In the nine years I’ve been weight training, I’ve rarely ventured into the weight machine section of a gym. Not, to be clear, because I don’t think they’re any good at supporting strength or muscle gains – weight machines absolutely have a time and a place. Mostly, it’s due to the simple fact that I prefer using free weights for resistance training. But, if I’m being honest, a little part of me just feels plain awkward when navigating this kind of equipment. Often, I can’t tell one machine from the next, nor where to position my limbs (PTs, by the way, are here for this exact reason: to make sure you feel comfortable using gym equipment – I just tend to be too impatient to ask, myself). When I am brave enough to get some machine reps in, I worry about what to do with my eyes (where do you look, when machines are often so close together and other exercisers in your line of vision?) and how to pass rest periods between sets. My main exception, however, is cable machine exercises.
You’ll probably know it as the bit of kit that’s constantly got a queue, but essentially it’s a versatile piece of equipment that allows you to perform a wide variety of exercises using a stack of weights and adjustable pulleys and cables. Sometimes cable machines are super simplistic, other times there are multiple pulleys at varying heights and pull-up bars for good measure. What I like about a cable machine is that you can perform both muscle-building and rehab-style exercises using it and that you can use it to train multiple body parts.
