Training Tools

Throughout the history of fitness and exercise there has been many trends and gadgets that make different claims.  They usually claim they are the best thing since sliced bread,  but the test of time kind of weeds these things out.  An example is Indian clubs.  Most people don’t even know what these are.   Popular in the 19^th century up to around 1930’s, they kind of look like bowling pins.  They have many uses, especially in swinging, but they eventually took a backseat to organized sports that were beginning to be popular.  Were these effective?  Absolutely.  Were they a “cure all”?  Definitely not.  Indian clubs are just tools.

Everyone knows that you need more than one tool in a toolbox.  You can’t rebuild a carburetor with a hammer and you can’t drive a nail wrench.  When some new thing is presented in the fitness industry, everyone goes crazy.  More recent examples are suspension trainers, stability balls (Swiss or BOSU), strongman training, high intensity interval training (HIIT), kettlebells (a resurgence), bands, yoga, and pilates.  The problem is that we think that one thing can do everything.  I know people that will only train with kettlebells or just do exercises while standing on a BOSU ball.  This makes no sense.  This is even true with traditional exercises (barbells, dumbells, and cable machines).  Imagine if you saw a trainer working with a client using just a barbell every week for years.  Though the barbell is very versatile, it is not always optimal.  It’s hard to do a vertical pulling exercise (i.e. chin-up) with a barbell.  That is why you need other training tools.  Even certain exercises are tools.  It does not  make any sense for a bodybuilder to do only Olympic lifts.  How about sets and reps?  Sometimes you see people in CrossFit videos doing fifty power cleans.  Obviously power movements are not meant for HIIT. 

There are all kinds of examples I could go on discussing.  The main point is to be careful with the “cure all” things that promise you an end to all your training problems.  Look out for those trainers as well.  There is a lot of them. 

Rack vs Everything

Many of my followers and trainees/athletes know my feelings on free weights and resistance machines.  Free weights are far better for gains in strength, power, balance, and are more sport specific.  In certain settings resistance machines are fine and sometimes better.  This is usually under limited supervision of individuals with limited ability or skills that it takes to perform a more advanced movement.  But they do pose many problems when it comes to space, cost, and effectiveness.

The Rack (sometimes called squat-rack), be it power-rack, multi-rack, or half-rack, is the most important piece of equipment in any gym (throw in a set of dumbells and you don't need much more).  It is very versatile.  You can do almost every exercise that is needed in or just outside of a rack.  I'm not going to go into all these exercises, but there are more exercises you can do in a rack than there are resistance machines in any gym.

If you go to any university weight room, professional sports team weight room, or olympic training weight room, you will find lines of racks filling the room and not many machines.   Even my high school weight room, a very rural school, had four racks (and two olympic platforms) and it was only twice the size as my office.  You don't need much space, just the right equipment.      

How about the price?  Many gym memberships are expensivse.  I have toured most of them in the Indianpaolis area and just about all of them are the same, with little differences.  If they have two racks your lucky.  Most have just one if any.  In fact, most have more smith machines than racks (I'm not going into smith machines right now.  Just stay out of them...or hang your jacket on them).  Simple economics will tell you that the more a facility costs to run, the more the membership rates will be.  So how does a rack compare to resistance machines when it comes to cost?  Let's do the math.

I priced some equipment from two industry leading equipment companies while the weights are commodities.  I choose these companies because I am very familiar with them.  The resistance machine are one company while the bench and  rack are another.  The olympic weight set is not the best, but similiar to what you would find in most gyms.  Oh, and they are not rubber coated or have special handles.  This is also a waste of money.

Leg press machine                    Bicep curl machine
$5,995                                      $3,835

Standing calf raise machine      300 lb. Olympic weight set
$4,135                                       $389

Adjustable bench                      Multi-rack
$919                                         $2,799 (full-rack is $200 more)

Totals for the rack set up:        $3,907
Total for three machines:         $13,965   

That's right.  The rack set up is only $72 dollars more than the Curl machine and you can do curls in a rack (please don't though).  You can add a set of dumbells to this and have a full set up, but you only really need one set, maybe two depending on membership volume, but most all gyms have dumbells.

Let's say that most gyms have around 16 resistance machines.  Check out the prices.  How many racks with a bench and 300 lbs. could you have?  If you take the average of the leg press and the bicep curl machine, multiply by 16 and divide by the price of the rack set up and you get 20.  Can you imagine a commercial gym with 20 racks.  Or 16 racks and a lower membership rate?   There is also a lower maintenance cost on free weights.  Everyone knows the more moving parts something has, the more it costs to maintain and repair. 

I would settle for just one more rack and no bicep curl machine.  Oh, and since most gyms don't have one more rack, please stop curling in the one they have.  If you can curl it, you can pick it up off the floor.          

If your gym needs more power racks, please fill out a comment card and encourage others you know to do so.  It is simple economics of supply and demand.  If you demand it, they will supply it.  Let's start demanding it!