Favorite/Unique Machines you've tried?

[Love_to_Bodybuild]

Donkey calve raises give my calves a fuller look to the back of calves that I don't seem to get without this exercise

Hack squat helped quad size

Nautilus pullover I like to think it helped build my back

Side deltoid machine taught me how to do them with cables or at least that's where I got the idea from

 

[Ruhlfreak55]

Those mag grips are THE best. I love those. They gym I went to before Covid hit had them. Maybe I can buy some for my home. Have to search around the net and find where to buy them.

They're not expensive, my brother and I got 3 of them for our gym recently.

 

[maldorf]

They're not expensive, my brother and I got 3 of them for our gym recently.

Yeah, just saw that the most expensive is only about $75. I may buy 2 of them. The wide and narrow prorated.

I really like how light weight they are. Not sure what metal it is.

 

[Dave Perez]

I'll go back over 40 years and say I loved the nautilus double chest and double leg machines!

 

[airman]

Yeah, just saw that the most expensive is only about $75. I may buy 2 of them. The wide and narrow prorated.

I really like how light weight they are. Not sure what metal it is.

My advice is to go for the medium and and narrow. The wide one is much too wide. My gym has all three of them, and I never use the wide one. The medium one is a comfortable about shoulder width (maybe a bit closer) but I feel that this hits the back the best. I think the super wide one is not only awkward for pulldowns but I also think that it's a myth and completely wrong that the wider you go the more you will hit your lats. The wide one might work well for cable rows (like doing wide grip barbell rows) but for pulldowns I think it's terrible. Just my 2 cents.

 

[maldorf]

My advice is to go for the medium and and narrow. The wide one is much too wide. My gym has all three of them, and I never use the wide one. The medium one is a comfortable about shoulder width (maybe a bit closer) but I feel that this hits the back the best. I think the super wide one is not only awkward for pulldowns but I also think that it's a myth and completely wrong that the wider you go the more you will hit your lats. The wide one might work well for cable rows (like doing wide grip barbell rows) but for pulldowns I think it's terrible. Just my 2 cents.

Thanks, I was thinking that may be the case. I think the ones I used at the gym were medium and narrow pronated.

 

[USMuscle9403]

My advice is to go for the medium and and narrow. The wide one is much too wide. My gym has all three of them, and I never use the wide one. The medium one is a comfortable about shoulder width (maybe a bit closer) but I feel that this hits the back the best. I think the super wide one is not only awkward for pulldowns but I also think that it's a myth and completely wrong that the wider you go the more you will hit your lats. The wide one might work well for cable rows (like doing wide grip barbell rows) but for pulldowns I think it's terrible. Just my 2 cents.

Yea, I never use the wide one, either, and in my unprofessional opinion sucks ass at cable rows. Medium grip is most versatile; if you must have one, get that one.

Seriously, though, I'd never used them before and they changed the way I trained lats. They're getting sore as hell and steadily increasing weight!

 

[airman]

Yea, I never use the wide one, either, and in my unprofessional opinion sucks ass at cable rows. Medium grip is most versatile; if you must have one, get that one.

Seriously, though, I'd never used them before and they changed the way I trained lats. They're getting sore as hell and steadily increasing weight!

Yeah, the only reason I mentioned cable rows is because I just saw a video of Breon training back with Mike O'Hearn and they used to do these high cable rows to their upper chest. Targeting more upper back.

But I comely agree with you, I only use the medium one, I think my most improved bodypart in the last couple years is my back, and the mag is the only attachment I use for pulldowns (other than Hammer strength machines)

 

[Wynn]

I would try this but none of the equipment I own would fit it.

Sorinex Bulldog Pad

 

[gungalunga]

Two of my favs have been the Prime bicep curl machine and the Hammer Strength wide grip bench press. I like the bicep curl machine because you can load plates on to three different positions (or a combo of the three) which adds variety of resistance compared to regular bicep machines. The Hammer Strength wide grip bench is great because it puts me in a position where the resistance is where it should be.....on my chest,back, and triceps. My rotator cuffs love this machine. After going heavy my shoulders stay relatively pain free.

 

[Wynn]

I would like to try the dips on the belt squat machine at 9:00.

