Aren’t exercise machines safer than free-weights, especially for beginners?
No. actually machines are more dangerous than free-weights. Machines force your body into unnatural movement tracks that put harmful stress on your joints. By holding your body stable, machines prevent the synchronous firing of stabilizer muscles, especially those at the inner core, and thereby leave those muscles dormant and untrained. This detrimental effect is noticed when someone who trains mostly on machines attempts to express strength in the real world; the stabilizers do not fire, the damaged joints are stressed in an unaccustomed way, and the person cannot produce force and often ends up injured. Kettelbells and other freeweights promote movement that is natural and inherently correct, resulting in a strengthening of ALL muscles, including the small stabilizers, and of the joints.
