These 3 Exercises DON'T Build More Muscle
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- Опубліковано 9 лип 2024
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Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
0:59 Part I: New Study
2:28: Part II: Other Studies
6:16 Part III: Tension is Tension
7:33 Part IV: Summary
References:
New Spain Study: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37535...
Aerenhouts - pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33114...
Schwanbeck - pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32358...
Kikuchi and Nakazato - pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29541...
Kotarsky - pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29466...
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Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
0:59 Part I: New Study
2:28: Part II: Other Studies
6:16 Part III: Tension is Tension
7:33 Part IV: Summary
Keep grinding hope you will become a millionare
@@glenros516 might matter if your on roids
The more I learn about building muscle, the more I come the one conclusion. Just push resistance. As long as you're not slacking or cheating yourself, just do it and you'll make progress. I was way more into min-maxxing training styles before keeping track with this channel. Yes there's best practices for progress...but just... lift the weights.
Aye, you stick to the basics and not fanny around with all the weird contraptions and you should be in and out in around 40 mins. Gyms should actually be pushing that. Last week, I went in, fella on the pulldown machine next to me was already there. I went ahead and did chest, shoulders and triceps. When I finished, that fella was still on the pull down machine I kid you not! And he was doing the whole rack. Badly. Leaning right back and jerking, not getting anywhere near the chest. Give him his due, he did look in decent shape but how good would he be if he trained intelligently?
@@DudeSilad
Your comment is absolute nonsense if you're including powerlifting. If you're just talking about bodybuilding It's probably more accurate.
@@DudeSilad 40 mins only? sheesh bro are you resting 30 seconds btwn sets or what?
@@DudeSilad40 minutes? You must be in the gym 6 days a week
@101iq4 well we're on a channel called House of HYPERTROPHY, watching a video talking about building hypertrophic muscle. Not to sound like an a-hole but come on bro we're all on this channel to look good not lift good.
I think the squat deadlift and bench press will actually help your whole body over to have more strength which actually makes other exercises more easy to do
Yeah . Hence the term “ Compound Lift”
Then you could say the same about machine substitutions :)
@@lyzo111No you can’t. Been training 45 years. He avoids ligament and tendon strength along with stabilizing muscles for a reason.
@@lyzo111not at all. The idea that isolation movements are better honestly only applies to lifters who know what the fuck they're doing. They've already established a foundation where they know what good form looks like, they have good mind muscle connection, they developed a foundation to build off of. What about your stabilizing muscles? What about actually developing movement patterns? Y'all stress over optimal so much but can't even hip hinge lol
@@thesoundmajors9858 I wasn't talking about isolation movements. That's a completely different topic.
What stabilizing muscles? There are no magic stabilizing muscles that work when you're doing compound lifts.
The muscles that stabilize are the same that push the weight.
Therefore, the need to stabilize actually lessens the amount of force a muscle can produce and along with that the amount of mechanical tension it can be loaded with.
If your focus is just bodybuilding, you don't care about movement patterns. But even so, you will learn some from using machines.
The thing I like about the typical conventional exercises is I can do them at home with just a rack and bench. Minimal equipment necessary. Also free weights are more comfortable for me (I hate feeling "locked in" to a specific groove of movement)
Yep! convenience and preference are super important :)
Yeah.. lotsa room for a rack
And the real selling point of adjustable dumbbells or kettlebells is that they fit in a broom closet
I am an older adult (early fifties) and I started doing resistance training this year to help me regain some mobility and strength. I avoid the machines for the same reason as stated above; I feel "locked in" and my joints don't seem to like it. I have come to believe that there is more to using free weights than just development in the target muscles. I have gained more stability and body control from using free weights.
@@danwei999It’s like a pyramid. The foundational movements are your basic barbell movements. Bench, squat, deadlift, rows, overhead press…I’m gonna go ahead and throw pullups and dumbell accessories too. After you’ve built a foundational amount of muscle and strength you may be able to get a good contraction with machines later in your training too. That’s what I’ve noticed for myself at least. Recently I’ve hopped onto machines just messing around in between sets and I’m able to feel decent, a couple years ago I couldn’t without discomfort.
Combine machines, free weights and bodyweight exercises and your results will heighten immensely.
And variable resistance like with bands. A big variety of stimuli plus you can easily take the bands with you and not be limited to the gym.
This is basically what Matt Wenning refers to as the "law of accommodation," i.e. if you do the same thing for too long, your body gets too used to it and performance can decrease. In other words, keep changing things up.
