this post was submitted on 04 Nov 2024
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Personally I eschewed a machine for a set of good adjustable dumbbells and a bench and I don’t regret it at all. I don’t like machines because they allow you to cheat with bad form and that leads to joint injuries. I found that I can use significantly less weight with free weights as compared to a machine, and while that’s not as good for the ego, it’s better for my joints. Lifting weights has turned into a more yoga like mindful execution of movement rather than a grunty maximum exertion of force since I switched, and I really like it. It’s challenging to do legs, but I’ve got a bad knee and I can still do enough with my two 5-80 dumbbells to feel it the next day.
With a set up to 80 (assuming lbs) you can go a long way. 160lb in dumbbells is a fair bit and can go quite a bit of the way. For the rest of the way single leg focused exercises such as lunges, Bulgarian squats, SL Romanian deadlift, staggered stances, dragon squat etc will do the trick.