When talking to people who are into lifting or working
out in general, I often get into a discussion about whether free weights
(barbells and dumbbells), calisthenics (body weight based exercises) or
machines are superior for building muscle mass and sculpting the body of your
dreams. In other cases, people who wish to transform their body with zero
training experience simply ask me the question about which training method is
superior and would suit them best.
Some people swear by one training method and are
hardcore prophets of their training style as if it is a religion. Others take a
more sensible approach and are open to the possibilities the different training
methods have to offer. The wise man takes a closer in depth look and doesn’t
think into boxes, yet is open to the exploration that may offer eye opening,
surprising answers that will serve him favorably in his quest of sculpting the
best body he can.
In order to make a definitive statement of which method of resistance training is best for building muscle, we must first understand what it is that causes hypertrophy to take place.
WHAT CAUSES MUSCLES TO GROW?
Muscle growth or hypertrophy is a structural adaptation in which muscle fibers grow bigger. A bigger muscle is a muscle that can produce more force. Therefore, a bigger is a stronger muscle. Muscles grow by performing sufficient quality sets near failure in the effective hypertrophy rep range.
When I say close to failure, I’m referring to terminating a set within 2-3 reps short of reaching complete muscle failure in which you can no longer successfully complete a repetition. The optimal rep range to stimulate as much muscle growth on a per set basis is between 5 and 30. Every set performed within the 5 to 30 rep range is going to stimulate maximum hypertrophy on condition that you end the set in close proximity to failure. This means for example that if you can lift a weight for 10 repetitions, you will have stimulated the maximum amount of muscle growth with that set if you stop between reps 7 and 10.
Another important factor is training volume. Volume refers to the amount of quality sets near failure performed on a weekly basis. The optimal amount of training volume is between 9 and 20 sets per muscle group per week, depending on your level of experience. The newer you are to lifting, the less volume you need to trigger optimal muscle growth. Experienced trainees who already packed on a good amount of muscle mass have a blunted hypertrophy response with lower training volumes and will have to gradually bump up their volume as they grow bigger. With important factors such as lifestyle, responsibilities, stress levels, quality of sleep and proper nutrition, most people in the intermediate to advanced training stages will do fine with a base training volume between 12 and 16 sets per muscle group per week in order to make steady long-term progress without getting burned out. Beginners or people who haven’t squeezed out their base strength and muscular potential yet, will do excellent with a weekly training volume of 9-12 sets per week per muscle group.
Ideally, this training volume will be divided into 2 or more training sessions per muscle group to make sure that the quality of each set is ensured, and that fatigue does not cause your sets to be performed with suboptimal intensity, which will lead to fewer muscle gains.
Combining these three factors of training in the ideal hypertrophy rep range with an appropriate amount of training volume for your level of experience with a moderate training frequency, on a consistent long-term basis, on condition that you adjust your nutrition for your goals, will inevitably lead to the muscle gains you are after. They will allow you to become progressively stronger and use heavier weights for more reps over time due to the structural changes each training session delivers.
Want to hear a funny fact? All three methods of training with free weights, calisthenics and machines can fill in the needs for an optimal training environment. All three of these individual training methods can deliver you excellent results. However, each of these methods has its own unique advantage and one may be more suitable to your needs than another if you or maybe… if you think outside of the box, you won’t have to choose at all.
Let’s take a deeper look at the unique benefits each of these training tools have to offer.
FREE WEIGHTS – BARBELLS AND DUMBBELLS
Barbells and dumbbells are the old school equipment for resistance training and is the first thing people think of when they think about working out and building muscle. This is for good reason. Barbells and dumbbells have stood the test of time and are primary tools that have built the body of legendary names such as Eugen Sandow, Steve Reeves, Reg Park, Arnold Schwarzenegger and many more.
They offer an easy way of performing the primary movement patterns with added resistance to challenge the muscles for growth. Learning the basics of performing major compound lifts with proper form may take some effort at first, but you will be rewarded for doing so as barbell and dumbbell training allows for easy strength progression to occur. Once you become better at lifting and pack on some mass, you can scale your progress by performing your sets for the same number of reps with more weight and/or more repetitions.
What I find fantastic about barbells and dumbbells is that they not only train the muscular system but also the central nervous system. As you lift heavier and heavier weights and reach respectable strength levels, not only are your muscles stronger, but your nervous system is more efficient at producing force and at recruiting more muscle fibers during an athletic activity.
When done correctly with proper technique, you can use barbells and dumbbells your whole training career. Don’t believe people who say barbells and dumbbells are bad and cause injury. The risk of injury only increases when people start ego lifting and throw away proper technique trying to lift as much weight as possible. People who train properly, leave their egos out of the room and embrace proper form during exercise execution won’t have to worry about injuries.
In my opinion, healthy, injury free people should make free weights the basis of their muscle building journey as it will not only build more muscle in an effective and efficient way, it will also make you a better athlete due to the neurological advantages. As well do free weight allow you to make strength gains in a fast fashion. Barbells are a tool which allows for steady weight increments that will lead up to big numbers pretty fast, whereas machines often times force you to take bigger jumps when you go up in lifting the amount of weight to use. Calisthenics have the same issue, since you cannot mess with your body weight during a session. Sometimes, going up from one body weight training exercise to a more difficult progression of the movement requires a big jump in strength and skill. While dumbbells force you to take bigger jumps than barbells, they seem to allow for the easiest progression schemes and therefore are a great base to center your training around.
Heavy work 1-5 reps best performed with barbells as body weight movement and machines are simply not optimal for that type of training. Therefore if strength is a big interest of yours, which requires you to perform some work in a very low rep range, you’ll definitely need to incorporate the use or free weights in order to gain strength and to master technique.
