Must-Read: Barbells Are Better Than Machines

A lot of people have a lot of opinions when it comes to working out. So many, in fact, that you may be thinking that you’re doing it wrong if you do anything at all. Just what is the right way, and what is the wrong way, to work out? Well, if you’re using barbells instead of those crazy expensive machines that you can find in every single gym, then you’re clearly working out wrong… right? Turns out, maybe not. Maybe everything we need can be accomplished with those large unwieldy weights.

And so today we head to The Art of Manliness where they have a whole bunch of words regarding why working out with barbells are a whole lot better for you than working out with machines. Among the reasons that they claim this is the case:

Fighting Gravity: Why Barbell Training Works

Standing barbell training can be summarized very succinctly: moving your body?s mass and a weighted barbell in a vertical line over your center of balance ? the middle of the feet. The effectiveness of this movement is due to gravity. Amazingly enough, gravity always works in one direction: straight down. So the way you always work against gravity is also only one direction: straight up. Your body balances over the middle of your feet when you take an even stance, like we use to lift heavy loads. This means that the most efficient way to lift a load is as close to your body ? and therefore as close to the middle of your feet ? as possible, in a straight vertical line upward. Barbells permit this better than oddly-shaped objects, like lawnmowers.

So head on over to the link above to check out the rest of the piece. And then get rid of that machine of yours and just pick up a damn barbell already!