The Benefits of Standing Exercises vs Machines
Your brain is coordinating a subconscious concert of muscle stabilization
This is not medical advice.
This is not an article against machines or health clubs. Variety is actually the best answer. If you perform the same exercises year round, your body will respond less to the same repeated stimulus. There are diminished returns after 2-3 months of the same activity. Sport seasons and outdoor seasons actually help us with variety of activity and will improve gains. We lift heavy weights in the offseason of sports, or sometimes winter, and gradually make changes to speed as the season approaches. This is called periodization, which I will cover in a different article.
But back to standing exercises. When you stand to perform rows for your arms, you are also using leg muscles, and trunk muscles. Your body is having to stabilize you against a force in the opposite direction. You also get the benefit of improving balance, and increased bone density.
You might say, “yes, but I also perform core exercises at other times.” True, but when your core stabilizes you in a standing exercise, your brain is coordinating a subconscious concert of muscle stabilization. This is especially important for healing back pain or preventing back injuries. We do not consciously think about contracting our abdominal muscles to protect our back during everyday activity. Stuart McGill is a back researcher who found that our postural trunk muscles only contract at 20% of their capability, to protect the alignment of our spine. He also showed that back stabilization was more about muscle endurance throughout the day, not necessarily about strength.
If you sit at a machine to press overhead, only your spine is loaded for improvements in bone density, not your legs. Now this argument is not 100% in one direction. I would argue that even sitting exercises are going to increase a hormonal response. So as you strain seated, you are still elevating hormones that will increase bone density. In rehab, sometimes people have to sit for exercises, or may be in a wheelchair.
Every person is different, with different needs, problems, and lever arms. Some exercises may hurt more for some injury when standing, and a seated machine would be pain free. There is a context for every situation. So we should never be 100% standing or machines. Understanding the benefits of each will add variety to your workouts.