Opinions on the Hammer Strength horizontal bench press (pic)

[bigman]

Guys, I am looking for positive or negative feedback on the Hammer horizontal plate loaded bench press machine. If I get good feedback, I'll go to Toronto and measure one up and get right on building it. I have the Hammer incline, but I want a flat bench too. I think it would be nice to finish off with after incline BB and flyes. All I have to think about is push the weight up-no balancing. Thanks.

 

[Conan21]

they used to have one at my old gym.....i really didn't like the motion of the the movement....i think the vertical flat presses works better.

 

[In-Human]

bigman, I have been using this bench since '92 in our gym, it is an ok machine but has a lot of shoulder involved.

If you slide to the top on the bench you do a Decline movement.

We do slide around a bit on the bench to work different areas, tough to spot from if you have a bad back, but I like it...

 

[LATS]

THIS IS ONE OF THE FEW MOVEMENTS THAT HAMMER DOERS NOT HAVE RIGHT.. when pressing for chest the body will naturally arc the weight slightly toward the face.. it seems tha the hammer machine does not have the pivot point right.. it should be lower to make the machine arms travel back wards.. look at hammer machine for shest and you will see most start low with the handles and while pressing you notice the the handles end toward the face.. for some reason it does not happen with this one and feels awkward on the shoulders..

 

[bigman]

Thanks for the quick replies. I have this thread on 2 other boards and no one has said they like it. LATS even yelled at me so I would hear him. I don't think this is going to get built.

 

[LATS]

lol actually i forgot my caps were on..

 

[holyintellect]

There are two things I dont like about this particular piece....First, the arms sit too low, and I have to put a 25lb plate under each one to get it up high enough for me to start and stop without tearing my shoulders out of my sockets. Secondly, I hate unilateral bench pieces.....It seems like I spend half my set focusing on keeping the arms moving together instead of the actual movement.

holy

 

[Dave_19]

HS machines are a bitch to try to spot on, they are still usefull in my routine I will just strip weight.

 

[IronMike]

Not

Not as good as plain heavy dumbells if you are training alone (as I often do). BUT it aint toooo bad some of the time. I'll use it ocassionally maybe if I'm really drained, have done something like incline heavy presses and incline flyes.... it does seem like the bloody arms/handles are too low - I've nearly torn an arm out every time I've used it.

I get a better range of motion, feeling for the weight, and total muscle involvement with plain old dumbells.

Hammer make some good machines, but really it's cos they all mimick the natural freeweight movement in the most simple and direct manner, in my opinion. And they work for that reason mostly, so it begs the question what the HELL unproductive junk is cluttering up most gyms?! IronMike

 

[bigman]

Thanks again for all of the replies. Every gym that I have gone to that has one of these machines, there is ALWAYS 25lb plates under the support arms. All I would have to do is make the arms 1 1/4-1 1/2" longer and that would take care of that problem. Too much negative to go through the hassle of fabricating it. Thanks for saving me the grief.

 

[jawbreakerkid]

only gets used for shrugs in my gym

 

[JETHRO TULL]

YEP....ONLY TRIED IT ONCE....HURT MY SHOULDERS.

IF YOU'VE GOT TWO PEOPLE STANDING THERE AT ALL TIMES TO LIFT IT OUT OF THE BOTTOM FOR YOU, I GUESS IT MIGHT BE OKAY.

I DIDN'T LIKE IT MUCH.

 

[G.E.R.M]

..

my shoulders did NOT like it one bit

this is the ONLY movement or machine that has bothered my new enhanced GH repaired shoulders....

i really prefer the vertical flat press

 

[Gundill]

THIS IS ONE OF THE FEW MOVEMENTS THAT HAMMER DOERS NOT HAVE RIGHT.. when pressing for chest the body will naturally arc the weight slightly toward the face..

This is what I like, instead of moving toward the face, it moves toward the abs like it should.
Read what Louie Simmons has to say about the path of the bar for the bench press. I agree with him 100%
You can also perform an improved version of shrug on it too. So, you have 2 machines in one.

 

[moose]

I was a H.S. representative with my previous company...Many of their plate loaded machines are nice, but I agree that there are some that suck as well.. IMO, Flex has some of the best plate loaded machines that are available. But, once again, can't beat the real thing.

moose

 

[LATS]

gundill.. i can not find anything about that.. do you have a link.. one of the reasons powerlifters press straight up or towards the feet is to shorten range of motion which aids in the moving of heavy weight..is that what you mean or something different..

 

[MiniYates]

I´ll have to agree. I don´t like this Hammer machine, but thats about the only one out of the lot. When I tore my chest it was over two workouts, the first one invovled Flat Smith benches and the second one this machine.

 

[Gundill]

gundill.. i can not find anything about that.. do you have a link.. one of the reasons powerlifters press straight up or towards the feet is to shorten range of motion which aids in the moving of heavy weight..is that what you mean or something different..

shorter range of motion true, but this is also the way the chest muscle can produce the most strength.
This kind of duplicates a decline press

 

[xcelbeyond]

I know nothing about the motion this machine does but I agree with Gundhill (although I've never thought of it this way).

My spotter agrees with me a high level black belt karate instructor that's 5'8" and 250 lbs and can still do the splits! He says your strength comes from the inside - arms towards inside of body. All power hits come groom this motion. There is not not near as muck power in a rounhouse punch.

Now as this relates to bench press. As I've stated before, I learned bench press techinque from someone that hold at least three state bench records in different weight classes. He said to do this (for power/heavy weights):
1) Medium width - shoulder width or a tad more grip on bar
2) Keep elbows in when lowering and raising
3) As weight is lowered, squeeze your lats and use them to assist the press upward.
4) Lower weight to bottom of chest

Try this example, just sitting at your somputer - as you can "feel" how my point is demonstrated. Put your arms straight out in front of you, as you do at beginning of bench press - using 1) above. Keeping elbows against your body, bring your arms towards your body (at lower chest), as in lowering a bar. Notice how your lats should be squeezed, and there's not much pressure on your shoulders.

From this position, bring your hands towards upper chest or neck (if you can). You can feel how pressure is take off lats and more pressure it put on shoulders.

After YEARS of benching like most people do, it takes a LONG time to train your mind to do this. But I've managed to increase the amount of weight used drastically over the conventional method.

xcel

 

[LATS]

well, i guess my argument would be about gravity.. the weight should travel according to gravity.. which is straight up and down.. when pressing towards the feet, would nt we actually take stress off the pecs and throw it on the front delts?? the front delts would actually take the stress .. try doing it with a empty bar and you will see what i mean.. no matter what we do , we can not duplicate a decline movement on a flat bech with out excessive back arch..even then, my point is true that the weight travels in a straight motion more or less.. the pecs do actually work better in a decline fashion i agree.. but, that is way we have decline presses and dips so that we may duplicate this.. i do not see how trying to bench this way is better for the pecs when resistance will have to fall off the pecs when pressing towards the feet.. it can not be helped..it does shorten the range of motion.. but, that is all i can see.. when jones came up with his hammer machines he did a good job..but, the chest machines all show (except the one in question) travel in a arc towards the face.. he did this to duplicate the proper travel..