MACHINES
- Machines are easy to learn
- Machines take your through a very particular range of motion and hence isolates the muscle involved perfectly and places very minimal stress on the joints
- Machines due to the designs can prevent injuries to a large extent.
FREE WEIGHTS
- Works more muscles per exercise when compared to machines
- Helps more towards gaining strength and helps improve joint strength too
- Total caloric output is always higher compared to machines
Verdict
There are advantages in both the worlds. A sensible person would use the advantages in both the worlds. For example while working out chest, one free weight movement like bench press along with a couple of machine exercises gives you an all rounded workout with the heavy compound free weight movement stimulating the fast twitch fibers and the machine movements utilizing all slow twitch and every possible fiber in the muscle.