Neither. They both serve their purpose. Typically I recommend new users to start with machines because they take care of most of the form for you. Machines are also good to concentrate the power to a specific muscle. An example of what I mean is with the chest press. If you use a barbell to do your chest press, you’re using a lot of your stabilizer muscles, biceps and triceps to keep the bar up and straight. If any of these muscles are weaker than your chest, then you will max out before your chest gets the full benefit. The positive side to using barbells and dumbells is that they build up the stabilizer muscles that machines miss. Ultimately, you work more muscles when you use free weights, and you work individual muscles harder when you use machines. I recommend that once you get your joints strong enough and are working out regularly, that you use a combination of both machines and free weights to get a complete work out.  

So yesterday a rare (but not unheard of) incident occured. I was doing walking lunges, and some chick walked right in front of me and just about made me topple over. You should always yeild to the person with 35lbs in each hand concentrating on keeping good form. I would have throught this was obvious. The thing that gets me the most, is that she was rushing to the treadmill, to WALK. And she walked slower on the treadmill than she did when she was trying to knock me over!!! Of course, to show her up, an hour later when I was done my strength training, I went to the treadmill next to her and ran 8 miles an hour…compared to her 3 mile an hour walk, I looked like Ben Johnson.

At my gym, towel service is not something that is available to everyone- it costs an additional $10 a month, and barely anyone uses it (except me). So when I punch my membership number into the computer, the computer alerts the person at the front desk that I have towel service, and they have to push a seperate button to let me in. Then they ignore me as I stand behind the counter, waiting for my towel. I think if they have to go through all that extra trouble to let me in, they could just give me a towel automatically. The alerts are there for a reason. It just ticks me off that I have to ask after they are alerted.

This doesn’t happen all the time. The women who work behind the counter always give me a towel when the computer promts them to. This just furthers my theory that women are smarter than men.

Everyone at the gym is dressed pretty much the same: shorts, t-shirt, running shoes (or something). When I’m bored at the gym, I try to guess what people look like outside the gym, when they go to work, or go out at night. You gotta figure that when there are 50 people at the gym, someone there is an accountant, a firefighter, a bus driver, the Purolator guy, etc. But everyone looks the same at the gym (except me, I always look better than everyone else). So its always shocking to see people out of the gym in their everyday clothes, with their hair done properly, and sans sweat. This may be what makes gym culture so different from everywhere else.

So nothing exciting happened at the gym today that I can complain about (except maybe the guy dressed like Eddie Murphy from the 80’s) so I here’s an actual tip.

There are maybe 5 different types of cardio machines at most gyms- the treadmill, the stationary bike, the eliptical, the rowing machine and the stair master. You should choose a machine that you are most comfortable with and that will give you the most benefit. If the reason you do cardio is for general fitness/health, then your goal should be to get your heartrate to about 65% of your max. (220-age x 65%). My thoughts on the various machines:

1) Rowing machine- best overall workout. It uses the strength of your upper body as well as your lower body. Two big problems with this machine- the first is that no one ever uses it right. It requires coordination of all your body parts at the same time (men especially have problems with this). I had been an avid gym goer and competed in one competition and was halfway through my certification to be a personal trainer before I learned how to do it properly. The second problem with this machine is that it’s hard to find a machine that’s calibrated properly. Even the best/brand new gym equipment never seems to get it right. If you can do it, great…I only try a week before I go canoeing and call it training.

2) Treadmill- second best overall cardio workout. Again, running engages the entire body (though you feel it much less in your back than with the rowing machine). There is something insanely satisfying about finishing a run (runner’s high). I personally hate running, so I only use this maybe twice a month or so. Something to be careful about- running on a treadmill is not the same as running outside, so before you attempt a marathon, test your body on the pavement. Running in general is hard on the knees and other joints, so make sure you include strength training with your running to keep the joints strong.

3) Eliptical- my personal favorite- There are several types of elipticals out there. I don’t “get” most of them, but the ones that you can adjust the incline on are awesome for defining the lower body. The ones with moving arms are useless…use weights to define your arms…when you use the eliptical, you are just taking away from the proper cardio workout. What elipticals have over treadmills is that the user controls the speed, so if you need to make a sudden stop, all you have to do it stop…no looking for the massive red button you can never seem to find in a hurry. Also, it’s much easier on your joints.  A lot of people say they don’t get as good a workout on the eliptical as on the treadmill, it probably has to do with the intensity they are working at, as well as the incline. Adjust both so that you can feel it. Check your heart-rate. That’s what matters most anyway.

4) Stationary bike. Bikes are awesome. They provide a super lower body workout, and if you position yourself properly on the bike, they also provide a great upper body workout. Any bike with a backrest is useless in my mind. You are only working your legs on this bike, and therefore have to work twice as hard to get the same results. How hard is it to ride a bike?

