• Not sure whether to incorporate either machine or body weight exercises in your gym routine? There are plenty of benefits each type brings.
• Machine exercises are great for beginners to build basic muscle strength and get used to certain movements.
• Body weight exercise help you control your body more, allowing more muscle groups to work together to complete reps.

There are ups and downs to every trip to the gym. Likewise, different types of workouts are beneficial and disadvantageous in their respective ways. As you are figuring out the perfect kind of workout (or combination of workouts) for your particular fitness goals, there are a few guidelines to keep in mind. Remember that the best way to assess how effective a workout is, is to just give it a try.

Machine exercises

Gym machines aid your workout by giving you stability. When you use a machine, you're making repetitive motions in a fixed path. The main difference between using a machine and lifting free weights is that instead of directly carrying the weight by a handle, you're moving it from one point to another via the part of the machine that your body makes contact with. There is a wide variety of gym machines from rows to curls to leg presses.

Pros of using machines

It's easier

Using a gym machine usually goes like this: Sit down. Grab the handles. Move the handles. Compared to body weight exercises, it's extremely simple and therefore very easy to learn and to do. This makes machines the more beginner-friendly option.

It can be safer

Because of how rigid a machine setup is, you're less likely to sustain any injuries on one, accidental or otherwise. This isn't a reason to be careless when you do, as it is still possible to get injured if you use the machine incorrectly or try to lift a heavier weight than you can handle. However, machine exercises generally involve a lower risk than the alternatives.

You have plenty of choices

People who prefer body weight exercises might feel this way because they think using machines is limiting. In fact, you'll find that in any respectable gym, a wide range of machines are available, and they're not just for building muscle. Some machines like the treadmill and the elliptical trainer help develop cardiovascular strength.

Machines cater to specific needs

Gym machines give you the ability to isolate specific muscle groups – something necessary for a strategic workout. They're also a good choice for older gym goers and people with an active lifestyle who have been injured but don't want to lose their momentum. The stability that machines offer makes it easy to use them with minimal to no assistance.

Cons of using machines

They do some of the work for you

There is a downside to the stability of gym machines. It makes your workout easier, but an easy workout isn't always a productive one. You will certainly feel a good burn in your target muscles, but your body also has stabilizer muscles. By using a machine, you eliminate the need for those stabilizer muscles, so they don't get the full benefit of your workout like your other muscles do.

The unnatural movement path

Depending on your stature and the proportions of your body, getting on a machine may put you in an uncomfortable position. You can make adjustments on the machine, but they can't accommodate every single body type. Sometimes, even if it's a good fit, regular machine use can make it difficult to progress and train the target muscle.

They're impractical for home use

Gym machines are often quite expensive, and for all the money you shell out, you can usually only do one exercise on one machine. Although there are options that allow you to perform various exercises with one machine, these can be quite limited. Even if you're living comfortably enough to buy a whole range of machines, there's still the matter of where to place them in your home, since they take up a lot of space and aren't easily moved to the side or stowed away.

Body weight exercises

If neither machine exercises nor free weight lifting work for you, it might be ideal to keep it simple and stick with body weight exercises. This kind of functional fitness involves using your own body weight as resistance rather than any equipment. The chances are that you've already tried some body weight exercises. Some examples are push-ups, pull-ups, dips, and chin-ups.

Pros of doing body weight exercises

It's ideal for beginners

When it comes to body weight exercises, all you need to get started is your body. You don't have to commit to a gym membership or purchase a set or barbells, or any equipment at all. Put on some comfortable clothes and get into the groove of things with push-ups and chin-ups and gradually work your way up to more intense and more challenging exercises.

Extreme functional fitness

There are many scenarios where you can put your muscles to use in real life, from carrying groceries to running marathons. When you do bodyweight exercises, you're developing the exact muscles that you would use in everyday tasks. You also move in the exact pattern of motions that those tasks call for. Bodyweight exercises are the most efficient way to prepare you for practical chores.

You use additional muscles

While gym machines stabilize your body and the movement for you, in body weight exercise, you are in complete control of your weight. This puts all of your stabilizer muscles to use and allows them to develop along with all of your other muscles.  Additionally, your range of motion is natural to your body, unlike the restricted range that machines offer.

Cons of doing body weight exercises

Some exercises are more difficult

Although some body weight exercises are easy for beginners, others take quite a bit of conditioning and training to accomplish. Pull-ups and dips, for example, can be extra challenging for beginners and people who are overweight. Free weights and machines can be adjusted to your capability. Adjusting your own body weight isn't nearly as easy, and takes much longer than a few seconds.

It's harder to make progress

This is one of the biggest problems in body weight training. While you can simply add weight to a machine as your strength grows, you will always hit a limit in body weight exercises. As you work out regularly, you naturally become more able to handle your body weight, making exercises easier to do – which isn't desirable when you're trying to push your limits and improve with every session.

It's harder to measure progress

Because you're working with your own body weight instead of fixed, measured weights, keeping track of your progress becomes a lot more complicated. You can set goals for the number of repetitions or sets you do in one workout, but not the actual weight that you're lifting. It's also more difficult to isolate and work on specific muscles and muscle groups.

When should you prioritize machine use?

There are certain muscle groups that you can develop faster and more efficiently with machine exercises. If these are a high priority in your fitness goals, be sure to add them to your routine.

Back muscles and shoulder girdle

To get the most out of your upper-body muscles, spend some time on the lat pull-down. This is a great place to start if you're aiming to be able to do pull-ups with ease – or at all. You can achieve the same back muscle workout performing reverse pec deck flys on the pec deck machine or seated cable rows on the pulley row machine.

Biceps

Like with the lat pull-down and cable biceps bar, you can push yourself a little harder by switching your grip from facing toward you to facing away from you. Get some variation by using a straight bar, a v-bar, or even a well-secured rope.

Chest and triceps

This is where the chest press machine comes in. The movement you perform on the chest press machine is similar to that of a push-up without getting horizontal. Beginners will find that working on their chest, biceps, and triceps is a good foundation for building up to more compound movements.

When should you prioritize body weight exercises?

Losing fat

If your main goal is to trim down, either machine exercises or body weight exercises will help you do so. However, doing body weight training fully engages your entire body. This makes it a wiser first choice between the two.

Increasing overall strength

Although body weight exercises attempt (and don't always succeed) to strengthen very specific muscle groups, they do give your body as a whole more strength. You can put this to good use, whether for flexing in the gym or just going through the motions of your everyday life.

Improving performance

Many athletes incorporate body weight training into their routines because of the benefits it offers in terms of performance. If you're looking to use your newfound strength competitively, body weight exercise will give you a much greater edge than machine exercises.

It would be counterproductive to think of gym machines and body weight training as polar opposites, or as mutually exclusive. If a combination of both works for you, then it's only a matter of finding out which components make up that ideal combination. At the same time, don't be afraid of changing things up if you feel yourself starting to stagnate. Listen to your body, and it will be happy to tell you what it needs.