Wesley Vissers Chest Workout for MASS | Post Olympia Training

 

[USMuscle9403]

My gym has some awesome stuff and the owner frequently rotates in and out pieces of well maintained, vintage equipment. This is the first time I have used this assisted pullup/dip and it's one of the best I've used. It's a Hoist CD 2700.Instead of kneeling on a pad, you stand on a platform, or at least I can, but I'm 5'7 lol. It actually gives more of a feeling of seated dips, oddly enough. It's back day, so I'm going to try some lat work on it this morning

 

[benchmstr]

reverse hyper and belt squat

I’ve always been at a gym that had one, but never took it seriously...until I hit my early 30’s and injuries were taking there toll!


now that I have a whole powerlifting setup in my garage I fell without those 2 items I wouldn’t be able to do what I do now.

if I decided to compete again, I could likely clean up really well in my weight class just showing up...not on a national or international level..but certainly regional or state.

 

[lookslikesausage]

My gym has some awesome stuff and the owner frequently rotates in and out pieces of well maintained, vintage equipment. This is the first time I have used this assisted pullup/dip and it's one of the best I've used. It's a Hoist CD 2700.Instead of kneeling on a pad, you stand on a platform, or at least I can, but I'm 5'7 lol. It actually gives more of a feeling of seated dips, oddly enough. It's back day, so I'm going to try some lat work on it this morning

View attachment 124511

Cybex made (or made) a chin/dip assist w/a footbar to stand on while performing these movements and also adjustable arms for a closer/wider grip on the dips. I was a big fan of this piece myself.

For the original question, it's an east one for me. The Flex Leverage Plate Loaded Lat Pulldown and the Flex Hack Squat would have to be my top choices. Like a dumbass i sold my Flex Lat Pull. I got a nice amount for it (although after the pandemic i probably could have really cashed in) but i still haven't found anything close to it. Nautilus Xpload Lat Pulldown is an excellent piece but maybe just a notch below the Flex. Many people are raving about Panatta Sport's Lat Pulldown. Hopefully, next time i'm in FLA i'll have a chance to try it.

 

[USMuscle9403]

Cybex made (or made) a chin/dip assist w/a footbar to stand on while performing these movements and also adjustable arms for a closer/wider grip on the dips. I was a big fan of this piece myself.

For the original question, it's an east one for me. The Flex Leverage Plate Loaded Lat Pulldown and the Flex Hack Squat would have to be my top choices. Like a dumbass i sold my Flex Lat Pull. I got a nice amount for it (although after the pandemic i probably could have really cashed in) but i still haven't found anything close to it. Nautilus Xpload Lat Pulldown is an excellent piece but maybe just a notch below the Flex. Many people are raving about Panatta Sport's Lat Pulldown. Hopefully, next time i'm in FLA i'll have a chance to try it.

Nautilus Xpload is one of the main lines he has. The lat pull-down is awesome. Most pieces are good, in general. I'm a fan.

 

[lookslikesausage]

Nautilus Xpload is one of the main lines he has. The lat pull-down is awesome. Most pieces are good, in general. I'm a fan.

The Xpload Lat Pulldown and also their Incline Press IMO are excellent pieces and two of the best pieces in terms of newer generation stuff and by that i mean pieces released in the 2000s. When you think about it, it's pretty incredible that we really haven't seen much innovation in terms of equipment since the 70's and 80's. Arthur Jones's Nautilus cam was a big one. I also believe what Strive did was pretty incredible too but since then there really hasn't been any earth shattering products to hit the market. I had a Paramount Pendulum Squat that was also a wonderful machine. You could really torch your quads on that thing and get a huge ROM. only issue for me on that piece was that when i bottomed out on the thing the spinal compression was not kind to me. Otherwise, great piece.

 

[UsmcOldSchoolMuscle]

Swing Squats and belt squats. I really loved the swing squat, but only found it in one gym. Lows you to do really deep squats with zero strain on the low back.

View attachment 118312

I believe that I would really like and respond well to the swing squat. I hope to try it one day if I could just find it in a gym.

 

[Nyoco]

My advice is to go for the medium and and narrow. The wide one is much too wide. My gym has all three of them, and I never use the wide one. The medium one is a comfortable about shoulder width (maybe a bit closer) but I feel that this hits the back the best. I think the super wide one is not only awkward for pulldowns but I also think that it's a myth and completely wrong that the wider you go the more you will hit your lats. The wide one might work well for cable rows (like doing wide grip barbell rows) but for pulldowns I think it's terrible. Just my 2 cents.

Have you had the chance to try the pronated and supinated versions? If so which do you prefer?

 

[DarrenG29]

None here because all gyms are absolute crap around me and can’t travel miles to ones that are good

I do believe in machines now and if you have some very good ones these are a game changer for longevity

 

[Jetsmets1]

My gym has an old school plate loaded pullover machine also some moon boots that nobody uses