You’re using Too Many Machines in the Gym

DO: Drop the machines, start compound lifting.

WHY: Too many people use machines. It’s a great tool to completely isolate one muscle group but for now, this is definitely not something you’d want to start with.

Why? Because at this point in time, isolation of a specific muscle group could be detrimental to the surrounding muscle groups that need to work together. It may mean the difference between a completely altered length-tension relationship and muscle imbalances of one muscle.

In plain english, imagine a balanced seesaw. This is a normal working relationship muscles have with each other. They are all equal and they are all together. They’re matching. If one drops, the other clearly compensates right? Great.

Now if you can imagine this analogy… If you’re working on machines and you’re getting one muscle stronger than the other- this means in the seesaw analogy that one person is getting heavier and heavier while the other person remains the same weight. Clearly, one side is going to start dropping and the other is going to start compensating.

This in conjunction with the fact that in real life, you’re never going to just use one muscle when you’re performing your everyday activities- we can see how they can throw our bodies into chaos.

But Mark Anthony, what does that lead to and why do I care?

When you have muscles stronger than another and are unequal, your body is going to lead to chronic injury sooner or later. It is not a matter of IF. It is a matter of WHEN.

When muscles are not working together in an even playing ground, they’re essentially pushing and pulling with each other all the time. Sure, you may not see or feel it at first. But it’ll manifest itself as something else in your body.

Here’s a perfect example: Many gym goers love to do BICEP CURLS. Because bicep curls are for the girls right? Sure. They develop such strong biceps that the biceps are now overpowering the tricep, forearm, and shoulder regions. Even though the tricep is 2/3rd of the arm. This creates a push-pull effect on both muscles and possible the shoulder joint and could manifest itself as an elbow pain or shoulder pain.