@zerrodefex Most definitely...👍🏻
No one ever “needs” to use machines , every movement can be achieved with free weights , in fact I believe you don’t even need a massive variety of movements to hit your whole body , just variations of the same movement.
I think the reason most people jump on to machines etc is the boredom factor , it’s more for the mind than the body .
My favorite variations of the big 3:
Larsen Press, Romanian Deadlift and Hack Squat
Great selection :)
The larsen press really help me to build up my chest. For hypertrophie better than the normal bench press with leg drive.
good exercises, My personal choices are dumbbell flyes, rack pull, leg press
Belt squat when the back is sore.
romanca lift
_Angry Mark Rippetoe Noises_
😂😂😂
Mur mur mm mm old-school 😂😂
I don't think these findings contradict his thesis, since his program isn't about maxing hypertrophy. His program is for maximizing strength, which he'd argue would include training our muscles to be good at certain motions, and training our body to be good at balance. He also argues it's financially more optimal to build a gym for free weights than buying an assortment of machines
I think the big reason free weight movements are emphasized for beginners is because there are easy gains on the table for all the stabilizing muscles. So if you only measure the quads it might be the same but studies show the weight of muscle added across the whole body is higher with squats because of, adductor and abductors, spinal errectors, knee and ankle stabilizers, even your inspiratory muscles (the muscles that help you breath).
The Starting Strength press is done from standing up. Also, it's based on strength, not looks. They don't care whether you have big muscles, just whether your number grow after each session, or week.
That was exactly what i was looking for. Thanks for the great video, appreciate it!
Thank YOU for checking it out, hope it helped in some way :)
as someone who dosen't do neither of the BIG 3 i see this as an absolute win
You’re so lazy bro, sitting your ass on machines instead of doing heavy squats that involve stabilisation muscles and translate in real life movements. This is a huge difference between athletes ans lazy bodybuilders
I quit the big three about a year ago. Not only are my muscles bigger from more specified training, but I've barely lost any strength in the lifts themselves. Out of curiosity i tried them again and even without pushing things hard i lifted within 15 percent of my previous "normal" numbers- what i worked out with at peak strength. That told me all i needed to know.
Whatever we do...if there's some sort of progression, there's always be some gains
Very wise words. The fitness markets only feed people on imagery involving extreme muscle growth and we know where those extremes are gained. It certainly isn't creatine and protein powder, and the difference in quality between free weights versus machines.
For Quads specifically, I'd argue that machines are even better. If you replace your barbell squats with hack squats you're keeping your lower back out of it which gives you more room to allocate volume towards deadlift variations. For me this has been the biggest game changer for new leg growth.
Unless you’re a bodybuilder, idk why you would want to remove the stabilisation muscles involved in squats, it’s such a superior exercice that athletes use and that translate in real life movements
Pro athletes like mma fighters or bball players don’t have huge unaestitic bodybuilders legs, you should come back to squats my guy
@@Charles732Martelfor me personally i just came to realize I disliked back squats of any kind. I did them for years because I thought I was supposed to but finally accepted I hate them. So I started doing leg press, extension and hack for muscular development and other exercises for core stabilization. A lot of deadlift variations and carries and things like that. Oh I do Bulgarian split squats also
@@stephen8996 squats are much harder that’s why people dislike them so much, they are more interesting because they involve your whole lower body and core which is not the case with these machines where you sit your ass down and isolate one muscle
Personally I do heavy squats, deadlifts and bulgarian squats which are really athletic and functional movements that translate into real life movements and are greats for some sports
Doing these 3 exercices also prevents me from spending hours in the gym
If I only did machines, I would have big ugly unaestitic body builder legs and no global/core strength.
If you do all these leg machines + core isolation, you’re probably spending a lot of time in the gym which is not acceptable for most people. Personally I never do abs and I have some thanks to heavy compounds athletic movements
@@Charles732Martel This channels whole premise is how to maximize hypertrophy and you are calling it "unaesthetic bodybuilder legs" which tells me that you are not the target audience of this channel.
You also misunderstood what I initially said. I don't do barbell squats anymore for the sole reason of having room for MORE deadlift volume to directly target the hamstrings. If you you have a really good squat and are not build like an olympic lifter your lower back will get fried at a certain point.
I challenge you to do a few sets of ass-to grass hack squats to absolute failure and tell me again that it feels like "sitting on your ass in a machine".
@@nullvektor9922 Only focusing on hypertrophy to train a muscle is stupid unless you’re a bodybuilder of course. Training an athletic movement is so much better
what is the point of replacing squats by more deadlifts, I do not understand your logic ?
