Good morning friends,

Got some amazing news this past week - I’m finally cleared to start walking without a boot on!

I do feel a bit like a baby deer with how unstable my left foot is, but couldn’t be more excited to get back to it.

Ultimately, outside of healing well, my big goal now is to complete an Ironman 70.3 in 2024 while squatting 315 and deadlifting 405.

There’s a race in California this December that I’m keeping a close eye on - will keep you all updated.

Anyways - I’ve had to adapt my training a ton since I got injured.

One of the big changes that I’ve had to focus on has been training with machines instead of free weights.

I see a lot of people roasting machines unfairly online, so today I wanted to talk about when and why you should use these in your training in their place.

Free weights are amazing, but harder on your body to use.

Machines can help prevent injury and isolate certain muscle groups, so if you’re trying to build muscle, they’re an awesome tool to use.

Let’s get into it.

When you can’t use your legs to stabilize yourself, machines become your best friend.

These past 3 months, I’ve been recovering from a torn achilles, so I couldn’t do a typical squat or deadlift.

But even things like a bench or overhead press have been tough for me because your legs play such an important role in activating your core and stabilizing your body for these heavier movements.

Generally speaking, free weights make you work harder by forcing your body to stabilize the weight that you’re moving.

Machines on the other hand, are locked into a specific plane of movement and require less stabilization.

For example - think of an overhead press.

When you do this with free weights, your body has to stabilize the weight above your head. You have to incorporate your core and a number of smaller muscles to keep your body aligned and the weight steady.

But when you do an overhead press on a machine - you don’t have to worry about this stuff. You can just focus on moving the weight, without fear of injury.

Let’s get into the why behind this.

1) When you’re injured

1 of the huge benefits of machines is that they’re built to be safe.

When you’re holding free weights, like a barbell, a dumbbell, or a kettlebell, your body has to work harder to stabilize that weight in your movements.

But machines don’t need that same stabilization.

If you’re injured (like me) - you can hop onto a machine and very easily start moving the weight without having to worry about things like setting your feet or activating your core.

This has been a LIFESAVER over the past couple of weeks.

psa: please still make sure you have good form.

2) When you’re tired or drained

This goes well with point 1, but one of my favorite times to use machines is towards the end of a workout when I’m absolutely gassed.

Like we mentioned above, machines are locked into 1 specific path and require less muscle groups to keep them steady during the movement, so it’s harder to get hurt when using them.

If you’re near the end of your workout - and want to get a good finisher in like a…

Machines are a safe and awesome way to do this.

3) When you want to isolate a certain muscle group

Most machines are designed to help you isolate certain muscle groups.

Think of a leg extension for example - it helps you isolate your quads.

Joe Weider, one of the godfathers of bodybuilding, built a TON of these machines to help bodybuilders get sculpted af by isolating certain muscle groups.

Most people naturally have strong points and weak points. Personally, I swam for almost 8 years growing up, so I have big lats and a strong back without having to try that hard.

But my legs, specifically my hamstrings, aren’t naturally very big or strong.

This is what I’d call a weak point.

So, I use machines like the seated Leg Curl to isolate them and give them some extra work during most of my leg day - typically at the end of a workout after I’ve already hit my compound movements.

Machines help me isolate these with a very specific movement - in this example, a leg curl using my hamstrings.

Hope this gives you some insights on when and how to use machines to your benefit!

I love using them to to build muscle - and the 3 main times I use them are:

Let me know what you thought of todays issue and thanks so much for reading!

Have a great weekend and talk soon,

Dane 🙂