Happy Tuesday! The other day I logged onto twitter and stumbled across some gym bros arguing about the “best way to train”.
“Barbells of course!”
“No, machines only!”
“Dumbbells are more functional!”
“I only use bands”
Training styles can quickly become a religion. People recommend broadly what they know and have had success with. But what’s best for one person doesn’t always translate to the next. So what’s the best way to train? Barbells, dumbbells, bands, machines? Who is right? In short: None of them and all of them; because it depends.
There’s no room for nuance on Twitter. Fortunately, these emails leave room to provide more information than just opinion. The reality is there are pros and cons to each training method. What’s good about one can be a weakness in another. And there are tradeoffs to each. I’ll break down the key points here and you can decide for yourself.
Barbells:
Pros:
Heavier loads - The barbell is designed to allow for movement of maximum weight. It’s perfectly balanced to press, lift or squat heavy loads efficiently. Heavier loads mean greater tension on the target muscle and leads to strength and muscle gains.
Easy to progress - Given that the barbell is easy to load with heavy weights, there is no upward boundary on progress. Building strength and muscle requires progressive overload. This means more weight or more reps over time. In the case of the barbell it’s simple.
Cons:
Hard to master - The heavier you are lifting, the more important your form. Small changes to form with 100s of pounds on your back can result in injury. They can be intimidating to beginners and with nobody to assess your form it is easy to get it wrong.
Risk of pushing to failure - Proper training should be done close to momentary muscle failure. This is the point where completing another rep is virtually impossible. Training close to failure with a barbell (especially without a spotter) is more dangerous. There is risk of form breakdown, being pinned by the bar and losing your balance. All of these risks can be reduced with proper technique and experience but even the pros get hurt and sometimes quite seriously.
Asymmetry - Barbell exercises are generally performed as bilateral movements. This means you could have strength deficits of 10-20% on your right versus your left and would never know it. The stronger arm will continue to compensate without you realizing it. This is especially a problem with a recent injury.
Reduced movement pattern- Barbells move more freely than machines but the path of the bar is still limited, especially during upper body movements. It’s not uncommon for individuals to develop shoulder pain from barbell movements that they don’t get with dumbbells.
Reduced range of motion: It can be difficult to get as much stretch on the target muscle with a barbell as you would with other equipment especially with improper form. And since muscle growth (and joint health) is better with a greater range of motion and deeper stretch during the lift, this can be a limitation.
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