I’ve definitely noticed that there isn’t a correlation between free weights and the machines. Doing an Overhead Dumbbell Shoulder Press I was struggling at 20 pounds after about 9 reps, but with the Shoulder Press machine I had no problem doing 50 pounds.
Comment on Weight Lifting: How are you supposed to know the weights of unlabled things?
Kinglink@lemmy.world 3 months ago
Using the same bar every time, it’s the same weight, you don’t need to know what’s on it. Olympic bars (and most bars) are 45, so I just use that.
But let me give you another idea. WHO CARES? Yeah I know we all like to track progress when weight lifting, but at the end of the day did you lift the weight and bring it back down? Did you do it multiple times? Did you do it to exhaustion? Great, you’ll grow. If you truly care then ask "When I used that same machine could I do it with more weight? Could I do more reps with the same weight? The machine itself doesn’t change so just use that specific type of machine as the metric.
I’ve found weight machines are NOT comparable to Free Weights, Which are not comparable to even smith Machines… So ultimately… Compare apples to apples.
pete_the_cat@lemmy.world 3 months ago
Kinglink@lemmy.world 3 months ago
A big part is always going to be stabilization, when you’re using the machines you don’t need to focus on those muscles, so I usually recommend people doing free weights. It’s a similar story to doing chest flies. But the big benefit of the machines is they’re designed to conform to the “optimal” range of motion, and somewhat less chance of injury
pete_the_cat@lemmy.world 3 months ago
Yeah, I switched after one arm gave out with the barbells and I tweaked a muscle in my neck.
THE_ANTIHERO@lemmy.today 3 months ago
Some people do need to track it and it has its own benefits like changing diet,sleep etc. according to it.
mipadaitu@lemmy.world 3 months ago
True, but as @Klinglink said, unless you are competing, you only really need to know trends. So knowing you lifted 100kg isn’t as important as knowing you lifted 10kg more (or less) than last week.