Equipment for Resistance Training
There are two main ways to approach resistance training, with equipment or without. This article will focus on the former and examine the various training effects of different equipment.
Using Your Own Weight: Manual Resistance
Training without equipment means that you would be using your own body weight provided by gravity to act as the workload. For example, push-ups, planks, chin-ups, abdominal curls, and squats each involve using your muscles against your own weight.
Manual resistance training enables a certain degree of flexibility because your range of movement is not limited by machines. This also means that greater level of skill and core work is required to maintain proper posture and technique.
Using Equipment
Contrary
to manual resistance training, equipment exercises involve lifting, pushing or
pulling an external object to train the targeted muscles. The intensity of the exercise can be changed
by adjusting the weight or tension of the equipment.
Resistance equipment can be separated into two groups: free weights or weight training machines. Free weights include dumbbells, barbells, medicine balls, rubber tubing, and bands. These tend to be more functional (applicable to movement in ordinary life) and require greater concentration on stability and posture.
Weight training machines may employ pulleys, weight stacks, electronics or hydraulics to generate the resistance force. Machines can also be adjusted to accommodate an individual`s size and height to ensure comfort and correct positioning. In this regard, machines are more optimal for fitness beginners, who should focus on training isolated muscles and developing core strength and proper technique before moving onto free weights.
Types of Resistance Equipment (Weight Training Machines)
Constant Machines:
Constant machines are probably the most common in the market and maintain the same resistant weight throughout its range of motion. These machines usually depend on pulley systems and weight stacks. Free weights such as dumbbells and medicine balls are also types of constant equipment.
Variable (Accommodating) Machines:
Unlike constant machines which have a static resistance, this changes in variable machines according to either the force applied by your muscle or the joint angle of the movement. The reason for this is to maximize the resistant force at every stage of the movement, as opposed to only at the joints weakest angle, or sticking point.
For instance, in an arm curl, the sticking point would be when your forearm is horizontal and parallel to the floor. A variable machine would accommodate this by increasing the resistance at other angles of the arm curl. There are two types of variable machines: isokinetic and isotorque.
Isokinetic Equipment
Isokinetic machines are specialized so that they generate steady, near-maximal tension throughout the concentric phase (when the joint angle decreases). These machines depend on hydraulic cylinders and computers that constantly record muscle tension and adjusts the resistant force. This setup means that the greater force you exert on the machine, the greater the resistance.
Once the contraction is complete, the hydraulic cylinders refill with fluid and the machine slowly (automatically) returns to its original position. The level of machine resistance can be adjusted.
Some common isokinetic equipment brand-names are: Cybex, Hydra-Gym and Mini-Gym.
Isotorque Equipment
Isotorque equipment is similar to isokinetic equipment except that the machine tension applies to both concentric and eccentric contraction phases. For instance, in a bench press, a person would have to work concentrically to push the bar up and then eccentrically to bring it back down. The extent of resistance would vary with the joint angle of the exercise movement.
Nautilus, Polaris, Paramount, Marcy, Life Circuit and Powercise are some companies that market isotorque equipment.
