Barbells versus machines versus everything else.

Barbell training is the best way to train for strength, bar none.

Nothing else even comes close to the effectiveness of barbell squats,

presses, deadlifts, and the Olympic lifts for the development of strength, power, and muscular

signs. The reason barbells are so very valuable is that they are the most ergonomically friendly

load handling tool in existence. They allow very heavy weights to be gripped in the hands quite effectively and moved in vertical lines directly over the balance point, the center of the foot.

Their extremely adjustable nature allows small increases in stress to be applied to the whole body over the full range

of motion of all the major leverage systems of the body. Increases that accumulate into amazing

gains in size and strength for many uninterrupted years of progress. You should be using them.

First, some background material.

The biological basis of all exercise is stress,

the recovery from stress, and the subsequent adaptation to the stress.

Stress is a physical stimulus that causes a change in the body's current state of equilibrium.

Stress can be physical exercise, an unaccustomed lack of physical exercise,

an infectious disease, or a very long, very late party. Recovery from

that stress is the body's way of preparing itself for a potential future exposure to that

same stress. And the process of stress and recovery then results in adaptation. Adaptation to exercise

increases strength or endurance. Adaptation to an unaccustomed lack of exercise decreases

strength or endurance and muscle mass, bone density, and other physical adaptations

that have previously occurred. Adaptation to the party prepares the liver for the next one,

and adaptation to infectious disease is known as immunity. Training is the process of creating the desired adaptation for a specific physical task.

Strength, which is the ability to produce force against an external resistance in the

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