Bodyweight Fitness Articles
Westpoint Found Bodyweight Exercises Superior To Exercising With Machines
Bodyweight vs Machines...
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by Coach Lomax |
People are still debating as to whether bodyweight exercise is as affective as machines at building strong, capable and attractive bodies.
(HINT: They are if you follow a proven PLAN already getting spectacular results!)
You would figure that with all the scientific advances and studies of the human body that have been conducted over the years, the bodyweight vs machines debate would have declared a winner.
Such is not the case.
The bodyweight vs machines debate is very much alive today... some say bodyweight exercises are next to useless, and some say machines are unnecessary and even harmful to human development.
What’’s my take on the bodyweight vs machines debate?
I am a firm believer in bodyweight calisthenics exercise and their ability to improve fitness, health and physique... they should be a part of every well balanced fitness training program.
Period!
My book, Workout Without Weights is a testament to the importance I hold for bodyweight calisthenics exercise.
However, I am also in favor of using equipment to further improve physical abilities and physical attributes... as future projects will reveal. (Sign up to my newsletter, the Optimum Fitness Network NEWS-WIRE to stay posted!)
I came across a chapter in the book Muscular Power & Beauty by Barnarr MacFadden the other day, and thought some excerpts would be helpful in exploring the bodyweight vs machines debate.
Remember, this book was published in 1906, so some of the terminology may be outdated... but the essence of the discussion is as valid today as it was 100 years ago.
What MacFadden Thought About The
Bodyweight vs Machines Debate
Taken from Chapter 2 of "Muscular Power & Beauty" by Bernarr Macfadden.
Apollo, rather than Hercules, stands for the type of physical manhood that is demanded to-day. Powerful muscular development there must be in the ideal man, but there must also be a counterpoise of grace and of intellect...
But the question will very naturally arise: What is the best system of bodily training to be followed?...
The ancient Greeks, and likewise the Romans, were content with the simplest of accessories. The perfect man was developed without the aid of any costly gymnastic accessories. The youth of ancient days found full scope for his powers in swimming, running, leaping, wrestling, throwing the discus, riding and in bouts with arms.
With the resurrection of the Greek and Roman ideals of manliness we find a rather strange departure from ancient methods. Archibald Maclaren, who originated the present system of gymnastics at Oxford University, and who may be regarded as the father of modern physical training in England and in this country, introduced a scheme for the employment of numerous, ponderous and rather costly “machines””. With the most careful economy it would require an outlay of many hundreds of dollars to fit up a small gymnasium with the different kinds of apparatus that the genius of Maclaren has bequeathed to us. Valuable these machines doubtless are in the creation of powerful muscles, yet they are also unnecessary. Just as perfect muscular conditions can be brought about without the aid of the Maclaren machines, and that, too, with more speedy results...
Now, my friends, all this gymnasium apparatus is as unnecessary as it is costly. Mind you, I do not wish to be understood in the least as discrediting the splendid missionary work of Maclaren and all those who followed in his footsteps. If you have free access to a gymnasium, all of the work that is done there - if you employ it in connection with your own good common sense and do not overtrain - will result to your benefit...
Take the methods of physical instruction, for instance, that are now in vogue at the Military Academy at West Point, and at the Naval Academy at Annapolis. The cadets that graduate from these two great American institutions average as fine a display of physical manhood as could be desired. The almost inexhaustible purse of Uncle Sam is opened freely in the equipment of the gymnasia at these places. Yet for years, the gradual discarding of heavy, inanimate apparatus has been going on. And though the preference for lighter work and the gradual abolition of much of the machine-work were severely criticized at first, the results have justified the changes. The graduates of to-day make a better average showing than those of former years.
So the ice has been broken. To-day, those who are interested in the best possible development of the human body are prepared to take up a course of training as simple as was that of the ancient Greeks and Romans.
End The Bodyweight vs Machines Debate...
Your Physical Training Should Include Both
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Undoubtedly, improvement of fitness, health and physique can be achieved with the use of bodyweight calisthenics exercises and machines.
Here is the difference... accessibility.
Bodyweight calisthenics exercise can be done anywhere, anytime and is ot dependent on costly equipment or expensive gym memberships.
The versatility and accessibility of bodyweight calisthenics exercise make it one of the most valuable physical training methods you can employ for physical improvement.
If you have access to equipment and machines... fine, use them!
If you don’t... that is no excuse to remain unhappy with your body and physical abilities.
