Best Free Weight workout

In the most basic and obvious sense, weight training exercises can fall into 3 different groups based on how they are preformed and what type of equipment is used.

They are:

1. Free Weight Exercises
2. Body Weight Exercises
3. Machines

Despite what anyone else tells you, each type of exercise can serve a useful purpose in literally every workout routine regardless of what your goal is.

However, certain types of exercises are definitely more ideal for certain people based on factors like experience level, training preferences, body type/genetics, and of course, your specific fitness goal.

So, let’s go through free weight exercises, body weight exercises and machines and look at some examples of each, find out what their pros and cons are, and see how they compare with each other.

You’ll then be able to easily determine which is best (and worst) for you.

Free Weight Exercises

A free weight exercise is any exercise where the resistance is provided by a barbell, dumbbells, or any other free moving object. Some common examples include any type of barbell or dumbbell press, row, curl, extension, or deadlift.

Basically, if you’re moving some sort of weight (like a barbell or dumbbell) from point A to point B, and that weight isn’t supported by or attached to anything other than you, it’s most likely a free weight exercise.

PROS

• Completely natural movement. Allows you to move through a range of motion that is completely natural for your specific body. Nothing is restricted or put into any sort of fixed position that may not be perfect for you body.
• Uses additional muscles. Since you are in full control of the weight and stabilizing the entire movement itself, you are therefore recruiting the use of various stabilizer muscles that tend to go unused with machines.
• Extremely functional. Free weight exercises allow you to mimic actual movements that you actually do in real life, and in the exact manner you’d actually do them.
• Ideal for home use. If you happen to do your weight training at home, a barbell (or dumbbells), some weight and a bench is all you need to be able to perform dozens of different exercises in your house.

CONS

• Usually harder to learn at first. Especially when compared to machines (and to a lesser extent, body weight exercises), it’s usually a little harder to learn proper technique as a beginner.
• Higher potential risk of injury. There is a risk of injury with EVERY type of exercise, but the potential may be a little bit higher with free weights than others.