training within the “high five” shoulder position is regarded as related to anterior instability. (5)(6) It undoubtedly stresses the front of the shoulder joint, including the rotator cuff.

Altogether, if you’ve gotten known shoulder problems, including but not limited to stiffness, rotator cuff pathology, biceps tendon issues, or a labrum injury (e.g. SLAP tear), avoid the “high five” pec-deck. But don’t despair. There are more forgiving options.

Improved pec-deck designs have multiple handle options. These machines allow the user to pick a snug position for direct chest training. As a bonus, the improved machines often allow the lifter to spin around and train rear deltoids at the identical station, enabling an efficient superset.

Crunch Machines

Abdominal machines will get you off the gym floor, but that’s just about the one benefit of most of them. Plate-loaded and stack-loaded crunch machines are generally designed for use either seated or lying down.

While their designs are inclined to reduce a multi-joint spinal movement pattern to a single pivot point, this isn’t their important problem. Their range of motion is suboptimal for constructing a stronger, higher looking set of abs.

Why Avoid Them

Once you use a crunch machine, whether it’s a seated or supine (lying down) model, you simply train through a small portion of your available trunk flexion range of motion. By the point you meet the resistance of the machine, lots of your spinal joints are already flexed and the abdominals are only trained of their shortened length.

For the aim of constructing muscle, mounting evidence suggests the superiority of coaching at long muscle lengths reasonably than short. (7)(8) So in the event you’re a healthy lifter who wants to construct a more pronounced six-pack, a greater option is to train through a full range of spinal flexion.

Start your crunch with an prolonged (arched) back. To perform this, you’ll be able to perform crunches on top of a Swiss ball or lock right into a glute-ham developer (GHD) machine for controlled, full range of motion sit-ups.

Standing Calf Raise Machines

Standing calf raise machines eliminate the necessity to hold heavy weights when performing calf raises. Additionally they provide a stable environment to assist the lifter concentrate on constructing big, strong gastrocnemius muscles — the superficial calf muscle trained during any straight-knee calf raise exercise. (9)

These machines typically load the calves through pads that rest atop the upper traps. Subsequently, the standing calf raise is an axially-loaded exercise, which suggests the load is supported through the trunk and spine like squats and deadlifts.

Why Avoid Them

Calf training is accessory work, which is usually programmed toward the top of the workout. By that point, most lifters have already performed a minimum of one heavy axially-loaded lower body exercise. In the event that they’ve trained with high effort and intensity, their core is probably going exhausted. But unless their dress code at all times calls for pants or knee-high socks, calf training probably shouldn’t be skipped.

By avoiding standing machines in favor of machines that apply more direct loading to the goal muscles, you’ll be able to reduce the likelihood that trunk fatigue interferes with constructing the getaway sticks you’ve at all times wanted.

While standing calf raise machines have been around for many years, Golden Era bodybuilders had alternatives. They used donkey calf machines, which required the lifter to bend forward to load the calves from atop the pelvis as a substitute of the spine.

There’s photographic evidence of Arnold performing this exercise without the machine, as a substitute recruiting a training partner or the occasional beautiful woman (or two) to take a seat atop his hips while he performed calf raises.

Can’t find an old-school donkey calf machine? Asking others to climb onto your hips too risqué to your globo gym?  There are many alternatives to standing calf raise machines.

Purpose-built 45- or 60-degree calf raise machines load the calves through the hips. They give the impression of being like mini hack squats. Rotary calf machines allow training to be performed seated with legs straight out in front of the body. If none of those options can be found, a basic leg press often works tremendous for calf raises while sparing you the axial-loading.

Combo Machines That Botch Each Movements

When limited floor space or budget is a priority, gym owners could also be tempted by multi-function machines. Machines like functional trainers and cable columns serve because the gym’s “jack-of-all-trades, master of none.” These machines are mainstays, and there are often no problems with them. But some multifunction machines are pretty lackluster.

The plate-loaded leg extension/leg curl combo is a multi-function machine that’s universally rubbish, no matter make or manufacturer. These machines mix a seated leg extension with a prone hamstring curl. In theory, these machines are a beautiful, space-efficient station to coach two necessary muscle groups. In point of fact, you’ll realize after your first set why they’re on this list.

Why Avoid Them

The plate-loaded leg extension/leg curl combo only has two jobs — train the quads and train the hamstrings — and it does neither particularly well. For quad training, the resistance peaks near the highest position when knees are prolonged.

