Many of us, when asked about “Weight Training” or “Strength Training” immediately put up the “woah -not for me” signal. I wonder why? My guess is that we have these preconceived images of body builders and (if you are female) ugly muscles that seem to bulge out in all the ‘unfemine’ places.
Good News
Well, here is some good news! If you start strength training you won’t end up with all those bulging muscles that ( to me anyway) look so ugly.
Great! So you have made the decision to do some weight training. Now the dilemma -which is best? Those big machine weight stack things at the gym, or the ‘free weights’ – dumb bells and the like?
Well, it really depends on what your goal is. If you just want to ‘look good’ then machine weights will do that for you. If you want functional strength and stability in your day to day living – then free weights is the way to go. How come?
By Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