If your back limits your squatting, you should rather strengthen directly your lower back on back day. Deadlifts do involve lower back but mainly harm strings as you mentioned
Maybe you’re also ego lifting
Sorry I don’t use hack squat machines, I leave this confortable seat for lazy bodybuilders
Your videos are amazing, I love the animation and the simple way you speak without any fluff. To this day my now favorite animation is the deadlift animation at the start where you say you will circle back to this later and it just rolls backwards off the screen. I laughed. Keep up the good work.
bench press is not only for your chest, and deadlift not only for the Quadrizeps...both are important to build up the overall-muscle-growth, the machines does train only the specific parts
great stuff Brother. Thanks for all the hard work
I think the fundamental point being missed here is that yes you can make great progress using machines which are isolating the targeted muscles. What it neglects to mention is using the machines due to how they are great at targeting specific muscle due to their fixed movement path and the way you're most often sitting of resting the weight on your back and using your skeletal structure to hold it up (think hack squat) you're using less of the non targeted muscle to complete the working sets. Which whilst a chest press may lead to similar chest growth to a bench press it also leads to an overall decrease in muscle gain due to the fixed path and lack of requiring you to actually hold the weight. Not only that but using a barbell or dumbells let's you set up and perform reps in a manner which you have more control over for your specific limb length, width etc and machines can often be more uncomfortable on joints and ligaments due to forcing your body to travel a path which is not ideal for your specific build. But yes overall both machines and free weights are useful.
Great video man!
best channel!!! always important information which blows away the gym bro information you hear online on the daily!
Wow i just found this channel and it's really cool. I'm subscribing. Thanks for the tips!!
Great vid, thanks for sharing :)
Best resistance training channel on youtube. No annoying guy screaming about other fitness influencers and worrying about there cycle
See here's the issue with machines: when using machines, for example smith squat, it doesn't matter the direction in which you apply force, the bar will go up. So this means you can be recruiting very different muscle groups compared to a free weight squat.
So if you are a beginner, I'd highly recommend sticking to free weights
Also, in free weight you recruit the stabilization muscles, so if you go with machines you'll probably have to add one or two isolation for those guys
This is a benefit, not a problem. Also the stability aids in hypertrophy
The same muscles that push the weight up in a squat make you push the weight up in a smith squat.
Isolations are beneficial regardless of which variation you choose
@@lyzo111 that's absolutely not true. If you do a smith squat with perfect form, yeah, it'll use similar muscles (but free weight will recruit stabilization muscles so it'll train more muscles), but in the smith machine, it doesn't matter the direction in which you apply force, the bar will go up. So this mean you can be pushing forwards with your body when smith squatting and the bar is still going up, but it's totally wrong and will cause prejudice in the long run
@@davifurtado6534??? why would non vertical components of exerted force cause the bar in a Smith machine to go up?
@@frankchen4229 as long as the force is not horizontal or down, the bar will go up. Physics lol
Thanx!!
I haven't done a bench press for months. Pecs still growing. Squats and deadlifts are just too much fun, tho. Can't quit them.
Thanks for the high quality breakdown every video! One thing that I'd appreciate to see is some good subtitles. UA-cam already does it automatically, but it's jarring and lacks any punctuation, I reckon it's only 15-30 minutes of work
Did sumo deadlifts yesterday for the first time. Got the impression that Sumos are safe to push to failure. Never felt that way about conventional.
Gold content!👌🏼👌🏼
There is no problem with machines, as I spent years with them.
But I've discovered, that free weight is more challenging, and only understand later why is it.
You need to have better control over your joints and muscles, free weight is a perfect cause for that. No machine will ever give you that. You should master free weight first, and then move to machines, otherwise, you may end up with poor technique and less control, which may lead to injuries.
Machines are the best for isolation, but free weight is the best for building confidence and control over your body.
BTW: I usually run free weight at the start of the session, and then in the 2nd-3rd exercise I'm targeting the solo muscle with machines. So I am able to use most of the force at the start of the day for most complex exercises and then overload\load muscle individually in the safe position at the machine, for that muscle.
I started with bodyweight-trainingstyle for the same reason: future-proof my bodybuilding-journey by also focusing on learning how to control my body properly during resistance-training.
I think more stability is going to allow you to work at a higher intensity. If you can increase your intensity and push hard, you'll get more growth. In that way machines are better than barbells, and barbells will typically be better than dumbells. This usually only applies to more advanced lifters, however. ecause beginners typically do anything and grow. There's also the strength component to these exercises, amd because of that variable I will always lean towards barbells and free weights. Tge variable of stability sometimes works against maximum output of force, but supports functional training, and i think barbell gets you the best of both worlds in most cases. If hypertrophy and looking like you work out is your only goal, then stick to machines imo.
