When to Use Weights

Strength training and weight training are almost synonymous. It seems that if you engage in resistance training, then you are automatically using weights. Perhaps this is because the original proponents of strength training were bodybuilders back in the '50s and '60s. Weights are just the standard tool for increasing strength and building muscle. Barbells, Olympic bars, dumbbells, bench presses, leg presses, machines, are use some form of weight.

Weights have their obvious advantage. Their the best way to build raw muscle. While other modalities, which I will discuss in a minute, help build strength, power, and endurance, they simply don't build muscle the same way that weights do. I'll admit that I don't understand the physiological difference between weight training and band training, for example, there's a reason why body builders and strength athletes prefer to use weights.

Weights have another advantage. It's easy to track progression. In order to get stronger, you have to overload your body. The easiest way to do this is to add weight to the bar, or to increase the number of reps you do with the same weight. It's easy to record weight on a sheet of paper. It's also to see your progress with weights.

But weights have disadvantages. It's so easy to cheat and use improper form when using weights. This applies especially to males. Men have a lot of vanity in the strength training room. They want to believe that they can use more weight than they can actually use. So when you say that weights are "dangerous", that's correct and incorrect. Too much weight is dangerous. But weights with good form is beneficial for muscle preservation and growth.

I see a lot of bad form in the gym. This doesn't mean that I think nobody should do weights, but I think a lot of people aren't really ready to use them. The prevalence of rounded backs, buckling knees, and weak core strength tells me that people need a much larger base before using weights.

A deconditioned person could still get a great workout using his own bodyweight. If you can't manage your own bodyweight, there's no reason you should be adding external loads to any exercise. This is how Alwyn Cosgrove trains his athletes, not just people looking to lose fat. Can you do a proper squat? Can you maintain a neutral spine while squatting? Can you even squat correctly? Do you have proper shoulder mobility and stability? Most people don't. We live in the broken society. Using weights will only exacerbate these imbalances.

If you can manage your bodyweight, then progress to a suspension trainer like the TRX. If you think push ups are easy, then put your feet on a stability ball or a bench. Use a Perfect Pushup. Put your feet in the TRX and do a pushup. Do a one-armed pushup. If you think pull ups are easy, do a one-arm pull up. Wrap a towel around a pull-up bar and attempt to pull your body. There are so many progressions to basic body weight exercises that people skip. Before doing these progressions, with no external load, then do not do weight training. Gravity is the ultimate resistance. If you can't do a pull up, then you have business doing T-bar rows, bent-over rows or cable pulls.

There are other alternatives to weights. You can use a weighted vest like the X-Vest to add difficulty to squats, lunges, push ups, pull ups, running, and any other bodyweight exercise. It might be the best $200 investment you ever make.

Bands are definitely my preferred way to train. They are so versatile and functional, that they should be included in everybody's program, regardless whether or not your can do 10 pull ups, 100 push ups and and 10 one-leg squats. The movements you can perform with bands, or Freemotion's Cable Cross machine, are endless. You can add resistance to just about any movement, from lunges, step ups, punches, to throwing and rowing.

I often see people on machines. These machines cost hundreds of dollars. And yet the movement and muscles they're training could easily be trained using a $10 band. I don't know why people think they have to use such expensive apparatuses to train. Using bands is also a lot more functional. You can work all three planes of motion, while on a machine you're pretty much limited to one (almost always the sagittal). I can't think of a single machine that allows your body to move sideways.

Here's my theory of progression:

Bodyweight.
Bodyweight with weighted vest
Bands/pulleys/cable machines
Weights

Of course, this doesn't mean you can't mix and match these modalities. What I'm saying is that weights are the most advanced form of strength training. These are designed for people who can manage your bodyweight, use proper form on various exercises, and are looking to add mass or raw power. Strength athletes and power athletes, under the supervision of a coach or trainer, should use weights. But if you're using weights, you can also use bands. In fact, I encourage you to use bands in all your training.

If you can't manage your bodyweight, do that first. Out of 100 people, I bet 99 could not do 6 pulls ups, 5o pushups, or hold a plank position for 1:00. And out of those 100 people, I could find some serious posture deficiencies, imbalances, and weaknesses. Why, then, would they need or want to use weights?

Weights are sexy and popular, so they are another victim of training incest. Everybody else is doing it, so everybody should do it. I'm saying far fewer people should be using weights. There should be fewer weights in gyms, and more bands and pulley machines. But pushing a band into the air doesn't look as cool as throwing a dumbbell over your head.

Kevin