Many athletic programs and professional sport teams along with a multitude
of individuals use bodybuilding machines to condition athletes. When we
consider that most bodybuilding exercises require neuromuscular isolation
(working a single muscle), not integration (working multiple muscles and
muscle groups), and virtually every sport or functional activity known to
man requires a high level of neuromuscular integration, we are off to a bad
start.
Bodybuilding exercises done on machines require no activation of postural
muscles, minimal activation of stabilizers and neutralizer muscle function,
and certainly don't require that you maintain your center of gravity over
your base of support at all times. There's not much need to activate and
stabIlize postural muscles
 when sitting on a machine with the base of
support bolted to the ground!
If I were a sabertooth tiger in the primal environment, I would certainly
be hoping to see a bodybuilder or two by now. I wonder if a tiger could
taste the lack of neuromuscular intelligence in a muscle, should he have
eaten a bodybuilder? A good athlete will never know!
George Carvajal