Good point. However stability is very important for injury free. Specifically ankle, knee, hip and shoulder stability is paramount. So relying solely on machine might be good for temporary hypertrophy but could be a set back once injury occurs.
I believe it’s more like a pyramid. Who has the bigger chest? The guy who benches 315 or 225? Obviously 315. And for what I’ve noticed is that starting out machines felt “locked in” and uncomfortable. However, after having built a solid foundation of strength and size with bench press, overhead press, rows, deadlifts, squats, and pullups I’ve noticed I’m better able to utilize and feel good contractions in more accessory movements/machines than before.
Agreed. To lift heavy well, you have to lift heavy. Start with your goals and certainly for most folks that are just looking for moderate strength and size increases, machines are a great choice and arguably safer than free weights. But, as you said, if strength is your objective, hard to duplicate say, dumbbell bench presses with 100# weights on a machine. In fact it's been my experience that folks that do nothing but barbell presses, let alone machines, struggle with trying to lift the same total weight with dumbbells since the latter recruits many more muscles to maintain balance.
@@DCA55 Trie about dumbells. It's because the lack of stability that you can't move as much weoght with them. That's why I said in terms of stability demands, and ability to load in a scalable manner, barbells give you the best of both worlds. They've been tried and tested for over a century, and still used to this day for a reason.
@@jubbice5040 I like to use both. Barbell for flat and dumbbell for incline. The issue with dumbbells (although there are now some contraptions which help) is that when you are over 100 pounds, they start to become hard to get into position and you start wasting energy before you even start your reps. With a barbell, you can load as many plates as you want on and all you have to do is unrack it and you are in position top go. It sound like a weird one, but, if you hang some plates on the ends of the barbells with bands, it does this crazy wobble thing and you really work your stabilizers. Haven't done that one in a while, but it's a cool variation to try from time to time as an accessory after your main pressing is done. Best.
Landmine linebacker squats with wedges have been a game changer for me since I lift at home. The knees are thankful.
Remember folks machines make you stronger in just ONE plane but we live in a 3D world so if you need size and strength for a sport then FREE WEIGHTS are where it's at 100%! Then use machines as an add on like he said.
What about stabilizer muscle strength though? I wonder how is that affected? for example, I feel a big difference when performing a barbell vs dumbbell bench press
My thoughts as well, stabilizing muscle strength isn't even in these articles and free weights is best for that.
You don't need those. Also hell no not buying this crap. Machines are fine at times and for certain reasons. Like just starting out or no spotter. But free weights and body weight are superior. All pros say so and so does everyone who worksout.
@@AbioticwinterSuperior in what way?
@@Abioticwinter They are not superior. There's not reasoning and not all pros say so. Look at Bodybuilders training with machines, like Cbum.
There's no reason to substitute a machine for a free weights other than powerlifting
Thank you for that. I would say that most of these studies do not go long enough in duration. Schott et al., 2019 showed significant differences in older males after 6 months using free weights compared to machines.
Great video.
Thank you dude :)
Great information, thank you very much! Comlound movemnts can be preferable to more isolated(for example squat vs leg extension) if you are an athelte, as the movement teaches you to use your more muscles in coordination, as it's required in many sports.
Just train hard and progresive overload kingzzz
Still training with free weights is superior for athleticism. It helps you to build useable strength that can also be controlled and balanced.
Training with machines builds the same main muscles but your nervous system just gets better at pushing hard against a fixed rail without "thinking" of the motion.
A heavy barbell squatter will have no problem doing the same weight in a smith machine or leg-press machine. While heavy machine trainers will immediately get hurt moving the same weight with a barbell.
Really, it comes down to do what you like to do. If you follow reasonable progression, you will likely make good gains using either weights or machines, or both. Personally, I use only use free weights, since I have home gym. Even when I went to a public gym, I would use mainly free weights for all the main stuff and then finish things off at the end with machines. I would never want to give up barbell bench. A big 1RM bench is really what motivates me to work out, though it's nice to have good muscle definition as well, for sure. I've been lifting for 30 years and I'm still moving that bench PR up. I've always gone heavy on bench (1 to 5 rep range mainly, though I throw in some volume work too) and my chest is by far my best muscle group, so going heavy can build size as well, even if it's not "optimal" from a pure body building perspective. Again, do what lifts motivate you most to lift. There is no one size fits all answer as everybody is different and has different goals.
u r not clarify which is best movement for muscle gain smith machine squat or normal squat?
