any one have experience with this device?
exercisecertification.com/graphics/News%20Thumbnails/freespotter.html
known as the free Spotter, the barbell is held in place via clamps fastened to a ropes that run along either side of the barbell. supposedly the lifter relaese the clamp and moves up-down, side-to-side at will, then squeezes the clamp to engage and the bar is held in place.
sounds like a good invention, but its relative ambiguity has me suspicious.
A 2-D Smith Machine has been made called the Jones Machine. Any spotting device that’s reliant on thin ropes is sketch. I’d stick with the power rack. It’s one of the few things in this world I trust.
Looks like it would be slipping once you had some real weight on it.
I would rather squat with just some uprights than that.
Its a good idea tho.
seems like it would affect your grip having that extra bar there. also you woud really have to mount that thing properly to your joists to use anything more than a couple hundred pounds. a basic power cage would be 100 times more effective.
From the testimonials page:
I normally don’t post on any forums but without this piece of equipment
I wouldn’t have been able to reach my goals . I lift at home about 70
percent of the time by myself. All of my heavy benching is done on this
machine. I have had it for about five years and have had no problems
out of it. I have had as much as 590 on it and I would trust it for
much more.
If you lift by yourself with heavy weights this is a must
have. I feel the range of motion is as close as you can get to benching
with no spotters. There is no way I could have won at USAPL bench
nationals if I didn’t have this equipment.
Like I said I train by
myself most of the time but I always feel safe maxing out. Thanks Sherm
(2/12/08)
I don’t know, the ropes are 10,000 lb tested, and the clamping mechanisms are tested for up to 2,000 lbs. so as long as you mount it to something sturdy. I’m excited to try this, I’ll be putting one in my garage pretty soon. At $150 bucks its worth trying out.
I’d really like to here from someone on this site who has tried it before though.