Are Fitness Machines Damanging Our Bodies?

More specifically to wonder 'are machines hurting us?' Consider the following.

1. Fitness Machines force you to follow a fixed path. When you are on a pin or plate loaded machine there is no option other than to move through the predetermined path of the machine's design. If we move our bodies through the exact same paths, repeatedly, under load then it is not unreasonable to expect wear and tear on our tissues to result. Imagine never changing or rotating your tires and you can imagine unbalanced wear pattern evident on the tread. The same happens with our joints if we never vary the path of resistance and balance out our training.

2. Fitness Machines don't encourage eccentric control. Eccentric means the phase of the exercise where the muscle lengthens and is commonly witnessed when we lower a weight. Most injuries happen during the eccentric phase and we tend to put excessive emphasis on the concentric phase. We are conditioned to count (concentric) reps and disregard the effort during the negative portion of the lift. The leg press is a common culprit of this crime especially when there are rubber stoppers at the bottom of the lifts which unfortunately encourages individuals to lower more weight, more quickly then they can comfortably handle all for the sake of successful concentric effort.

3. Many fitness machines stabilize the spine for you. Many injuries and joint issues can be traced back to a lack of stability. Through the lumbar spine we want to maintain good control between the hips and rib cage. When we sit on machines the back rest provides the support and stability for the spine at the expense of developing our own natural stability. This lack of stability catches up with us when we introduce a new activity into the routine or add more strength that we can control