How is a smith machine bar without any weights supposed to be resistencewise?
I remember 20yrs ago in a gym the bar of the smithmaschine was moving smoothly like it's only the weight of the bar itself.
Now on this smith machine it feels utterly awful because it has some weird resistance.
Does this thing need oil perhaps?
I've been looking for that song you have in the background at the beginning of the video. If someone can tell me its name and artist I'd appreciate it
.
My current big 3: smith machine split squat, hammer strength decline press, and a good ol' conventional RDL. 💪
When i started training rotator cuffs for some reason when i did lateral raises in my right shoulder i would feel my rotator cuff working more then my lateral delt.
And in reverse pec deck i would feel my left shoulders frontal part/anterior deltoid working for some reason.
The reason i said frontal part is because how tf would the anterior delts get involved?
Idk if theres any rotator cuff muscle in front of the shoulder though so that could be it.
Something we might to reconsider is how effective machine exercises are compared to the big 3 in building strenght. I think it is easier to have a intensity workout with a big 3 exercise, making you stronger and also increasing your hypertrophy potential by being stronger.
I agree however the strength standards are squat bench and deadlift so one group would have the unfair advantage of practicing the movement for 10 or so weeks. ultimately practicing the squat bench and deadlift will make you stronger as the free weights take out all the little muscles involved in the big lifts. if you're an average natty, you need to get strong af to have a decent body builder physique
Intensity doesn't build muscle. Tension does. Having a more stable setup helps you go closer to failure, hit the targeted muscles better and build more muscle.
Intensity between different excercises cannot be compared.
Aside from that, strength is specific. You get stronger at what you train.
Therefore, the bench is not what makes you stronger.
It's repeating and practicing and excercise over and over again that makes you stronger
Can you make a video where you summarise everything we know about optimal training? Basically emphasising the things we DO have clarity on, since so many findings are confusing and conflicting. I have watched like 30 of your videos and I still don't know how to train. I feel like I'm more confused than before.
Glad to see you are back after a well earned break from making you tube videos. I find that more specific exercises built more aesthetically shaped muscles than these 3. I use a variant of the bench press ( guillotine presses to the neck ) , to specifically target the upper areas. The same is true for several variants on the squat. I would recommend to look at your/one's physique and asses what parts of what muscle groups need specific targetting to make a more beautiful , balanced physique. Worked for me.
This is one of those things I think only newbie lifters buy into.
The big three are essential if powerlifting, as per the sport itself but in terms of hypotrophy I've always avoided deadlifts and squats simply as there are better exercises which don't put as much stress on the CNS or come with too high a risk to reward ratio in terms of potential injury.
If you simply love performing them there is nothing wrong in that and you might benefit from them a lot more than other excercises you dont enjoy as much
I love bench, (who doesn't) but ever since my teens (im 45 now) I learned from experience it isn't needed to build a big chest
Unfortunately I see a lot of experienced people claiming that they are the best excercises and all the people who don't do them are apparently just lazy.
Even in this comment section I've read claims like that
@@lyzo111 They'll always be those people. simply as they love performing those exercises so they feel they need to be validated to others just as much as to themselves. There are much better exercises for putting on muscle
What I personally like about machines is the reduced risk of injury as well as a certain safety with setup.
Skullcrushers are called what they are for a reason, setups of very heavy shoulder dumbbell presses can be dangerous.
And what i really like is you can safely go all out, without having to put the weights down safely
Bro unless you’re 70 yo or that you’re ego lifting, heavy compound exercices are very safe
@@Charles732Martel You can always get injured. Especially when you're not warmed up probably or on a particularly bad day
Most any exercise will build muscle if trained through controlled full range of motion and applied principles of Hypertrophy - such as specificity and overload... and of course are trained past your MEV and not past your MRV - with a clean diet filled with protein. You will build muscle with almost any exercise.
RDL,s are the only thing that get my knee flexors sore. I can do a ton of leg curls and other hip hinges, like the glute-ham raise machine but they don't cause any DOMS whatsoever. Two sets of RDLs and I'm feeling it the next day.
Contraction while in a stretched position
Machines are king ngl. If only my gym had a preacher machine 😭
For hypertrophy YES...If you're natty and want muscles, ditch the barbell.
As a former P.T. I've always said "your fibers contract it doesn't seem to care how stimulus is found...just stimulus"!!
