...workout with free weights or on the machines?

It depends on what you would like to achieve: if you want to built up your muscles, it is better to work with free weights such as barbell, dumbbells, kettlebell, because when you work on the machines, the range of the motion is shorter than during working with free weights, which can lead to muscle shortening and contracture. Working with dumbbells or barbell, your body works in an open biokinematic chain. It means that in addition to the biggest muscles that work, small muscles, which support and stabilize the bigger ones, get involved as

well. Workout with dumbbells means proper synchronization between the right and left halves of your brain during an exercise, so eventually it helps to train the motor coordination. Moreover, during workout with free weights your muscles are getting more signals from your nervous system thanks to which they grow faster. Use the machines at the beginning of your adventure at the gym when there is no instructor with you, because you are safer on the machines than when you work for example with barbell. When you are coming back to train having recovered after a contusion or want to add one exercise with machines to your program to make it more interesting, do not build your program only with the use of the machines.