Are you confused by the different kinds of resistance systems used by home gyms? There are plates, weight stacks, bands, power rods, as well as leverage and magnetic resistance. This article seeks to clear up some of the confusion and elaborate on some of the advantages and disadvantages of each system.
It is helpful to start at the beginning, with free weights like barbells and dumbbells. All resistance machines for the gym and home seek to provide the benefits of free weights, while providing some advantages. The main claim of machine sellers is that they are safer than free weights. This is plausible, even though, when used with proper form and caution, free weights are not dangerous. Free weights are also simple, inexpensive, and will work and live on for centuries longer than you will. That presents a problem for manufacturers who want to keep selling products. The other disadvantage of free weights is you can't perform many of the basic movements without benches, racks, and the space to put them. You may also need a spotter. Machines and other alternatives were invented to address these problems.
The first solution is stacks of weight plates connected to cables as part of a metal structure. While these machines allow you to easily perform multiple exercises, the weights make them large and heavy. Home versions are often simply smaller and lighter versions of gym equipment. Improvements on that basic design use more leverage in the way the weights are lifted so that less actual weight is needed for a given amount of resistance.
Perhaps one step better for home use is the replacement of actually lifting weights with bending of flexible rods. This considerably reduces the weight and size of the equipment. Resistance is varied by changing rods. Some machines also have weight plates that can be added or removed to adjust resistance to levels between that afforded by the rods.
A completely different means of providing resistance is rubber bands. These can actually be much stronger than you are, though provide less total resistance than weight plates can. In their most basic form they are cheap, portable, and take up very little space. They can be combined with various sorts of frames to allow you to many different forms of exercise.
A more recent solution is magnetic resistance. Magnetic resistance has been used to vary the resistance in exercise bikes and elliptical machines for many years. These systems are light and cost-effective.
Why don't gyms have these alternative systems? Because nothing feels quite like lifting free weights. In the 1980s, machines that provided resistance from compressed air were introduced to gyms. It seemed like the perfect high-tech solution; movements were smooth and resistance was easily adjusted. But these machines never caught on with users large numbers. There is something about pushing against real weight that just hasn't been duplicated in machines.
For the typical home gym user, however, many of these alternative resistance system work just fine. As with all exercise equipment, the right choice for you starts not with what is the best kind of machine, but with your personal goals and how you would be using the equipment.
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