I prefer machines to FW because the focus is on the intended movement therefore I feel the effort is on the direct area of focus
I haven’t looked, but I was hoping to hear more about dumbbells for compound exercises versus barbells. I started incorporating more dumbbells last year and at this point, besides legs, don’t uses barbells at all. I’ve seen more separation and size as well as just the pure solidness of the muscles. Jay cutler alluded to this before as well. Not that I ignore the steroids, but he is I believe right about the superiority of dumbbells
The disadvantage of the Bench Press... is that it's hard to go to failure by yourself safely. You can go to failure by yourself with dumbbell presses though.
Muscles that stabilise each articulation should be more engaged on freeweights. The machines have a fixed path that remove the instability aspect. On the long run you need include instability movements in ordre to reduce injury risk.
Is there a lifetime purchase option for this app? Rather than an annual subscription version.
They'd make less money in the long run, that's why subscriptions are pushed everywhere.
The pushup group would have been creating new stimulus and made better gains over the bench group. This would not hold up long term.
Beginners will make better gains on machines, but free weights will make better gains long term, due to extra stimulation. Both together are superior though.
dorian yates built his physique w/o squats or bench press.
And with steroids 🫣😇
Dorian Yates did incline barbell extremely heavy. I just watched the footage.
@@OriginalPrippyou can take all the steroid in the world and you will still look like a stick
that goes w/o saying
yeah, true enough
I mean for the pushup thing, yeah they might on the surface produce equal or more stimulation to the bench press, but that's only a surface level reading. As time goes on, your body will (obviously) get better at doing pushups to the point where 30 or even 35 reps does not provide enough muscle stimulation, even on harder variations. The only sensible option for a bodyweight exercise like that would be to increase reps to increase the intensity, but that then goes out of the 6-35 ideal rep range. The bench press is ultimately superior because of its greater potential to progressively overload.
P.S. I know weight vests are a thing but all the gyms i have been to do not have them, and buying them yourself is quite expensive along with the suitable weights as well - plus they are limited in the amount of weight you can go up to (at least I think so).
As multiple commentors have posted, both machine and free-weights can produce gains in strength and size. We as humans, essentially are designed to move. Both free and machined equipment have their place. Performing free weights properly requires physical/mental discipline, mental focus and grit. Although, loading up 10 plates on a machine does require a bit of the aforementioned... there is something to be said about the possibility of lifting massive amounts of weights with the possibility of dropping it on yourself. Personally feel the free-range of motion does wonders for the body. Would like to know how much testosterone is released between the free/machined weights if there were any future studies done.
Nice to finally seeing this channels growth pun intended 🙋
As a retired certified trainer, my opinion is that you would be doing yourself a disservice if you train exclusively or primarily with machine weights. Machines provide all of the stability and although the three exercises mentioned for both free weight and machines move linearly (which really doesn’t simulate real life movement), free weights require engagement of more stabilizing muscles. The more you can recruit the core and stabilizers, the more muscle recruitment and hypertrophy can occur. Strong stabilizers will also minimize risk of injury. Bottom line is a good combination of free weight, machine, and functional training that allows for movement in various ranges of motion, along with some mobility, stability, core, and cardio will result in greater gains in size, minimal risk of injury, and longevity.
so would this mean that besides the stabilizer muscles that smith machine flat benching could build the core muscles in a similar fashion as straight flat benching minus stabilizer muscles ?
It would of been interesting to see how posture and balance were affected. I would expect the free weights to be better since you have to activate stabilizer muscles for posture and balance.
What about pull-ups and dips versus machines ? But the result would obviously be the same. By the way is there any good studies on bench vs dips and row vs pull-ups ?
So higher loads with fewer reps and smaller loads with high rep numbers produce similar muscle hyperthropy. Does this mean rep ranges from 8-12 or 12-15 completely lost their meaning? Or is it still superior to train in these rep ranges while training close to failure?
You do a very good job on this channel and you've clearly seen success with it. But the problem in my opinion is this only focuses on hypertrophy. The bench press deadlift and squat are very fundamental exercises that have more benefits than just muscle growth.
The channel is literally called 'house of HYPERTROPHY' I get what you're saying but at the same time it's like going into a butcher shop and complaining they they dont sell enough fruit or veg lol
Just want to put this in here. I'm natural, 37 yo. Been training religiously for mare three years. I am now among, if not the biggest hypertrophy-wise guy in my gym. I never ever do heavy compound lifts since I realized early that the risk vs reward ratio renders them useless to my goals
OMG! I love this animations!!! HAHAHAAH
Push-ups probably had more size increase due to the variation in push-up styles. Variation in push-ups hit different regions of the pecs cuasing more growth along the entire pec.
Why is the pic of starting strength cover the Spanish version of the book haha
Is there a study between body building vs strength training? Or are they similar but used in a different way?
