StoptheMadness said:
I feel like a born again here.....My point is what's the point of lifting weights? I am 28, still lifting and have lifted since I was 18, never getting hurt, so I am not speaking from a sour grapes mentality. I'm a regular guy, most here are too. So safety should be number 1. What is less safe is to use old fashioned free weights. No one wants to hear that $#iT cuz that's what everyone knows. When you go to your gym u see most every guy doing free weights b/c thats what he saw everyone else do from time immemorial. The machines are for safety first and still target the correct muscle groups. the scientists who designed know what the f*** is going on.
I won't preach on the push/pull thing, you are either with the program or your not.
The point of lifting weights is to increase not only the targeted muscles, but the stabilizer muscles as well. Your "safety machines" do not build stabilizer muscles at all, which is a definite no-no in any sport. Like I said above, you're only as strong as your weakest link.
News flash. Scientists did not develop the "safety machines". Some exercise company paid an engineer to develop them so said company could make lots of $$.
You want to go on a safety crusade in your gym. Tell all the people that lift with HORRIBLE form to get a clue and learn how to properly perform the exercise. That will prevent more injuries than all your "safety machines" combined.
And the push/pull thing. That means that lots of the great exercise programs out there is bad for you. Starting Strength, 5x5 (pretty much anything by Bill Starr & Mark Rippetoe), HST, Dual factor theory, Westside for Bodybuilders, Texas Method, TONS of Russian/Bulgarian Strength programs...All have push/pull on the same day. That's just a few of the programs I could think of at 12AM in the morning off the top of my head. I really think the countless professionals (and actual scientists in the case of many of the Russian/Bulgarian programs) that designed these programs know what they're doing.