Yep! My middle/high school gym had one and we’d use the hell out of it for the conditioning/wrestling pre-season and when we got open conditioning days in the weight room.
Yes.
Last time I checked $500
Not grandkids. Hammer is the direct offspring of Nautilus, literally. It was created by Arthur Jones’ son, Gary.
And yep, definitely the gold standard for machines today from commercial gyms to pro and college weight rooms.
But, um, this… this I still don’t understand. But I really kinda wanna try one (while making spaceship rocket noises, most likely):
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That’s… Uh…
That’s really something.
I’m with you on the spaceship rocket noises. 
And you have to climb up and down, so it’s, like, totally functional training for you tree guys.
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Yowzer!
…looks really unnecessary + I would break my neck/get stuck coming down, 50% of the time every time + go straight though the floor
…I WANT IT. 
For anyone interested in the Nautilus compound bicep machine see my thread Arms up bicep machine better ? in the Darden coaching column. I don’t know how to link it here?
Scott
Imagine how brutal strip sets with no partners are with that beast.
Does anyone know what happened to Superslow franchises and or Josh Trentine ? Are they still in business.
Scott
Never used one of these, but my gym has one. Are they really that good as opposed to cable lateral raises?
Never used a nautilus pullover machine, but my gym has a pullover machine and that thing is fucking FIRE for building lats!
IMO, nothing is as good as kneeling bi-lateral cable lateral raises. Range of motion is much better and the variable resistance is near perfect.
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If you have to train around your natural strength curve, I think they’re great. I was always naturally on the very strong side, but finding that they were limiting factors, in terms of how certain equipment performed, or even just handling the weights needed to overload a certain muscle group. This machine let me drive the resistance through my elbows, without worrying about my wrists, or grip strength, letting me stop the range of motion where I needed to, before my traps took over, and really let me overload my natural strength curve without any of the limitations other approaches intrinsically involved.
That’s not to say I didn’t also use other approaches for my delt work, merely that these allowed me benefit I would not have derived Solely from other means.
S
The training studio that Trentine owned in Cleveland (Overload Fitness) is still in operation, and he is still listed as the owner. One of his former partners still owns and operates a training studio (Max Strength) in another Cleveland suburb.
I used to follow Trentine on Facebook. But sometime in the last year, he deleted the account. He has other social media accounts that are inactive. The Ren-Ex site is still live but shows no recent activity. So I assume he made a decision withdraw from social media, and now focuses on his local business, and maybe does some bodybuilding stuff.
I’m pretty sure there are still a number of training studios with Ren-Ex gear that are still in operation. An example would be The StrongWorks in West Hartford, CT.
There is still a franchising company called Super Slow Zone. They still show a number of active facilities, and you can still acquire a franchise from them. However, Hutchins and the Super Slow Zone parted company years ago.
I found the brand Meadows uses, it’s Prime. Website was super fancy. Guessing prices reflect that.
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Haha I do these. They are great if you get tendonitis that periodically flares up
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Hi Scott,
I loved that machine , but never saw anybody perform it correctly except when I was instructing (and correcting) them .
It become too easy to bring the forearms forward and begin recruiting fresh pectoral fibres instead continuing to fatigue the lats with the forearms back against the padding.
Mark
I’ve used it before on a few occasions.
Overall it is quite a nice movement , but nothing special.
Certainly not worth all the expense and complexity behind it .
But certainly an interesting experience using it.
Mark
I’ve heard people say it was a great machine if used properly but finding out exactly was is proper has not been easy. One knowledgeable person said to have the fingers and forearms pointed up but I find when doing so I can feel something in the shoulders that tells me I’m placing my shoulders in a precarious position. When I bring the forearms forward a little the stress on the shoulder joint is diminished . I’ve wondered if this machine was discontinued for reasons like this? It seems like a machine that if not performed perfectly it could lead to injury of the shoulder joint and most people will not perform it perfectly and even if they did it could still lead to trouble.
Scott
Unless one has existing shoulder issues I cannot see any problems using it (one would start at a light and appropriate weight to master technique first).
But to be fair it is many years since I have used it , so maybe I am looking back at it through “young eyes”
I used to focus on squeezing down the pads using my triceps , whilst keeping my arms in line with the body.
Mark
I’ve done like you say but I just don’t know if it’s working the lats any better than a simple pulldown and with a pulldown I don’t have to be concerned as much about keeping my hands and arms in perfect position and injuring a shoulder socket. To me the whole purpose of taking the hands out of play with rollers was when grip starts being a factor. If I’m using a fairly light weight the grip isn’t an issue?
Scott