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free weights vs floor exercises vs machines

hey, ive been going to the gym for a good few months now, and am always trying to find the best workout for me (cant afford a personal trainer) and really need a little bit of consistency. so ive been looking at workout routines online, and i see a lot of them do not use machines, or even weights. many are just floor exercises. i think that these are often for people without gym membership to do at home - i see some exercises being done that i know there are machines for, like calf raises, for example. im just trying to work out whether that means that doing an exercise on the floor is like a second rate substitute for people who dont have access to machines. im sure they arent, but i guess im just wondering if many floor exercises or free weight exercises could in fact be replaced by resistance machines, or more importantly, whether they SHOULD be,

i guess im mainly asking because when im struggling on the mat i cant help but a) feel a bit annoyed that im paying gym membership for something i guess i could do at home (although i dont have as much room) and b) wonder whether there is a machine over there that will help me exercise the muscles i want to exercise, that is easier and more effective than whatever the heck im doing. sometimes its easy to feel like im just flailing around cluelessly when i try to do floor routines. then again, way before i started using the mats, when i was just new to the gym, i only really used the machines and found them pretty confusing too - it was so easy be struggling with something and partially know its because theres something wrong with the machine adjustments like seat height or something that are scuppering your efforts and not being able to adjust it properly and just finding it v uncomfortable.

then theres free weights - for example, is it better to do bicep curls with dumbells or a machine? like i mentioned before i cant help but wonder when im using the bicep machines whether my arms are too short or im too short or something, or whether i genuinely just cant lift the weight. it doesnt help that im just plain scared of barbells, since during my gym induction the personal trainer guy thought it would be pointless showing me, a girl, how to use any free weights. ive since tried dumbells ok because they look less intimidating but i just wouldnt even know how to approach a barbell. id really like to though!

u mm yeah. hope you can derive some sort of coherent question from this. id really appreciate some gym wisdom right now.
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aadin_
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Machines limit your range of Motion so Weights and Bodyweight Exercises would be better. The only thing with Bodyweight Exercises is that after you have done all Variations of the Exercises you need some type of Resistance (Weight in a Backpack) Free Weights would be the best but tbh combining all of these would be the best. Also use Weight you can handle and then increase the Weight over time
Barbells are better

Read the FAQ - you need that; not a PT http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=3014757
Barbells are king, with some addition floor work to prevent imbalances and stay flexible.


My main issue with floor work is that there is little scope for progressive improvement until barbells where you add more weight, I have considered cable crunches but I'm unsure.


Machines are **** tier, stay away from them.
Original post by Angry cucumber
Barbells are better

Read the FAQ - you need that; not a PT http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=3014757


Another issue with having a PT is that he will set you awful, crossfit type exercises, where you feel a burn, but in the long term you are not improving and you're only feeling a burn because these is no structure or coherence to the routine. Your muscles, hypertrophy, adapt, get strong, are not used in that way for a while, atrophy and the cycle starts again, complete scam imo.
Barbells or even dumbells because they exercise more muscles rather than just targeting limited ones. You cna still use machines, but theres always a free weight or sometimes a bodyweight equivalent. Cable machines are a good halfway house imo.
ok great! thanks everyone and ill check out the FAQ. can anyone tell me whether i should be worried about approaching barbells without anyone showing me the ropes? am i being silly to assume theyre harder to manage than dumbells just because theyre bigger? i want to get started but im just picturing me dropping them on someones foot or giving myself a hernia or something
Form is everything so dont go and do yourself an injury. Plenty of information on bodybuiling.com and all over the net.
No idea what stage you are at so for a beginner, then look at a regular program like string lifts to start with.

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