I prefer to work out at home; I can train with almost zero distractions, set up most or all of my exercises in advance and perform them at the pace and in the order I choose, work out any time of day or night, and never have to worry about someone curling in the squat rack when I need it to perform an exercise.
Earlier today I worked out with a friend at the gym he belongs to. He is older and has some lower back and joint issues and asked me to come along and show him how to use some of the machines because the personal trainers there don’t know what they are doing.
As we went through the workout I noticed a number of people with well developed upper bodies but with thighs and calves that appeared average at best and in some cases significantly under-developed. Most were haphazardly flailing away on all manner of arm curls, chest flyes and bench presses or doing endless sets of various abdominal exercises, but I only saw a few people using the squat rack.
Sadly, none of them were doing squats. They were curling.
There are two big problems with this.
First, for maximum overall muscular development it is absolutely necessary to train the legs with at least the same level of effort as the upper body. Not only will not training the legs result in almost comically disproportionate development, it will actually limit the degree of development in other parts of the body.
In the Nautilus Bulletin No. 2 Arthur Jones wrote,
For best results from exercise, all of the major muscular structures should be worked—all of them; you certainly can build large arms without working your legs—but you will build them much larger, and much quicker, if you also exercise your legs.
If you haven’t been doing so already, train your legs as hard and with the same consistency as the rest of your body and your overall muscular development will improve significantly.
Second, doing arm curls in the squat rack or power rack is a huge breach of gym etiquette. The purpose of a rack is to allow the performance of exercises involving a weight that is too heavy to practically or safely be lifted into position from the floor (eg. squats), very heavy exercises requiring a starting point above the floor (eg. partial deadlifts, shrugs), or exercises where a spotter would normally be required when one is not available (eg. bench presses). Nobody curls more weight than they can pick up off the floor.
The only time it is ever acceptable to curl in the squat rack is if you are performing negative-only curls and do not have one or more training partners to help lift the bar to the top position. The rack can support the bar while you can squat down beneath it, then stand back up while holding it in the top position of the curl.
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I think using a piece of equipment as a rest stop between sets is a breach of gym etiquette as well. One of the great things about HIT is it’s very etiquette friendly-usually one set is done per exercise (if I do two sets, I usually split the sets up between other exercises, so I never hog a machine or bench) and workouts are short-often shorter than the average Joe’s 5 set bench routine with 2-3 minute rest intervals. You cann’t beat that.
Confession here. I don’t squat. I workout at UCF and there are only two squat racks in a gym that has the third largest amount of students in the U.S. Bunch of bone-heads running this gym. There is always a line for it and I just don’t have the patience. But I do Trap Bar Deadlifts, Leg curl, and Calf Raises. Is this is adequate replacement for Squat?
Thank god there are more people on the bench press then there are using the machines.
Alex,
Yes, the trap bar deadlift is a great exercise for the hip and thigh muscles, as well as any properly designed squat or leg press machine.
As for bench pressing versus machines, while the bench press is a highly overrated exercise, a properly performed barbell exercise is superior in many ways to exercising on an improperly designed machine, and with a few exceptions, most companies building exercise equipment today do not know how to design machines properly.
Drew,
Is an improperly designed machine one that doesn’t take into consideration strength or tension curves? Could you highlight any manufacturers that you would consider to have developed effective machines or point me to any previous articles written by yourself that explains anything about this area.
Phenomenal website by the way!
Callum
Callum,
There are at least two dozen basic considerations for exercise equipment design in general and dozens more for the design of a machine for any specific muscle group. Just a few important considerations are tracking muscle and joint function properly, providing balanced resistance, providing direct resistance, satisfying requirements for muscular sufficiency, and allowing proper positioning and alignment for people of varying heights and bodily proportions. Most exercise equipment manufacturers don’t do these well and don’t even appear to be aware of many of the others.
Arthur Jones talks about a lot of these principles in his Nautilus Bulletins and I cover them briefly in my book.
Your best bet is to look for a gym with Nautilus or Hammer Strength equipment. MedX and David Fitness also produce excellent machines but are not common outside of rehab and high-end private HIT personal training studios. The new CZT machines are phenomenal, but are not widely available yet.
Drew, does the leg press work the hamstrings and glutes sufficiently? Also, any opinions on the weighted hip bridge (I think sometimes it’s called glute bridge) for glute development? (By weighted I mean using a barbell or other weight, not just typical bodyweight hip bridges.)
Jordan,
If done properly the leg press works the hamstrings and glutes sufficiently. If you want to develop the glutes and hamstrings specifically a stiff-legged deadlift or Nautilus hip extension machine would be much better exercises.
Drew
You forgot to add Pendulum to that list of great equipment. By far the best plate loaded equipment on the planet … Hammer does not even come close …….
Sunir,
I didn’t forget Pendulum, they’re just not commonly found in gyms here. They also make great squat and power racks.
Thanks for the detailed response, I look forward to the book.
Would you even value the Babell Bench Press over the pec deck or machine Fly?
Rick,
The barbell bench press is a better exercise in general than a chest fly, but there are situations where chest fly should be performed in addition to or instead of a presses. I prefer parallel bar dips over bench presses because during dips the shoulder girdle is able to move far more freely, better working the muscles involved in shoulder depression and protraction.
“I prefer parallel bar dips over bench presses because during dips the shoulder girdle is able to move far more freely, better working the muscles involved in shoulder depression and protraction.”
Hi Drew,
Is what you’re talking about here also better for the health of the joints? I’ve thought about how bench presses / chest presses seem to limit the movement of the collar bone and scapulae due to the back pad.
When I’ve been working my legs lately I’ve been using a 45 degree angled, plate loaded leg press. The way my lower back / pelvis gets pushed against the back pad seems kinda awkward and for lack of a better term “unnatural”. Made me think of this with your response to Rick.
Donnie,
The additional work for the muscles stabilizing the shoulder girdle may be more beneficial to the joints, as long as the range of motion isn’t excessive. A deep stretch is neither necessary nor beneficial when performing dips. The lower turnaround should start as soon as one begins to feel a stretch in the chest and front delts.
Without being able to view you performing the leg press I can’t comment on what you’re feeling. This could be an issue with the machine, your positioning or your performance. I am available for phone consultations if you would like to record it on video so I can go over it with you.
Nice post. I’ve used MedX and Nautilus and are excellent machines. Sadly most commerical gyms don’t have these machines. Many are a miss match of different equipment. I left a certain 24 hr gym because their machines were the worst I have ever used- Precor. The machines don’t allow to change seat heights in many cases or the settings are limited, the leg extension machine if you can fit your shins under the padding put undue stress on the knees. The gym I go to now has Lifestyle Fitness, not the best, but not the the worst either. I wish every gym had Hammer Strength at least.
Aaron,
I’m sorry to hear they bought Precor and don’t blame you for leaving. Life Fitness machines don’t compare to Nautilus, but they aren’t the worst out there.