Nonetheless, knee extension torque is highest near the center of the range of motion, not in full extension. (10) Subsequently, the resistance offered by the machine doesn’t match the strength profile of the joint being trained. Many other machines can also fall in need of providing ideal resistance through a full range of motion, which is discussed in additional detail in the subsequent section.

The prone hamstring curl half of this machine, specifically, is worthless at end-range knee flexion (the contracted position). Past a certain angle of knee flexion, the resistance cuts out since the plates are pulled above the machine’s axis of rotation as you complete the curl.

If you’ll want to use considered one of these machines because, say, you have already got one and aren’t shelling out for 2 separate machines, you may find a way to work around this problem by creatively rigging resistance bands.

Credit: Dr. Merrick Lincoln, DPT, CSCS

Ultimately, there are higher machines available to your quad and hamstring training — one dedicated to quads and a separate one for hamstrings.

The Five Worst Machine Problems

Some machines aren’t inherently “bad,” they simply suffer from problems that may potentially be addressed with sufficient maintenance, proper setup, or an adjustment to overall program design. Here’s what to observe out for.

Machines Filled with Friction

Have you ever ever felt a mid-rep grinding or jerking sensation when lifting on a machine? Or, perhaps you’ve felt that you’ve gotten to push or pull through a number of “slop” or play within the cables and pulleys of a machine before the load stack begins to maneuver? In that case, you’ve got a friction issue.

Common sources of friction in gym machines might be bent, rusted, or poorly lubricated guide rods; worn or cracked cable sheathing; or worn bearings. Some machines, particularly those with multiple pulleys and long belts or cables have a number of friction when factory-new. By utilizing high-friction machines, you would be sacrificing greater than a smooth lifting experience.

Why Avoid Them

The identical friction that makes the repetition feel “grindy” in the course of the positive (concentric or lifting) portion of the repetition also robs you of resistance in the course of the negative (eccentric or lowering) portion.

What’s the harm of losing somewhat resistance in the course of the eccentric phase? It might be limiting the general effectiveness of the exercise. Our muscles are physiologically stronger during eccentric contraction than concentric contraction. In any given movement, you’ll be able to lower more weight than you’ll be able to lift. Subsequently, the concentric phase of a typical exercise will at all times be the limiting factor.

When using high-friction machines, your muscles get short-changed twice-over. First, you’ll need to make use of less weight than you’d otherwise to assist you to overcome the load and the friction in the course of the concentric a part of the lift.

The kicker is that your muscles don’t even get to experience full resistance in the course of the eccentric. The effective resistance in the course of the eccentric is the load you’ve chosen minus the resistance lost to friction.

Avoid the machine “wear” sources of friction through the use of well-maintained machines. To avoid machines with a number of friction intrinsic of their design, search for plate-loaded machines with prime quality bearings.

Machines with Insufficient Support

Well-designed machines should aid you to lock-in good form and assist you to effectively load the trained movement pattern. Good machines are incredibly effective. For instance, research showed that 10 weeks of coaching on an isolated lumbar extension machine was superior to Romanian deadlift training for improving lumbar extension strength. (11)

Nonetheless, unlike the highly desirable MedX lumbar extension machine, many other lumbar extension machines lack a seat belt to secure hips in the course of the exercise. These machines might be safely presumed to be only marginally effective.

Speaking of seat belts, in the event you’ve ever tried a seated dip machine and not using a belt or pads that lock you within the seat, you’ve experienced this phenomenon: try and push down greater than a certain percentage of your body weight and also you rise out of the seat. A lack of support represents a design flaw that by some means made it to market.

Receiving honorable mention on this category are cable hip extension machines and rotary hip extension machines (e.g. 4-way hip). These machines are used standing on one leg while the alternative leg is prolonged against resistance from a cable or pad.

Although these machines typically offer handles to help with balance, most users struggle to stabilize their trunk and pelvis. Strong contraction of the working-side glute typically causes anterior tilt of the pelvis together with rotation. These machines ultimately limit the quantity of resistance that might be used to coach hip extension, and your gluteus maximus is left with minimal gains.

Why Avoid Them

Machines lacking enough support might be less effective because they limit the potential use of upper resistance loads. They will also be downright frustrating. Think concerning the triceps extension machine with handles above a pad that resembles a preacher curl bench. It’s principally a reverse arm curl machine.

I’ve witnessed lifters try with all their might to lean into this form of seated triceps extension machine only to push themselves away from the machine with heavy loads on the load stack. A straightforward fix, akin to an adjustable seat back, could greatly enhance the flexibility to make use of heavy loads and enhance the user-experience (and results).

