Free Weights Vs Machines: Why We Think Free Weights Are Superior
Strength training remains a cornerstone for maintaining our health, especially as we grow older. At Peak Physique, we’ve taken a deliberate approach to our training methodology.
Instead of relying on just machines, we rigorously use free weights for a complete workout. Delve with us into the free weights vs machines debate and discover why we passionately advocate for the former.
Free Weights Vs. Machines: Who Wins In Functional Exercises?
Functional exercises are exercises that are adapted or developed in order to allow individuals to perform routine daily activities more easily and with fewer injuries. Our number one reason you should use free weights is that you can do functional exercises with free weights that you cannot do with machines. Much of the training we do at Peak Physique is functional training, meaning we aim to teach your body the correct way to move all day through exercise.
Our trainers strive to help you take what you learn in our gym into your life outside the gym and use it to improve your days and nights. We teach you how it should feel when you walk, compared to how you actually do end up feeling. We use functional exercises to help with your aches and pains, and without free weights, that wouldn’t be possible.
When it comes to functional exercises, free weights are the clear winner.
Key Takeaways
- Free weights support functional training by teaching your body how to move safely and effectively in everyday life.
- Unlike machines, free weights allow movement through all three planes, better matching how your body naturally moves.
- Free weights engage more muscles at once, including stabilizers and the core, leading to better balance and overall strength.
- Training with free weights helps correct muscle imbalances by requiring both sides of the body to work independently.
- Free weights allow for more personalized workouts that adapt to your body, mobility, and goals; not the other way around.
- While machines can be helpful for beginners or rehabilitation, free weights offer greater long-term benefits for strength, confidence, and real-life movement.
Which Is Better For Plane Movement?
There are three planes of movement, and they are the sagittal planes, frontal planes, and transverse planes. The sagittal plane cuts the body into left and right halves, the frontal plane cuts the body into front and back halves, and the transverse plane cuts the body into top and bottom halves.
When exercising with free weights, you are able to move through all planes, whereas when working out with machines, you are isolating and only moving in one plane. It makes sense to perform exercises with free weights because it works multiple planes. When you move around in your daily life, you are using all your planes, so when you’re working out and exercising, you should also be using all your planes.
Free weights, such as dumbbells, allow you to do exercises in all planes, mimicking real-life situations.
For example, when you perform a squat, you’re focusing on your quads; if you do that on a machine, you are isolating and only working specifically on your quads. However, if you use a dumbbell, you end up working out more than just your quads.
You end up using your inner and outer thigh muscles in order to keep your legs in place. Your butt, core, and hamstrings help keep your body still while going through the motion, and you can also end up working out your arms because you have to hold the dumbbells as well.
When it comes to plane movements, free weights are also going to win this round.
Do Machines or Free Weights Work Your Core More?
Free weights end up working your core more than machines do. Based on what we talked about in the last section, we know that when using dumbbells and barbells, your body needs to keep the weights steady as you exercise, which in turn causes you to use your core. Along with increased core strength, free weights help with your balance. This is because you are in charge of keeping your body stable while exercising: you’re always working on your balance.
Machines are stable and held in one place. That means with machines, you are able to use one muscle in isolation. This could end up being a good thing if you are battling an injury. However, while using free weights, your target muscle is working along with “helper” muscles and your core, as mentioned, to help keep you stable. The more muscles you are using, the stronger you’re becoming overall and the more calories you’re burning.
As trainers, we see that almost all of our clients have some sort of imbalance. Using dumbbells and barbells allows us to fix these imbalances by correcting your form and continuing to increase the strength of your supporting or helper muscles. Your core helps you in all aspects of your life, so it’s important to keep it strong, and free weight exercises help the most with that.
When it comes to working out your core, free weights win again.
So, Are Free Weights Better Than Machines?
If you’re a beginner and working out alone or without a certified personal trainer, machines would probably be the best place to start and to learn. You can read the side of the machine or watch other people use the machine and see how it’s done. When you start the exercise, you can start to feel what part of the body you’re working on, meaning you can work specific parts of the body that you’re aiming to work out. So, if you’re working out alone or just getting started, using machines could be the right choice.
If you’re working out with a personal trainer or are a little more comfortable with working out, then free weights are going to be a good answer. You have the capability to work out more of your body, allowing you to get a more efficient workout. With free weights, you’re able to work out all your body planes at once and are able to work out more naturally, which can help you in your daily life.
The verdict? Free weights do win all three rounds. However, there is no right answer when comparing free weights vs machines because so much in fitness, as with life, is situational. When you train with Peak Physique, we will mostly use free weights to help train your body to move properly throughout the day and throughout your exercises.
Free Weights Encourage Better Movement Patterns
Another major advantage in the free weights vs machines conversation is how free weights encourage better movement quality. When you lift free weights, your body must coordinate multiple joints, muscles, and stabilizers at the same time. This mirrors how your body actually moves in real life.
Think about everyday tasks: picking up a laundry basket, carrying groceries, lifting a child, or getting up from the floor. These movements aren’t guided by a fixed path like a machine. They require coordination, balance, and control. Free weights train your body to move as one connected system instead of a collection of isolated parts.
Machines can be helpful for learning what a muscle feels like when it’s working, but they don’t challenge your body to control movement through space. With free weights, your body has to slow down, stabilize, and move with intention. Over time, this builds better body awareness, improved posture, and safer movement habits, both in and out of the gym.
At Peak Physique, we focus heavily on teaching clients how to move, not just how much weight to lift. Free weights give us the freedom to coach proper alignment, breathing, and control in a way machines simply don’t allow.
Free Weights Allow for More Personalization
No two bodies move exactly the same way. Height, limb length, mobility, previous injuries, and daily stress all affect how an exercise feels. One of the biggest limitations of machines is that they’re built for a “standard” body shape and range of motion.
Free weights adapt to you, not the other way around.
If someone has tight hips, limited shoulder mobility, or an old injury, we can adjust stance, grip, range of motion, and load instantly with free weights. This makes workouts safer, more comfortable, and more effective. Machines often force people into positions that don’t feel natural, which can lead to discomfort or compensation over time.
Personalization is one of our core values at Peak Physique. We don’t believe in cookie-cutter workouts. Free weights allow our trainers to meet you where you are and progress you safely, whether you’re rebuilding strength, managing pain, or pushing toward new goals.
Free Weights Support Long-Term Strength and Confidence
One thing we see again and again: clients gain confidence faster when training with free weights. Learning to control your body and handle weight without a machine guiding you builds trust in your own strength.
That confidence carries over into daily life. People feel more capable, more stable, and less fearful of movement. Instead of avoiding lifting, bending, or reaching, they feel empowered to do it safely.
Free weights also scale well over time. As you get stronger, progress isn’t limited by a machine’s design. You can increase load, slow tempo, add unilateral work, or combine movements to continue challenging your body in meaningful ways.
A Balanced Perspective: Why We Still Respect Machines
While we clearly lean toward free weights, it’s important to say this: machines are not “bad.” They can be useful tools in certain situations, especially for beginners, rehabilitation, or isolating a muscle temporarily.
The key difference is how they’re used.
At Peak Physique, machines may be used strategically, but free weights form the foundation of our programming. Our goal is to help you move better, feel stronger, and live your life with less pain and more confidence, and free weights support that mission better than any single machine ever could.
Start Training With Peak Physique
Are you looking to get started in fitness or need help improving your results when working out? Are you still confused about what to use most when comparing free weights vs machines?
Then contact Peak Physique today to get started. We have plenty of options available to get you healthy and keep you healthy.
This article was originally published on February 3rd, 2020, but was updated on December 11th, 2025, with new information.
