Free weights vs Weighted Bands?

Question

I just traded a friend of mine some extra weights I wasn't using for a machine with weighted bands. It has the butterfly that I don't have, which is a plus and it has option for several upper body workouts. Would I be able to gain mass , strenght, or just get cut with this machine. I felt a burn when I tested it, and it felt great. I have always used free weights and I will still use them, I just wanted to know if I can still gain mass with the weighted bands, if I have them set at a high resistance of weight?

Answer 1

Resistance is resistance and so it doesn't matter if its gravity based (free weights) or spring resistance (bowflex) or any other kind of resistance.

Its all about doing the right movements and the right amount of exercise and keeping it going.

Personally I much prefer free weights because you can do many more different kinds of exercises and get a better range of motion. (for example I have really long arms and I find that most machines are only set up for people with average size body parts and even then I find that its restrictive in getting a full range of motion)

Answer 2

Free weights, definitely. Using free weights you have to use so many more muscles to stablise the movement which help prevent injury as well as anything else. I also use machines but only really lat pulldown, smith - I find machines are too isolated. As a happy medium, cables are excellent as the give you really good negative tension and still engage all stablising muscles. In order to feel as though your using your muscles doing free weights you need to really hone in on your form and most importantly you need to 'feel' the muscle group your using ie if your doing dumbell benchpress you want to mentally feel your chest pushing the weight up rather than tensing your shoulders and traps - you will be suprized what difference this makes!