Should you’re a robust lifter who’s struggling to take care of body position while using a gym machine, it’s not you, it’s the machine. Spare yourself the frustration and find a greater option.

Machines That Don’t Fit Your Body

Encountering machines that don’t match your body is common, even for a decidedly average-sized lifter. In case your anthropometry, or body proportion, is farther from the population mean, expect to run into this issue much more often.

Be careful for machines whose axis of movement doesn’t align with your primary working joint. Single-joint machines like arm curl machines, triceps extensions, prone hamstring curls, and leg extension machines appear to be the common culprits.

Also, pay attention to machines which might be too tall or too short to your stature. For instance, if a machine is meant for use with feet on the ground, your feet mustn’t be dangling. Or perhaps you’re long-limbed and a selected gym machine doesn’t assist you to press or row through your full range of motion.

Why Avoid Them

It must be obvious that a gym machine with poor ergonomics will deliver a less-than-stellar user experience. Beyond that, questions arise regarding the effectiveness of exercises performed on misfit machines.

Are muscles and joints being trained through their intended ranges of motion? Are fit issues precluding the usage of effective resistance loads? Are misalignments between the machine’s geometry and your body creating abnormal joint stresses?

If a machine doesn’t feel right, it’s unlikely to aid you accomplish your training objectives. Once you encounter a machine that doesn’t fit, despite the usage of all available adjustments, it’s time to maneuver on.

Machines with a Poor Resistance Curve

A machine’s resistance curve describes the pattern of variable resistance the user experiences throughout the range of motion of the exercise. Machines might be designed to use variable resistance to the lifter via the usage of levers and irregularly shaped cams.

The classic example of variable resistance is the Nautilus shell-shaped cam. The cam was intended to use more resistance in the course of the a part of the exercise where the lifter is stronger and fewer resistance where the lifter is weaker.

While no machine matches each individual lifter’s strength curve, or capability to show strength throughout the range of motion, the resistance curve should correspond with the generalized strength curve of the movement pattern. (12)(13)

In theory, machines engineered to accommodate the overall human strength curves must be superior to free weights, which exert a continuing resistance counting on gravity. It also needs to be noted there may be definitely no consensus regarding the prevalence of variable resistance training or free weight training for increasing strength. (12)(14)(15)

Why Avoid Them

For the moment, let’s limit our scope to single-joint training for simplicity’s sake. When variable resistance, cam-based arm curl machines were in comparison with circular, cam-based arm curl machines, the variable resistance version was superior for strength gains and barely higher hypertrophy gains have been reported. (16)(17)

These results make sense, as circular cams generally don’t match the generalized strength curve of the movement being trained. Basically, you need to select the oblong-shaped cam machine over the circle-shaped cam machine for single-joint training. But what about other machine designs for other body parts? You’re going to need to feel them out.

You would possibly encounter a machine that applies variable resistance in conflict with the movement pattern’s strength curve. For instance, a lever-based pressing machine with a low pivot point may apply heavier resistance at the underside position.

This design would conflict with the pressing movement pattern’s ascending strength curve (where you’re typically stronger at the highest). (13) Such a machine is prone to limit the general weight used for the exercise and will ultimately reduce its effectiveness for constructing muscle and strength.

You don’t need to be a biomechanist to qualitatively determine if a machine’s resistance curve is sweet or poor for yourself. resistance curve will just… feel right. With heavy loads, you’ll feel you can exert maximum effort into the machine throughout the complete range of motion without losing reference to the resistance, creating excessive momentum, or grinding right into a pronounced sticking point. High-quality machines are “buttery” through the complete range of motion.

If a machine feels extremely difficult during a one portion of the range of motion and allows for rapid acceleration elsewhere, it can have a poor resistance curve. If that is so, you’re higher off finding a special machine or switching to free weights for a comparable exercise.

Machines Redundant to Effective Free Weight Options

Some free weight exercises are simply rattling good and need to be in your program. The trap bar isn’t beaten by a shrug machine. If you must do seated shrugs, sit on a bench and use heavy dumbbells.

For rack pulls, it’s perfectly tremendous to get within the squat rack. The Smith machine might’ve became the go-to for this exercise lately, but a great old barbell lifted from the protection catches works just tremendous, arguably with superior carryover to your conventional deadlift due the specificity principle.

The purpose is, there’s no have to re-invent the wheel. And gym equipment manufacturers and gym owners have to receive that message.

