Does anyone remember when they were a kid and they’d find a lonely exercise bike in the corner of their parents spare room? Dust would gather on the bits that wasn’t used to hang the clothes on to dry.
Perhaps you have felt a bit nostalgic and got yourself an exercise bike too. And just like mum and dads it dries clothes really well.
I remember my parents having a rowing machine too but its awkward frame didn’t lend itself to being much of a clothes dryer. Although I do recall that it made a good battle ground for my He-Man and Skeletor action figures.
There are lots of home gym equipment that seem to get tossed to one side or used for something completely different. Our 4kg kettlebell makes for a fantastic door stopper. A couple of dumbbells in the garden are great footy posts for the kids and the battle rope in the garage seems to provide perfect chewing material for the mice.
Yet if anyone said to me that their Cable Machine multi gym was left unused I would gasp in horror. It is almost perfect and this is my case for it to be one of your go-to pieces of kit whether it be at home or in the gym…
It is versatile. There isn’t one muscle group that cannot be trained on a cable machine. If it has all of its attachments then a full workout can be done on it.
It is non-linear. Don’t be fooled by the ‘machine’ in its title. The cables provide a non-linea movement unlike its weight machine buddies. Non-linea movement can heal old injuries and avoid new ones, it allows better mind to muscle connection as you have to think about the movement much more and it keeps your core engaged.
More time under tension. There is no resting position on a cable. Think of performing cable flyes. At the top of the concentric movement, the cable wants to pull your arms back which means that your muscles are continuously engaged as you apply force against it. Don’t fib now! You’ve found a resting point using dumbbells right?!
A great way to finish a workout. Ok, despite my appeals for an appreciation of the cable machine, free weights are still the king of resistance training. But if free weights are Super Mario, then the cables are a very respectable Luigi. And you can burn out on free weights. Your muscles need a selection of different stimulus to grown lean and strong. So when you think that your muscle can’t perform another rep with a free weight, replicate the movement on the cable and rep out until exhaustion.
I hope I’ve put forward a good case for the cable multi gym machine. Thanks for reading!
Question…What’s your favourite piece of equipment that deserves a shout out?!
Never Give Up PT 