USE MACHINES BETTER

Original Question From Phil:

I am 62 yo, what are the best machines to use to build strength and muscle at my age?

Wassup, Phil, MY BRUDDAH!

HELL YEAH, bruh, I’m always stoked to see the OG’s BANGING SOME IRON!!

That’s freaking dope, dude, I really mean it— allow me to start by saying that the concepts that rule lifting SMART and ensuring safe progress AT YOUR AGE are the exact same as it is to everybody else of any age— young bucks just have THE LUXURY of doing dumb shit and still recover.

But the basic concepts, are always the same, the main thing you need to do is to strive to increase reps, sets, and weight to create PROGRESSIVE STIMULUS that will translate to strength and hypertrophy while focusing PRIMARILY in using GREAT FORM to guarantee high-quality stimulus, and most importantly, PREVENT INJURY.

That’s the only difference, you can’t afford to be a dipshit and EGOLIFT— adding weight while compromising form and technique— and mind you, this is OPTIMAL FOR EVERYONE AT ANY AGE, but a little more critical after you’ve seen enough summers.

To do so, make sure you’re developing your mobility, so you can execute your lifts with pain-free FULL RANGE OF MOTION, and express your strength confidently— dynamically, explosively in the CONCENTRIC portion of the lifts, and focus on introducing a controlled ECCENTRIC portion of the lift, the negative, the portion where gravity is helping you lower the weight, make sure you’re always striving to resist the weights through that section instead of just dropping the weights back down ‘cause study, after study, after study this has shown to be THE PRIMARY stimulus for muscle growth.

Lifting with full-ROM and slow eccentrics will FORCE YOU to lift way less weight, but it’ll give you MORE GAINZ workout to workout, and on the long run as well if you manage to establish progressive overload by adding sets, reps, and weight— also, we don’t have to be a Ph.D. in exercise science to understand that MORE GAINZ with LESS WEIGHT will also ramp up the odds of keeping you INJURY FREE, ‘cause it’s usually when we’re pursuing some ego-PR with half-assed wonky repetitions that we end up tweaking and breaking stuff.

But as it relates to WHICH ARE THE BEST MACHINES this is actually a VALUABLE question, bruh, ‘cause the answer to it is one of the biggest reasons why it’s EASIER to advocate for using free-weights like dumbbells, plates, and barbells, or even kettlebells for that matter against machines.

Free weights will work the exact same way no matter where you are— how you stabilize the lift, how you determine if you’re using the correct technique, or using the right muscles is determined BY YOUR SKILL in executing the lift, and even an online tutorial can cue you in understanding WTF you’re supposed to be doing and feeling— with machines, that’s a whole different story.

For instance, the leg press from gym A will differ from the leg press in gym B— each one will have a specific angle, a wider or narrower footplate and pad, different positioning to where the resistance is applied, varied cushioning, and might use a distinct mechanism so the implement goes through its track as you do your reps, all that shit affects the way resistance is applied to the muscle, sometimes so much so, that the machine itself is UTTER TRASH.

Sometimes the machine is just poorly built, it puts you in an odd, uncomfortable range of motion that over time can create imbalances and even do more harm than good.

This makes giving STANDARDIZED ADVICE when using machines particularly hard, ‘cause if I can come here and just say:

• Hack Squats.

• Pendulum Squats.

• Leg Presses.

• Seated Leg Curls.

• Machine Chest Presses.

• Machine Shoulder Presses.

• Machine Dips.

• Lateral Raise Machine.

• Rope Triceps Pushdows.

• Cable Curls.

• Preacher Curl Machine.

• Chest Supported Rows.

• Seated Cable Rows.

• Lat Prayers.

• Machine Pullovers.

• Reverse Pec Deck.

In the vacuum, I’m right, these are all GREAT machines that you can use to build a solid physique— but maybe, the preacher curl machine in your gym JUST SUCKS— you go there, and barely even feel your biceps working.

Maybe your lateral raises machine makes your shoulder joint feel like your arms are about to fall off, and a couple of weeks of banging reps with it cause your shoulders to get pissed off with you and start screaming HAHAHA.

So when it comes to machines, the way to go is to EXPERIMENT— be a scientist, go to each machine you have available to you, use it, and ask yourself:

• Do the handles feel good in my joints?

• Does the path of resistance feel good and natural?

• Does the position of the machine, the padding, the footplates, and the cushions feel good and stable so I can express strength optimally and safely?

• Can I use a pain-free full range of motion with the machine?

• Do I feel the targeted muscles getting pumped and burning?

• Is the eccentric phase of the lift as challenging or ideally MORE CHALLENGING than the concentric phase? (a common problem with poorly designed machines.)

If all of the above receive positive feedback from yourself, then that’s a great machine to work with— the last question you need to ask is just DO YOU LIKE IT!?

You should always prioritize modalities and exercises THAT YOU ENJOY DOING ‘cause, in this lifting game, it doesn’t matter if you’re using the best exercise or not, the thing that determines if you’re going to be successful or not is CONSISTENCY!

9 times out of 10 people who force themselves to do something they utterly dislike, simply fail to be consistent in the long run— so if machines are the thing that you dig, keep at it, grab the insight I’ve just given you, and apply it so you can optimize your lifting using machines.

Dumbbells, cables, barbells, or machines aren’t inherently better or worse— wait, maybe dumbbells HAHAHA— they’re just tools to apply resistance to our bodies, pick the one you prefer and GO BANG SOME IRON, OG!

Thanks for the question, and hit me up if you need any further insight.

STAY ON THE IRON PATH, MY BRUDDAH!

Big KISS

THE POTATO MAN