Why Avoid Them

The choice to avoid a machine in favor of an equally-effective free weight variation is an “exercise” in restraint. Simply because a machine is accessible doesn’t mean it must be used.

Should you and others at your gym exercise this restraint, the gym’s management will likely take notice. A machine that doesn’t get utilized in a public gym doesn’t stick around. With a bit of luck, the useful gym real estate occupied by the redundant machine might soon be crammed with a recent machine.

Hopefully it’ll be something unique and effective, akin to a great plate-loaded pullover, standing lateral raise, or pendulum squat. Or perhaps management will swap out the redundant machine with one other squat rack or whatever popular piece you’re continuously waiting for at your gym.

References

1. Pallarés, J. G., Cava, A. M., Courel-Ibáñez, et al. (2020). Full squat produces greater neuromuscular and functional adaptations and lower pain than partial squats after prolonged resistance training. European Journal of Sport Science, 20(1), 115-124.
2. Bloomquist, K., Langberg, H., Karlsen, S., Madsgaard, S., Boesen, M., & Raastad, T. (2013). Effect of range of motion in heavy load squatting on muscle and tendon adaptations. European Journal of Applied Physiology, 113(8), 2133-2142.
3. Kuechle, D. K., Newman, S. R., Itoi, E., et al. (1997). Shoulder muscle moment arms during horizontal flexion and elevation. Journal of Shoulder and Elbow Surgery, 6(5), 429-439.
4. Gross, M. L., Brenner, S. L., Esformes, I., & Sonzogni, J. J. (1993). Anterior shoulder instability in weight lifters. The American Journal of Sports Medicine, 21(4), 599-603.
5. Escalante, G. (2017). Exercise modification strategies to stop and train around shoulder pain. Strength & Conditioning Journal, 39(3), 74-86.
6. Kolber, M. J., Beekhuizen, K. S., Cheng, M. S. S., & Hellman, M. A. (2010). Shoulder injuries attributed to resistance training: a transient review. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 24(6), 1696-1704.
7. Maeo, S., Huang, M., Wu, Y., et al. (2021). Greater hamstrings muscle hypertrophy but similar damage protection after training at long versus short muscle lengths. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 53(4), 825.
8. Sato, S., Yoshida, R., Kiyono, R., et al. (2021). Elbow joint angles in elbow flexor unilateral resistance exercise training determine its effects on muscle strength and thickness of trained and non-trained arms. Frontiers in Physiology, 12.
9. Landin, D., Thompson, M., & Reid, M. (2015). Knee and ankle joint angles influence the plantarflexion torque of the gastrocnemius. Journal of Clinical Medicine Research, 7(8), 602-606.
10. Guenzkofer, F., Engstler, F., Bubb, H., & Bengler, K. (2011, July). Joint torque modeling of knee extension and flexion. In International Conference on Digital Human Modeling (pp. 79-88). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.
11. Fisher, J., Bruce-Low, S., & Smith, D. (2013). A randomized trial to contemplate the effect of Romanian deadlift exercise on the event of lumbar extension strength. Physical Therapy in Sport, 14(3), 139-145.
12. Carpinelli, R. (2017). A critical evaluation of the national strength and conditioning association’s opinion that free weights are superior to machines for increasing muscular strength and power. Medicina Sportiva Practica, 18(2), 21-39.
13. Wallace, B. J., Bergstrom, H. C., & Butterfield, T. A. (2018). Muscular bases and mechanisms of variable resistance training efficacy. International Journal of Sports Science & Coaching, 13(6), 1177-1188.
14. Dos Santos, W. D. N., Gentil, P., de Araújo Ribeiro, A. L., et al. (2018). Effects of Variable Resistance Training on Maximal Strength: A Meta-analysis. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 32(11), e52-e55. doi: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000002836.
15. Andersen, V., Prieske, O., Stien, N., et al. (2022). Comparing the consequences of variable and traditional resistance training on maximal strength and muscle power in healthy adults: a scientific review and meta-analysis. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport.
16. Urbanik, C., Staniszewski, M., Mastalerz, A., et al. (2013). Evaluation of the effectiveness of coaching on a machine with a variable-cam. Acta of Bioengineering and Biomechanics, 15(4).
17. Staniszewski, M., Mastalerz, A., & Urbanik, C. (2020). Effect of a strength or hypertrophy training protocol, each performed using two different modes of resistance, on biomechanical, biochemical and anthropometric parameters. Biology of Sport, 37(1), 85-91.

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