The only downside of training with free weights is that when you become stronger and more advanced, performing more volume with free weights can be increasingly more fatiguing than other training methods due to the neurological and cardiovascular aspect involved.
CALISTHENICS
Calisthenics training has a hardcore movement that praises calisthenics training over everything else, claiming that it is superior to other muscle building training tools. While they certainly have valuable points in which calisthenic training has benefits over other training methods, like everything, it also has its pitfalls. Personally, I am a big proponent of calisthenics as a training and muscle building tool. They allow you to stimulate optimal muscle growth with your body weight and can be performed anytime, anywhere.
Becoming very good at push up variations, pull up variations, row variations and squat variations allow you to train the majority of your major muscle groups and can definitely sculpt an amazing body on their own. In fact, during the corona lock down period I had no access to any free weights or machines whatsoever and completely relied on calisthenics to maintain my muscle mass successfully.
Once basic moves such as the push up, pull up, row and squat become too easy for you, you can either make them more challenging by working up to harder variations of these movements, or you can perform them weighted. Making these exercises more challenging in this way will stimulate progressive overload and will cause more hypertrophy.
In short, calisthenics are a fantastic method of resistance training and done properly, it will stimulate maximum muscle mass. While body weight calisthenics challenge the muscles to a great extent, they aren’t as brutal on the nervous system as free weights are. When using free weights, there’s a heavy toll on the nervous system due to the external weights being handled and due to the amount of spinal compression that often takes place.
I absolutely love to use calisthenics as accessory exercises to my big barbells or dumbbell lifts. They are a fantastic tool to incorporate more volume in your training without causing excessive fatigue and hindering recovery.
The only downfall with calisthenic movements as a primary tool for building muscle is the progression. Often times, progressing to a harder variation of a calisthenics exercise demands a very big jump in skill or in weight. This can hold you back and lead to frustration. What a lot of people don’t realize is that a lot of the crazy calisthenic guys actually rely on weighted movements and incorporate barbell or dumbbell training to gain strength in an easier fashion, which carries over to more muscular strength to proceed to a harder variation of a body weight movement.
As for a rep range, calisthenics are best performed in a medium to higher rep range for optimal exercise execution and to avoid injury.
A great benefit of performing short calisthenic circuits at the end of a big workout or on an off day, especially when done with explosive movements such as clap push ups, muscle ups and high knee jumps is that they stimulate your body to produce more testosterone.
MACHINES
Machines tend to be looked down upon by the old school hardcore lifters. In the past, I too made the mistake of looking at machines in a negative way. I thought they were for lazy people who did not have the warrior mentally to perform workout routines with cold, hard iron in their hands.
After years of training and thinking outside of the box, I’ve changed my opinion. There are several reasons why I’ve changed my mind and am convinced that machines have their place in one’s training routine when the time is right.
First of all, people who have certain limitations due to injuries and are unable to perform traditional exercises or movements without pain when using free weights or performing bodyweight exercises, machines are a fantastic tool to stimulate their muscles for growth without causing unnecessary discomfort. Centering your training around machines when your body is unable to perform traditional forms of training is completely validated as it still allows you to build an amazing physique using the intensity, volume and frequency recommendations.
For people who don’t have any limitations, just like calisthenics, making use of resistance training machines is a fantastic way to supplement your barbell and dumbbell training when more volume is required. Performing too much with volume free weights often times causes a lot of fatigue. Machines on the other hand allow you to stimulate the muscles effectively without causing too much additional fatigue and therefore is a great way to perform more work without feeling worn out.
I would even say that certain exercises lend themselves better to the use of machines, compared to using free weights. Chest flyes, rear delt flyes and lateral raises for example are exercises that in my opinion are best performed using cables or machines compared to free weights. They are easier to perform in a fixed position, keep constant tension on the targeted muscles and are less fatiguing. Machines are best used for work performed in a medium to higher rep range to target the intended muscles properly.
CONCLUSION ON FREE WEIGHTS VS CALISTHENICS VS MACHINES
All three methods of resistance training are able to produce fantastic results when the principles of intensity, volume, frequency and progressive overload are respected. What you should conclude from this is that combining all three methods will deliver the best results in the long term.
I always advise that people focus primarily on a couple of key movements that will have the biggest impact on their physique. These movements are the big compound movements involving bench press variations, overhead press variations, pull up variations and squat variations. Training exclusively with body weight exercises, bench press and overhead presses can be swapped for push up variations, handstand push up variations. People who train exclusively with machines can use the machine version of these movements such as machine chest presses, machine shoulder presses, machine lat pulldowns and smith squats or leg presses.
I would suggest that if you are a healthy, injury free individual looking to build muscle in the most effective and most efficient way, that you base the foundation of your training routine on free weight barbell movements. They are simply extremely effective for hypertrophy, allow for easy, measurable strength progression and simply make you an overall better athlete.
Once you’ve been lifting for a while and have become more experienced, you will need to add a couple of exercises to address weak points or you may need to incorporate additional volume to stimulate new muscle growth. This is where calisthenics and machines come in handy.
They allow you to perform isolation movements to bring up weak points or to add additional in an effective way that won’t be as fatiguing as free weights would. These additional gains attributed to the additional volume and eliminated weaknesses will translate in your performing even better on your major barbell lifts.
So, what’s the best method to gain muscle? There is no one best way. The most intelligent way to maximize your muscle building results is to use all three methods strategically in a way that they supplement each other. If you only have access to one of these, you have no excuse to not achieve results. All methods will produce results independent of each other. Combined, they can go hand in hand if used properly and will sculpt the body of a Greek God.
Kevin Mahjoubi