I first want to say that I rarely use machines and rarely have any of my clients use machines unless for a special reason.
So with that said, I just would like to hear some favorite brand machines and favorite pieces.
I live on Vancouver island and Apex is a local brand that almost all gyms have. There are a few gyms that have different brands.
Atlantis is a brand that the other gym in my town has and I had the pleasure to take them for a ride. Their lying Leg curl kicked the crap out of my hams. They haven’t felt that in ages I must say. A few years back in Penticton I worked out at a really nice gym on the 3rd floor downtown. Almost all their equipment was from Strive. They have the adjustable cams to load different parts of the range of motion. They also had a couple leg curls that killed my hams. They also had a preacher curl that became my friend.
Ok so I hardly use machines when I workout but when I go to different gyms I try new stuff out. Are there any machines you’d like to have at your gym that were at another gym you’ve tried???
Kieser air machines are interesting to use. I quite like bench pressing using thier new rack, it is totally different to with a normal bar and you can go for heavy resistance because of the added safety of no momentum and being able to unload quickly by opening the air valve if you get stuck.
Other than Kieser, MedX are the only brand I would bother with. The two machines I use for 3 eight week cycles each year are the MedX Lumbar Extension and Rotary Torso - they really work. 4 way neck is also good for contact sports. Their leg and chest press arn’t bad either.
It’s funny the first person to respond mentioned the Kaiser Air Machines. We have those at our gym and personally, I find them totally useless. I find them so useless I didn’t even mention my gym has them, but we do.
I have a client that’s in a wheelchair and is a partial quad. I belt him in and he uses the row machine, the pulldown and chestpress. He obviously gets some sort of muscular stimulation from it but if he could choose he’d be doing chins and bench.
I’ve fiddled with the chest press and the row and I just think, “is there an exercise I could be doing with freeweights or cables instead of this?” and the answer is a resounding yes.
They just feel weird. I don’t “feel” them all that much either. But, if that’s the machine you enjoy then more power to you. Some guys really dig tricep kickbacks and get a pump so there’s no point in telling them no.
2 machines that should be as common as a bench press are the glut ham and the reverse hyper. I see an add for a Keiser machine endorsed by Michael Boyle. It looks like a nice pully system but not much more.
QUOTE=Plook]I first want to say that I rarely use machines and rarely have any of my clients use machines unless for a special reason.
So with that said, I just would like to hear some favorite brand machines and favorite pieces.
I live on Vancouver island and Apex is a local brand that almost all gyms have. There are a few gyms that have different brands.
Atlantis is a brand that the other gym in my town has and I had the pleasure to take them for a ride. Their lying Leg curl kicked the crap out of my hams. They haven’t felt that in ages I must say. A few years back in Penticton I worked out at a really nice gym on the 3rd floor downtown. Almost all their equipment was from Strive. They have the adjustable cams to load different parts of the range of motion. They also had a couple leg curls that killed my hams. They also had a preacher curl that became my friend.
Ok so I hardly use machines when I workout but when I go to different gyms I try new stuff out. Are there any machines you’d like to have at your gym that were at another gym you’ve tried???[/QUOTE]