ghettoperson wrote:
Zimmer wrote:
ghettoperson wrote:
I mean that's going to be exactly the same as doing free weights, surely?
Nope. That's machine assisted. My comments still apply. Free weights are only free weights; there are no "machine exceptions".
Ok, but how are they bad? I understand with machines where you can't move them in any other fashion as to how it's designed, but machines like the one I posted don't offer you any support.
But they do to an extent, because the cables go back to where they started, whether you like it or not. You can drop them and you can't execute a bad rep because the cables will move your body back to starting position from the force. Whereas if you had free weights, your stabilisers will be trying their hardest to bring the weights back down in a natural fashion. It's hard to execute a cable exercise incorrectly because the pulleys control your range of motion, not you. The support is there and you're still not using your stabilisers. If you failed on a cable machine like that all that would happen was that you couldn't pull it in any further, whereas if you failed on free weights you'd have to stabilise yourself and get them to the ground or throw them to ground.
A tri pulldown executed on the cable will always take the same course, no matter how much you try and move it - it's not using your stabilisers. Also, by simple physics, pulleys reduce the amount of weight needed to pull something and add support.
You'll never learn how to have proper form with free weights if you continue on the cable, because the form is entirely different.
Sure the cable can move slightly from side to side, but in general terms the movement is quite restricted. You're still isolating more muscles with the cable than with free weights, which causes instability.
Fair enough Jebus, do the one you said, just drop an exercise from it. Small muscle groups definitely do not need 5 exercises (count a superset as 2).