Excercises don't make a difference. It's the way you train that makes the difference
One armed push-ups are as good as cable presses,which I have heard are the best for pecs.Reverse lunges w the weight held at the chest are as good as squats,even for strength,and there are other alternatives to the deadlift such as good mornings,banded good mornings w weights in hand,cross body dumbbell swings,trap bar deadlifts which are safer,and a move I might have made up called the "keg toss".The keg toss is just hiking a heavy dumbbell up into an advanced kettle bell swing.I thin k it hits all the places a dealift hits and likely just as or more effective... Ppl who have had injuries should always have many alternative exercises for a back up plan.
Thing is i don't think people claim that squats deadlifts and bench are optimal for "hypertrophy" because of numerous reasons u mentioned many of. But they are optimal for building overall strength and stability, and many people me included just like the movements. But if your goal is maximum muscle gain with the least amount of injuries i don't think they're what you should be doing
They are compound exercises that use muscle groups, coordination, and technique. By no means the best for hypertrophy but they are a staple because they can give you sort of a measurement of progression. Don’t get me wrong plenty of risk but they definitely do take the spot as the big three.
I elected to train with machines only mostly out of laziness and after 7 months i've yet to regret it. They build mass just fine, and i'm only interested in size, not performance, so there are basically 0 downsides
I shifted to a powerbuilding approach and tailor goals to muscle groups. My legs are already plenty big so I focus on strength while for my upper body I balance around strength and mass as what's the point of being able to bench if you don't look like you can to 90% of people you'll meet? I'm not interested in a sleeper build.
Machines almost completely remove the need to use stabilizer muscles like the rotator cuff so it's still smart to incorporate a few free weight movements so that your stabilizer muscles also get stronger. This puts you at a lower risk of injury in the future.
@@ichan2710 Those only matter if you actually plan on doing free weights in future. If you don't, these 'stabilisers' that people keep going on about continue to be irrelevant
@@zerrodefex Agreed, looking big is the most important thing and for that, machines are about as good as it gets
@@silverhost9782 if you're familiar with big ron jones, he suffered an injury in the past and his therapist told him it was because of his over reliance on machines. Incorporating a few free weight exercise is still important. Cheers and happy lifting!
Push-up vs Bench Press assumes that you're already past the point of being able to do push-ups with proper form without cheating or assistance, many people just starting out can have upper bodies weak enough that it makes more sense to start out on the bench press and work up to where they can do push-ups properly. Upsides are getting to learn proper bench technique in the meantime and experience less frustration as well.
Good point. I also think there is an issue on the opposite side of the spectrum. As a relatively light weight guy (170 pounds), if a pushup is about 69 percent of bodyweight (I saw it quoted before a such), that's 117 pounds, which is way below even my first warmup set on bench. I bench north of 300 pounds when I peak in my programs, so I don't see how I could add enough resistance for either continued strength or hypertrophy gains with just push-ups. I haven't done pushups in years, but when I randomly did them, I got into the 50's and didn't really feel that much in my chest, more cardio and a bit in my triceps. I do think they can make a good finisher for a chest workout and are good when you can't get to gym or are on vacation and have limited equipment. For general fitness, they are not a bad choice, but I can't see them replacing bench variations (barbell, dumbbell, or even machines) after you reach a certain level.
Great video, no comment other than that :)
The issue that I have with all these studies is that they only compared the "target" muscles. Comparing only the growth in chest size, for example, fails to account for many of the claimed benefits of the bench press: the accesory muscles worked and a better increase in strength.
If you really wanted to compare, you would need to make programs that took equal time in the gym, one with free weights and one with machines, and measure as many muscles as possible.
If you are training natural focus on compound movements and functional movements.
full rom squats worked quite well for me. Not necessarily heavy either just a plate a side and go volume. However, bench press has done absolutely nothing for me. All me chest gains came from dumbells and flys. Deadlift actuall just helped me with traps lol.
Great stuff though I wish you would be clearer about strength versus hypertrophy gains since most folks conflate the two. Though it's hard to get bigger without getter stronger, the opposite is quite common, especially for folks that are just beginning resistance training and frankly, since we now know that building strength is a critical component of improving the quality of life as we age, it should actually be the focus for the vast majority instead size gains.
It should be the same. Though it important to know that strength is specific.
If you want to bring your performance in a certain excercise to a maximum you need to perform that excercise regularly and with heavy weight.
However, for general strength you can still rely on hypertrophy.
I'd say hypertrophy is your best bet to get a mix of muscle mass, strength, bone density and of course health.
