Using Machines versus Free Weights

I feel like this is a debate that we could have because I was in that camp a lot with not like, oh, using machines is for, you know, wimps or like only when you're injured. But I think this could be a separate episode where we talk about the our, our opinions, and we do talk about this a little bit in the program to like someone debates there, but in terms of using machines, and actually focusing on the target muscle, because like, there are people and there are women out there who are like, you know, my quads are not like, I want to build my quads, I want to have nice quads, right? Or buts, right, whatever I know, we don't like talking about or you don't like talking about butts, because I talked about all the time in terms of just like, if we're looking at like the target muscle tissue and trying to fatigue that first verse versus other muscles coming in to compensate.

It's it all comes down to what your primary goal is, and then also how experienced you are. And like, yes, you'll get the most bang for your buck doing something. But like, maybe you've been doing that for a while and you haven't seen the results you want. So maybe it's time to switch up and try something else that's a little bit more targeted, I don't know, tiny little things that don't matter to most people. And then it's like, alright, let's bring back surgery. But you still have some of that because some of it does matter to you. Because like you said that that 5% Maybe doesn't matter right now, but you compound 5% on top of each other over the course of a few weeks over a course few months, all that stuff like it can add up. So anyway, I want to say one more thing. So I and this is specific to squats and barbell back squats because here's the thing I spent many years especially as I got more into bodybuilding away from CrossFit, obviously, it's cross we did a lot of barbell squats, but even going into bodybuilding, I was like I have to squat I have to barbell squat every single week, like it's part of it.

And I did that for the first like year. And then I started working with new coach started learning more about programming, learning more about like hypertrophy specific. And I switched from doing barbell squats to doing Hack Squats and really focusing on like, knee flexion and getting really bringing my quads into it and kind of getting more nuanced with it. And for me, my barbell back squat has always sucked because I have shit ankle mobility and I have like previous injuries and low backs and ankle stuff. So like all of that together plus my sprained ankle from last month.

Anyway, I just from experience for me, like I my legs have built like I built the most muscle going away in specifically in my legs, my quads going away from the barbell squat and really focusing on the other things that I was like, Oh, this is not like this is not going to do it. This is whatever using some pre exhaust stuff, doing some more single leg squats, split squats, really focusing on pushing my knees over my toes the thing that you're not supposed to do, really focusing on that quad, the knee flexion to get as much quads involved as possible, and being strategic about it right. And I've seen the most gains from that overdoing traditional barbell squats and trying to lift as heavy as possible with those and taking my ego out of that too.