Weights
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Weights are exercise equipment used for strength training. The term is commonly used as a shortened form of the term free weights, but it can also refer to any exercise machine that uses weighted plates as the major opposing force.
While there is debate over whether weight machines or free weights are better, machine weights are generally considered safer. On a machine you can lift more outright weight, working the main muscle (prime mover) harder, but with free weights you also work the smaller supporting synergist and stabilizer muscles, which aids balance and perhaps burns more calories. You can lift heavier outright weight with a machine because the tension is the same through the whole range of motion, while with free weights the weight is limited by "sticking points", so you are not putting the muscle through maximum load in other parts of the range of motion outside of the "sticking points". This is the main reason why machine weights were invented. It is general convention that machines are given to beginners, while free weights are given to more experienced people, so free weights can be considered a more advanced form of exercise.
While both are considered free weights, dumbbells are considered to be more unstable and therefore more advanced than barbells. The advantage of using dumbbells is that they work the left and right muscles independently, unlike with most machines and barbells, where the dominant side does most of the work. (However, there are some machines that have independent handles.) Smith machines are a combination of free weight and machine, although really more of a machine because they don't really require stability. However they give the psychological impression of using a barbell while giving the safety of the hooks, especially useful for dangerous, heavy weight exercises like decline bench press and squats. Doing weights on a swiss ball increases instability, working mainly the abdominal core region, as well as the stability muscles, and due to the additional neurological input this coordination requires, the maximum weight lifted cannot be as high as on a bench or machine.
