Building lean muscle does not necessarily equivocate to becoming skinny. It means you have a high amount of muscle on your body with a low amount of fat. When it comes to training, you can build lean muscle with free weights or machines. As far as machines go, there is more than one that can do the job. The objective is to target all of your major muscle groups.
Plate-Loaded Bench Press
A regular bench press machine has a single lever arm with a weight stack and it is operated from a seated or lying position. A plate-loaded machine is operated from a lying position, but instead of sliding a pin into a weight stack you use weight plates to change the resistance. What makes this machine advantageous is the fact that you move two independent lever arms up in the air. This causes you to recruit more muscle fibers to generate force and remain stable. The main muscles worked with the bench press are the pectorals, deltoids and triceps.
Smith Machine
The Smith machine contains a barbell that is attached to durable upright supports. The bar slides up and down on these supports, and you can lock it into place by rotating it. This makes it a good option if you are lifting a heavy weight and can't quite finish a repetition. You increase the resistance by sliding weight plates onto the ends of the bar. Being that it always stays parallel to the floor, there is no need to put collar ties on the ends to hold the plates. You can do a number of exercises on the Smith machine, such as shoulder presses, upright rows, squats and lunges. You can also slide a weight bench under the bar to do bench presses.
Cable Machine
A cable machine has two weight stacks spaced about 10 feet apart. They get moved by way of a cable and pulley system that can be adjusted up and down. Multiple attachments are available such as single handles, revolving bars, ropes, close-grip bars and ankle straps. You can perform exercises that include cable crunches, chops, crossovers, biceps curls, triceps extensions and hip abduction. One last benefit of this machine is that it commonly has a pull-up bar across the top.
Seated Leg Press
The seated leg press targets the glutes, quadriceps and hamstrings in one motion. You can change the resistance by sliding a pin into a weight stack or sliding weight plates onto a tube-shaped cylinder. You perform the exercise by sitting in the seat and pushing against a steel plate with your feet. Once your knees are just short of locking out, lower the plate back to the starting point and repeat.
Captain's Chair
The captain's chair is an ab training device that does not come with any resistance adjustments. The main exercise performed on this is a reverse crunch. To do it, place your feet on the lower supports, lean back against the backrest and place your forearms across the upper supports. Remove your feet from the supports and let your legs hang down toward the floor. Steadily lift your legs in the air with your knees bent and stop when your thighs parallel the floor. Lower your legs back down and repeat. The American Council on Exercise claims the captain's chair exercise is the best exercise for oblique recruitment and second best for rectus abdominis recruitment.
Cardio Machine
Cardiovascular exercise burns fat that is important for developing a defined look. Any number of cardio machines are effective as long as you like what you use. Treadmills, elliptical trainers, rowing machines, stationary bikes and stair climbers are examples.
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