I Do Not Believe
January 22nd 2007 14:32
A tour through my gym yesterday reminded me that there are movements and machines in which I place no faith. I list a few and give my justification.
1) The Incline Bench Press: The crowd for which the arms and chest are the sum total of weight training love to do this movement. I've frequently seen them doing sets of "inclines" after they have done their bench presses. I think this movement is overkill at best and largely superfluous. The fact is that pectoral muscles are best stimulated by bringing the arms across the chest with the palm facing the chest. Thus dumbbell chest flyes are the optimum movement to force the pectorals to work in isolation. The theory behind the incline press is that it uniquely targets the upper pectorals. Why do they matter? If your upper pectorals are underdeveloped compared to the lower you will look a little saggy and thin near the clavicle. In my opinion this is unlikely in the first place, if you are doing dumbbell chest flyes or the pec deck machine that is designed to mimic flyes. If you are doing bench presses and then incline bench presses I suggest that you are doing essentially the same movement in each exercise- a movement that is less about pectorals than about triceps and front delts.
2) Lower Back Machines: Every modern gym I've visited has a machine which alleges to train the lower back. You sit upright on it with a padded arm behind. You select your weight from the stack and then lean back,forcing the arm to a position parallel to the ground. I suspect that the origin of this machine has something to do with modern man's burgeoning problems with lower back. I don't,however, think that the machine does much. If you have a weak lower back I suggest you start doing stiff legged dead
lifts with a barbell(just the bar at first). I suggest you slowly start some squats with a barbell on your shoulders. Also use a hyperextension machine. If you have lower back trouble, spend the time you would waste on the lower back machine on serious, progressive abdominal training. Weak and prolapsed abs are a source of back problems.
3) Smith Machine: The Smith Machine is a device which permits pressing and squatting with a bar that is molded to a set of paralell bars vertical to the floor. This configuration holds the bar in place while the movement is being done and prevents the shifting that occurs when doing presses and squats with a free bar. But the shifting of the weight is part of the benefit of doing overhead pressses and squats. The Smith machine simple eliminates a central aspect of the body's adaptation to weigh exercises-the development of balance. You cannot build up a muscle without forging new "know-how." "Know-how"=more muscle.This machine,simply put, violates the principal that the more free the weight the more valuable the movement.Thus dumbbell presses and free squats should be your alternative to the Smith machine. Your servant, as always.
1) The Incline Bench Press: The crowd for which the arms and chest are the sum total of weight training love to do this movement. I've frequently seen them doing sets of "inclines" after they have done their bench presses. I think this movement is overkill at best and largely superfluous. The fact is that pectoral muscles are best stimulated by bringing the arms across the chest with the palm facing the chest. Thus dumbbell chest flyes are the optimum movement to force the pectorals to work in isolation. The theory behind the incline press is that it uniquely targets the upper pectorals. Why do they matter? If your upper pectorals are underdeveloped compared to the lower you will look a little saggy and thin near the clavicle. In my opinion this is unlikely in the first place, if you are doing dumbbell chest flyes or the pec deck machine that is designed to mimic flyes. If you are doing bench presses and then incline bench presses I suggest that you are doing essentially the same movement in each exercise- a movement that is less about pectorals than about triceps and front delts.
2) Lower Back Machines: Every modern gym I've visited has a machine which alleges to train the lower back. You sit upright on it with a padded arm behind. You select your weight from the stack and then lean back,forcing the arm to a position parallel to the ground. I suspect that the origin of this machine has something to do with modern man's burgeoning problems with lower back. I don't,however, think that the machine does much. If you have a weak lower back I suggest you start doing stiff legged dead
Don't Try This
3) Smith Machine: The Smith Machine is a device which permits pressing and squatting with a bar that is molded to a set of paralell bars vertical to the floor. This configuration holds the bar in place while the movement is being done and prevents the shifting that occurs when doing presses and squats with a free bar. But the shifting of the weight is part of the benefit of doing overhead pressses and squats. The Smith machine simple eliminates a central aspect of the body's adaptation to weigh exercises-the development of balance. You cannot build up a muscle without forging new "know-how." "Know-how"=more muscle.This machine,simply put, violates the principal that the more free the weight the more valuable the movement.Thus dumbbell presses and free squats should be your alternative to the Smith machine. Your servant, as always.
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