Talk about strength training long enough and the question that will always come up is: "Do you use free weights or machines in your program?" Or, "You can get big and strong using barbells and dumbbells, right?"

We use both types of equipment in our program. We train with barbells, dumbbells, Nautilus equipment, Hammer Strength equipment, rubber bands, and sand bags. We even do strength training exercises utilizing no equipment all - called manual resistance. And yes, you can get big and strong utilizing strength training machines as well as free weights.

I can remember back to the early 1980's when the Pittsburgh Steelers were beginning their Steel Curtain Super Bowl era. The Steelers were a very big, strong physical team that looked like a of team that was big into weight lifting and pumping iron. The Bengal's at this time were a team that utilized mostly Nautilus machines for their strength-training program. They were not as "pumped up" looking as the Steelers. I naturally thought it was because the Steelers used barbells and dumbbells and not machines to train with. I soon learned that the Steelers were not just pumping iron to get that "pumped" look. They had a very serious steroid problem on their team. It was not what they were using to lift with that made the difference but what they were using along with them.

In-order for a muscle to get stronger and bigger it needs four important things. If any of these four things are missing it will not grow or get stronger. First it needs a resistance of some kind. Resistance force can be applied to the muscle with the use of a barbell, dumbbell or some type of strength training machine. Even sand bags and rocks will do. Your muscles do not have eyes on them; so they do not see what tool you are using to train them. All they do feel is the resistance they are working against. When your muscles work against a resistance they will get stronger.

Our second important item is overload. Simply stated, overload means that you have to make the muscle work harder today then it did the last time you trained. You can do this by using more weight on the bar or machine, trying to achieve at least one more rep then you did in your last workout, doing more sets of the exercise, increasing the intensity of your effort from your last workout or, decreasing the rest or recovery time between sets or exercises.

A.) Caloric Intake - Stress to your athletes the importance of eating three well-balanced meals a day, every day. Athletes should eat from the basic food groups: two servings daily of milk and meat and four servings daily of bread and cereal, four from fruits and vegetables. Then if they are still hungry they should be able to eat from the "goodie table" of sweets and snacks. If one of your athletes is trying to gain weight, but unable to, maybe it is because he has poor eating habits. He may be filling up on empty calories, spoiling his appetite for more nutritious foods.

Third, after the muscle has been successively stimulated with the proper amount of resistance and overload, you must give it the proper amount of nourishment. The muscle will need to have the proper amount of proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, fats and water to grow.

And finally, you need to allow for rest or recover between workouts. The muscle will need 48 to 72 hours of recovery time. As an athlete, you do not want to lift weights everyday. This will cause over training and retard progress. Plus you will want to spend time working on the other important ingredients of being an athlete - speed work, flexibility, agility drills, skill drills practice, etc.

If those four requirements are met, then it does not matter what tool you use to get bigger and stronger. Established scientific literature supports the fact the one tool over another does not provide a advantage to stimulate muscle growth, make you stronger and more powerful, improve explosiveness or make you any more or less of a skilled athlete. They all work - as long as you do.

Now, there are some advantages and disadvantages when using each tool.

FREE-WEIGHT ADVANTAGE

1. Require more balance
2. Work more support muscles
3. Diversity in training
4. Cost - less expensive

MACHINE ADVANTAGE

1. Muscle isolation
2. Adjust to muscle strength curve
3. Much easier to increase training intensity
4. Safety
5. Machines are necessary to use with some exercises (leg curl)
6. Work well with injured body parts and rehabilitation

Whenever possible it is best to use a combination of both free weights and machines. This will allow you to add a great deal of variety into your training program. This will keep your training interesting and fun. The bottom line is that you can get bigger and stronger using both if you are working as hard as you can.

EXAMPLE

1. Barbell bench press
2. Dumbbell bench press
3. Nautilus bench press
4. Hammer bench press
5. Paramount bench press
6. Push-ups
7. Hammer wide grip bench press