@@lyzo111 After 35 years of doing this, here's what I've learned. You can get stronger without getting bigger especially at the beginning, and, at a certain point, you can get bigger without getting stronger. In fact you can grow and still lose significant strength. The only way to lift heavy is to lift heavy. If you stop , you can maintain,or even grow size with lighter weights and more intensity. I'm 68, and all these things have applied to me at some point during my journey.
I feel machine is superior for isolation. The target muscles work as expected without tiring other muscles.
Just do the exercises you enjoy the most. That will ensure long-term consistency and guaranteed progress.........Too much complication in working out is leading to analysis paralysis in such a simple activity........
You can't say the push up group may have had better genetics. That argument would apply to every experiment.
For me, its always been about to failure. The only difference now and when I was training 30 years ago is that I stop after that set to failure. As a young fella, I'd have done 2 or 3 more at least.
But what about coördination and other small muscles that support the lift? This are also bennifits of free weights right? Stabelizers are very important if you dont want ot injure yourself. I can imagine these stablizers, especially for the squat, are far less active.
Free weights all the way, training is much more than just lifting weight. It's also finding a good and keeping a good posture. I only use machines for safety reasons (much more forgiving)
I see a lot of experts online saying that machines lead to more hypertrophy, because it increases agonist activity with less antagonist activity, but I feel like, when it's actually put to the test in humans, it doesn't seem to be better. What are your thoughts on the topic? Do you actually get more gains from machines, but it's just that the studies aren't long enough in humans, or, when it's done in humans, machines consistently lead to more hypertrophy but just insignificantly?
So I need to fully look into the research that indicates more stability = a great capacity to recruit more motor units. But from my preliminary insight into it, it seems to be comparing "extreme cases" that's not truly be applicable to saying, for example, a hack squat is superior to a barbell back squat.
In my view, the long-term research measuring muscle growth is always going to be better compared to mechanistic speculation. Truthfully, I can't rule out the possibility in the very long-term that it's results would be different. But I will say I'm skepetical. I'll be sure to dive into the research on stability and motor unit recruitment more.
I think most lifters now days know that free-weights especially the big 3 arent superior for muscle growth. In fact most say that machines which isolate the intended muscle group is superior. One thing most agree on however, is that free weights are optimal for strength gains.
I think freeweights are superior in that the strength you gain from them is more easily transferable to other exercises due to greater strength in supporting/stabilizing muscles.
I agree that that is an important nuance especially if you already have weakened stabilizers to begin with from many years of neglect. I like machines but I think they are something more to graduate up to after being on free weights for a while.
Here is a quote from Jeff Cavaliere from Athlean-X on the Smith Machine squats and why he thinks we should avoid them:
"Biomechanically, we're all a bit different. some have longer femurs, some have longer tibia, some have longer torsos than others. The way we get down to the bottom of the squat and maintain a vertical position requires a little bit of movement at each of these joints and areas of the body at different times. Doing it on a Smith Machine requires us all to sort of bend at the same place at the same time, causing a disruption in normal biomechanics."
-From the video titled "Quad Exercises Ranked (BEST TO WORST!)"
I would say Push ups are more "Free Weight" than Bench Presses, so *all things being equal* I would expect the Push-ups to be better. In terms of level of Neuromuscular activation (Dr. Dietmar Schmidtbleicher)-it would be Body through space>Free weights>Machine equivalent. Looking at the results ignoring statistical significance, the Free weight exercises seemed to be consistently "ahead" (of the machine exercises). There is another advantage that Push ups have though....the line of force of the pecs favors the Sternal pecs slightly, which have more potential for growth. A push up is closer to a slight Decline Press, at least at the point of greatest pec stretch.
i found that a weighted pushup developed my chest wayyyyyy better than a barbell bench press,and ive been training 34 years,weighted vest squats for legs,add bands to yr dumbell curls,plus buy a total gym .im working smarter not harder because im 58😂
do both, machines for mass and free weights for general strength ans stability so when yo mama asks you to help move some furniture or carry the groceries you can do it easily
I don't follow any specific programs just train hard and smart results will follow
I do both. I believe in free weight due to less injury. Machine doesn't fit everyone size.
Studies done on newbies with small sample sizes are not indicative of anything, the basics have been around for over a hundred years because they worked time and time again,you don’t have to re-invent the wheel if you suck at the big three,just get better at them and mass will follow,they will add more mass than fluff and pump none sense ever will.
As i understood it these 3 exercises are better because they are compound. They hit more muscles with fewer exercises not that they are better at building muscle. If you have a limited time in the gym then it is one way to optimize your time.