Weight Lifting Machines for Weight Loss?

New resort style mega health clubs are popping up all over North America. These clubs are packed full of expensive fitness and weight machines that offer hundreds of different ways to workout. You could go to one of these clubs and find a different machine to work the muscles of your arms or legs every day for 3 weeks and never repeat what youve done. Now that sounds very interesting and enticing, but is all of this variety necessary? It certainly is expensive. But do any of these machines help us lose weight? What are they really designed for anyway?

Some of the newer weight lifting machines can cost upwards of $5000 per machine. Each of these machines target specific muscles without affecting any other muscles. This is a technique called muscle isolation. Bodybuilders began doing isolation style exercises to make specific muscles bigger without affecting the other muscles around them. They do this because in competitions they are judged on the specific way they look and how big each muscle is compared to other muscles.

The average gym going person is never, in a million years, going to be in a position where they actually need to make their shoulders slightly larger without affecting their arms or chest because someone might think they look out of balance. However, most of the new gyms have countless machines that are designed to be this specific. Now unless there is a new bodybuilding revolution sweeping across North America that I am not aware of, all of these new weight lifting machines seem to be some what unnecessary.

The truth is most of the people who have a gym membership are there for general fitness and weight loss. Both of which can be accomplished with little or no machine assistance at all. In fact, the more muscles you work in each exercise the more calories you are going to burn, and the more overall change you will make to your body. These new weight machines are designed for the exact opposite effect. They are designed to only work a few specific muscles.

Weight training machines are great for advanced lifters, athletes and bodybuilders who are interested in shaping and building specific muscles. Whole body exercises that involve working the most muscles with each exercise are the quickest and most effective path to weight loss and fitness.

John Barban is a certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist, a varsity strength and conditioning coach as well as a successful entrepreneur. John has trained with world class level powerlifting teams and athletes at the professional level. Most recently he has specialized in training female varsity athletes, specifically women's ice hockey players. John has his masters in nutritional science and human physiology from the University of Guelph, and further graduate work at the University of Florida where he taught principles of strength training and conditioning in the department of health and human performance. John also has extensive experience developing and formulating nutritional sports supplements.

John write for http://www.grrlathlete.com and http://www.womensworkout.blogspot.com