While many powerlifters, bodybuilders, and Olympians use both, there’s still the ever-raging debate of whether free weights or machines are best. I recently covered a study that showed that both free ...

If you want to get stronger, some kind of resistance training is the way to go. So when you walk into the gym, should you start loading plates onto a barbell or should you just walk up to the first ...

The fitness world is divided: On one side, you’ve got the purists who swear by barbells, dumbbells, and kettlebells. This crew is all about functional strength—workouts that mimic real-life movements ...

My core problem with weight machines is that people will use them to the exclusion of free-weight exercises, which have much better carryover to real-life strength and mobility—free weight movement ...

Incorporating regular weight training into your running schedule is key if your goal is optimal performance and reduced risk of injury. Moreover, strength workouts can help refine your mechanics and ...

Beth Skwarecki is Lifehacker’s Senior Health Editor, and holds certifications as a personal trainer and weightlifting coach. She has been writing about health for over 10 years. Free weights and ...

If your goal is strengthening your functional movement patterns, barbells and dumbbells may be your steel key to success. "Free weights more closely replicate the movements required during more ...

Start in a standing position. Grab the handles and bring them up to your shoulders palms facing each other. Squat down to a quarter squat positions; then on the way up, on you will press the weights ...

There's a lot of kit to choose from in the weight room: barbells, dumbbells, landmines and kettlebells, as well as endless machinery from leg presses to ab crunch devices. But the former tend to get ...

I have a personal theory about working out, but I don't know if it's valid anywhere but in my own mind. When I see all these gym machines for working out muscles in ways that don't happen in nature, I ...