Today I wanted to talk about different forms of resistance training and how it may be beneficial to incorporate all of them into your workouts.  The 3 forms I want to discuss today are:

Free weights-dumbbells, barbells, kettle bells, med balls, sand bags, etc

Machines: usually uses some form of a pulley system with a weight stack or plates

Resistance bands: resisted tubing, elastic bands/loops, bungee cables

The best equipment for you depends on what your own personal goals. Machines take all the guess work out of things. They may be a great option for someone who is relatively new to resistance training because they arguably may be the safest of the three options above. Depending on the machine, it’s typically going to move in one plane of motion. Think of a bicep machine you see at planet fitness, it moves up and down. The chestpress machine moves close to the body and then away from the body, in a mostly linear pattern. You don’t ever have to worry about that machine moving any other direction if your arms give out. It’s not going to slip and make you over strain to recover. You can let the machine go without many consequences aside from the weight stack slamming down. Not sure how much the machine would hold up with constantly doing this, but the chance of injuring yourself is slimmer because a lot of that external control is done for you, meaning you don’t have to stabilize as much as you would with free weights or bands.  As I mentioned above, these are a great option for those starting off with resistance training or looking for isolated muscle strengthening. They may also be an option when recovering from an injury since it’s less demanding or if you are just trying to get muscle activation with a light load. You could also benefit from machines if your are competing for a body building show where hypertrophy of individual muscles is important.

Dumbbells, free weights, and med ball move any way you want them to move. You can do linear movements like machines, however you can also incorporate rotational movements. Because they aren’t attached to a cable system like a machine, you are 100% in control of the movement as well as the piece of equipment you are handling. You have to stabilize the weights through the entire range of motion.  This added stabilization requires more of a demand from your muscles in order to safely control the weights. This is an excellent way to work on muscle strength and stability. Muscle strength is your muscles’ ability to exert force while stability is their ability to resist force.

Has someone ever handed you something that was heavier than you realized and your hand immediately dropped because you weren’t prepared for it? Or maybe you were handed an unexpected heavy object and the weight of the object yanked your arm in a way that maybe caused discomfort or even an injury? I’ve seen several people in my career coming to therapy because they tore their rotator cuff or dislocated their shoulder because a weight got away from them or was too heavy. Muscle imbalances, whether strength, stability or a combo of the two, are a key cause of injury. We must always be mindful of that when working out or training.

And lastly, I’m going to talk about resistance bands. What I love about bands is their convenience and portability. You can pack them in any suitcase and get a full body workout with them any time of the day, nearly anywhere. They are easy to anchor and you can create more resistance by adding a band or just stepping further away from its’ anchor point. Which leads me to the biggest complaint I constantly see with bands-the resistances isn’t constant. Meaning you don’t get the same amount of resistance at the beginning of the range of motion that you would at the end range of motion, which can make it frustrating when you are trying to strengthen through the entire range of motion.  Bands however allow for more dynamic training. NBA/WNBA players actually strap up with a bunch of resistance bands during their warm ups to prep their muscles and nervous system for the game. It allows them to still perform sport specific movements, which you just can’t really do with free weights or machines. Most times people struggle with stability at their end range of motion vs the beginning range motion. Bands are a powerful tool when it comes to working on stability because the greatest amount of force in the band usually coincides with a muscle/joint’s end range which is usually the weakest and most unstable part of a movement. Bands are generally safe to use however because of their material, they do wear out and will eventually break, thus needing replacement.

As you can see, all three have pros and cons to their use. Here at Torrez Physical Therapy and Wellness we are 100% mobile. I bring everything to you. That means means I don’t use machines with my patients, however in my professional opinion you aren’t missing out on much.  Free weights, resistance bands and a portable cable resistance training system are my favorite resistance tools to utilize with people to work on on isolated strengthening and functional movements.

What’s your favorite form of resistance training? Are you wanting to get into resistance training but don’t know where to start?  Remember that our lines are always open and feel free to shoot us a message on Facebook at Torrez Physical Therapy and Wellness, Instagram @torrezptandwellness, or chat with me directly from my website www.torrezptw.com

Yours Truly,

Dr. Savannah Torrez, PT, DPT, COMT

“If you think lifting weights is dangerous, try being weak. Being weak is dangerous.”

– Bret Contreras,