5) Stairmaster- This is another one of those machines that you need to use properly to get the full benefit (and no one ever does). I don’t know why gyms still get these…they were a fad of the 80’s and 90’s, but I think they suck. They don’t mimic any real-life movement. They aren’t like climbing the stairs. You can get a pretty good leg workout if you use it right, but using it right means not touching the arm rests…watch these machines next time you are at the gym…everyone who uses them rests on the arm rests…when you do this, you are just moving your legs, and are not getting of the precious resistance in there. I haven’t been on one of these in about 6 years. The step-mill on the other hand is awesome. Not all gyms have one of these, they are the ones that look like actual stairs coming out. They mimic real-life stairs more closely, and give a great cardio burn. Again, I see too many people resting on the armrests on these…why are you resting on a peice of cardio??

The whole purpose of cardio is to improve your cardiac and respiratory systems (and probably reduce fat or something)- so no matter machine you choose to do this with, make it your main focus…after getting proper instruction on how to use the machines.

If my form is incorrect or it looks like I might hurt myself, I would want someone to let me know. Proper form is absolutely essential to acheiving a great physique. However, if you are going to offer me tips and pointers, please make sure that your body is as good or better than mine. Seriously. Would you take financial advice from a bankrupt accountant? Why would I take abs advice from someone with a spare tire? Is this a way to start a conversation? I’ve been working out and dating for several years, and telling me I’m doing something wrong is not hot. Leave the advice to the professional trainers…it’s their job…

I saw two serious ly wrong outfits at the gym today that need mention.

#1- Jeans. Some guy was wearing head-to-toe denim: jeans and a cut-off jean shirt on top of his t-shirt, with a bandana beneath his base-ball cap. Not only that, but he was also wearing bling- a thick gold necklace and rings. Nothing about his outfit was right. The oddest thing about him, was that the girl he was with, was wearing head-to-toe lululemon. A very odd pair.

#2- some guy, dressed as a thug, was on the treadmill. This guy was running super fast, but I worried his sweat-pants with the crotch down at his knees were going to trip him up and he would fall off. He was also wearing two t-shirts that were 5 sizes too big for him (unless of course, he lost 50 pounds from the time he walked in. Another odd thing about this guy’s look, was that he only had bangs. Shaved head every where else, but his bangs.

I took a week off from the gym for Christmas, then another for a business trip. As one of the very few women who work out at my gym, my absence didn’t go unnoticed. Andre (or whatever his name is), came up to me 2 minutes after I walked in the door the first day after my return, wished me a Happy New Year and asked me where I was. I told him, and he did a very enthusiastic “Put’er there!” while extending his hand in the air. Uhm. I don’t know this guy well at all. As a matter of fact, the most we’ve said to each other before this was “Hi” and “Working hard?”. I think a high-five is an act that is better done after both parties have gotten drunk together at least once and can appreciate each other’s sense of humour. Who does high-fives?

When I’m in any public washroom anywhere, the rule is, don’t talk to me. I don’t take very long, you can wait to tell me your story. At the gym today, some Resolution Girl (a newbie who comes in for a month after New Years, then never again) came into the changeroom ranting on and on about her brother, his coat and his ego. I was the only one in the room. I don’t know how to take this…because one of my biggest pet peeves is the lack of communication between women at the gym. Guys and girls talk a lot, but in all the years I have been a gym buff, I have never met another woman. It’s the whole competitive nature thing. While I was put off initially, because of the whole “don’t talk to me in the can” rule, I’m rather excited that Resolution Girl has decided to break the rules. It was a much warmer feeling than when the Psycho Girl snapped at me for touching the calf machine earlier that work-out.

I’ve been to a lot of gyms in my day, so I’ve had to tour the gym many times. This is when the person who works behind the counter takes you around to impress you with how many classes they offer, and how great the showers are. They usually don’t know anything about working out, and are on commission. Clearly. One thing they don’t tell you about is what the gym culture typically entails or even the basic fundamentals of gym etiquette. To help them out, I will give you 6 basic rules for behaving at the gym:

1)     Don’t talk to someone while they are working out. A set takes about a minute and a half, you can wait. Never talk to someone while they are doing cardio. If I can talk while I’m doing cardio, then I am not working hard enough, so bug off.

2)     Please wear a shirt. Even if you have a killer body, you don’t want to promote that behavior in people who don’t. And guess what, you probably don’t have a killer body, so shirt up anyway.

3)     Don’t spit in the water fountain. That’s just gross.

4)     Don’t ask to work in. Signs in gyms might tell you otherwise, but there are specific rest periods during each break that are crucial to a body’s development.

5)     If you are new to the gym, please get a trainer. I always want to tell people what they are doing wrong in their exercise, so that I can look smart (and maybe help them from hurting themselves), but today someone just about threw a weight in MY face. That’s not acceptable.

6)   Don’t talk on your cell phone. That’s tacky.