'When do I use the weight machines, and when do I use free weights?': part two

The Question

Hello!

Last week for work I had to climb down a wooded stream bank to take a photo and realized that, while I'm in some of the best shape of my life with definitely the most muscle I've ever had, climbing up and down the riverbank was NOT a piece of cake.

I'm a 53-year-old woman who joined her first gym about 2.5 years ago. Typically, I start with the elliptical for 15 minutes (to warm up from my mostly sedentary job and 30-minute drive) and then a standard 30-minute circuit room that encourages one 12-rep set in 60 seconds on a machine and various cardio steps in between, also 60 seconds each. I go about four times a week. If I go two days in a row I do deadlifts (a new adventure thanks to Swole Woman), 30 minutes on treadmill and abs/stretching machines.

Is it possible working out ONLY in a gym and doing the same routine over and over is harming me? I notice that the tiniest variations in machines (say the previous member lowered the seat more, or if I do the same circuit at another gym location with older equipment) can leave me feeling it the next day. I used to ONLY do outdoor exercise (jogging, biking, hiking, gardening) and yoga and it seemed like my body was more adaptable to things like yard work and kayaking at that time of my life. On the other hand, I'm 53 and not used to climbing up and down riverbanks so maybe that's just age and lack of familiarity.

So, my question is: Can doing the same routine over and over be bad? I love doing the circuit because it's me against myself; it's varied and it keeps me moving the whole time. I do it so often, it's like a dance at this point. I can increase weight easily to challenge myself, try to get more reps in 60 seconds, change small variations in the steps (I recently added a jump to my pushups and started doing balance lunges at one station). BUT, last summer I don't think I went on a single bike ride and only did yard work as required, rather than for fun and exercise as I had most of my pre-gym life. I'm rationalizing – I went to the gym yesterday, I don't have to bust ass on these flower beds. I don't have to go for an hour bike ride in the country because I went to the gym today.

Thanks for your help! Love the newsletter and love your Strong Not Skinny message. I have always called bullshit on media that tells us to "eat this to be skinny -- paid for by the This Foundation" when the truth is the only formula is exercise + healthy food + calorie deficit. Actual lifting is super new to me and thrilling to have found something at my advanced age (! haha) that inspires me. Once I figure out deadlifts on the Smith machine, what should my next lifting exercise be?

Very best,

Amanda

The Answer

So, first of all, no: Your workout on only machines, or the same workout over and over, is not harming you. However, I would say this is probably the wrong way to frame this question and issue. I’m sorry, I know I’m always doing this, reframing the question and making it about other stuff. I’m going to dovetail this with the issue of working out on machines vs. using free weights, because it speaks to the feelings you are feeling when you use the machines with the, as you say, “tiniest variations” in seat height or other adjustments. So have some patience with me as I work my way back around to your actual question.

I think what you are asking is important, because most gyms are filled to the brim with these machines. There is a machine for seemingly every muscle. They are quicker and more straightforward to use than free weights. It’s easier to load and unload weights (in fact, you don’t have to load or unload at all, on a lot of them; you just move the little pin up and down the weight stack). They have little diagrams printed on them that show you how to use them and exactly what muscles they train. They have comfortable padded seats and surfaces, none of the hard metal or knurling of free weights. They make working out more faster, more fun, and importantly, easier. Why do I have to be anti-everything, even machines? They are weight-lifting machines. Can I compromise, just this once? Can I relent? Could I, at long last, “cool it”? I know I seem like a hater, because I am a hater. But this time, I really promise I have good reasons you will want to hear!!

Here is where I will pause and say, as I said in my last column, Simmon’s Law: Exercise that you will do because you like it is always going to be better than exercise you won’t, because you don’t. The benefits of not-being-fully-sedentary, your heart pumping, your body working: All of those things are present in weight-machine use (or I hope they are).

And then there is the obvious fact that people do use the weight machines. Even Arnold Schwarzenegger recently attested to using them in his workouts (granted, he is 75 years old). I use them from time to time. I do not deny they have purpose.

But let’s talk about what weight machines were originally for.