Are machines at gym any good?

[jsmoke]

I do a few miles on the treadmill them use about 4 or 5 machines. I try and do 4x10 reps increasing the weight one notch each time.

Is this worth doing, apart from the first few sessions, I don't feel any gains. Maybe this is a diet thing though or maybe my age or maybe just the machines aren't good for bulking. I'd rather strength though than bulk if I had to choose.

 

[jsmoke]

Strength -> working your muscles with heavy weights to get slow muscle growth

Bulking -> eating much more than your muscles can use so you put on quick fat gains

Initial training gives the fastest muscle increase, past that it's slow and you have to push hard for years and years to make gains that add up.

What about machines Vs free weights?

 

[jsmoke]

Cardio first other then to warm up is not going to be so helpful really. You likely wont be getting too much benefit out of the weights after.

You would be better off defining what you want to achieve and then working towards that with a workout plan that fits those goals.

Also a great post/topic for the gym rats thread

Why cardio first not helpful?

 

[jsmoke]

The question back is what do you think you are achieving by doing it first?

For the record, i do cardio on a separate day.

You are tiring yourself and really a warm up/stretches at lower weights would be better. Cardio at the end would make sense for a final fat burn/keep the heart pumping a bit more.

A proper expert may be able to add more.

You could be right, I am napping a lot more atm.