I have heard aton of good things about doing reverse hypers for sports and backside development, but my problem is I don’t have a rev. hype machine. Could someone give me a few tips on where to perform these? How would I had weight as well? Yo
im pretty sure u can do them with a swiss ball…
Find a high bench, or the bed of a pickup truck. There’s this island/counter at my gym where members store their training programs, you should see the llok I get when I hop onto that to do my sets. As far as adding weights goes, I bought a couple of those strap-on ankle weights, some chain from the hardware store, along with some hooks. I strap on the ankle weights, run the chain through a weight and hook it back to the other strap, and there you go. Like I said, I get a lot of strange looks. There’s also a glute/ham bench in there. Once, a guy was watching me do a set, and walked up to me to ask "Dude, what are you doing? You’re using the Roman chair all wrong. He then proceeded to hop on and do … sit ups.
If you don’t have access to a reverse hyper machine you will not be able to duplicate the effects of the exercise. You can either find a gym that has a reverse hyper or buy one from Dave Tate at elitefts.com. If you can’t do that stick to hyperextensions, pull-thru’s, stiff leg deads, romanian deads, glute ham raises, etc.
Improvise! Use a counter, or a decline bench rested up on top of a flat bench, Coach Davies claims to have even used the cab of a truck. As for adding weight you could attach a dumbell via rope or something to you ankles or just go with 20 or so reps unweighted, trust me you’ll feel it.
I built my own.I think it works fairly well. Not to the degree of a pro reverse hyper, but I can easily add weight. You can lay across a counter, desk, etc., as long as it’s high enough to let your legs hang down. The first trick I used to use was to pile those reebok steps about 5 or 6 high, lying them onto of a flat bench(running parallel). I would then climb on and hold onto the bench to make sure the steps didn’t fall off. It worked great,and is easy to do. You can add weight by holding a dumbbell between your legs.
do a serach on the forum because i know it was discussed before. i’ve tried doing them several different ways. they were nothing like a real reverse hyper. talk your gym into buying a reverse hyper.
They have alos brought up my squat about 100 pounds since i started to do them about 2 years ago. Work great… do them in conjunction with glut-ham haises.
Oh ya. the most comfortable way of doing them without a machine is to do them on a hyper extention bench but lay backwards oo it instead of the conventional direction.
Well, here’s a risky alternative. It could get you in trouble w/ the gym staff or you could simply hurt yourself. I get away w/ it because I work out out at 2 A.M. so know one is there to care. I use one of those step-up boards but I put the board really high – to my hips. I’ve learned how to keep the thing from collapsing under me by balancing my weight and holding on to it in a certain way (you’ll have to experiment).
Alex…any tips on building your own?
I built a platform that i could lay across the support bars on my powerrack. Put a loaded bar below the platform to hang on to.I have recently added a selectorized weight stack to the back of my powerrack with high/low pulleys. I have not used it for this yet but I plan on using tricep straps around my ankles.
It wasn’t that hard, it just took a little thinking. I built it out of pressure treated 4 X 4. I spent a weekend on it, it’s very sturdy, and it doesn’t have all kinds of bolts sticking out of it. I just made sure that it was high enough. I used a hinge to attach a 3ft(approx) piece of 4X4 for the lever. I have a 2 inch diameter steel bar going through the lever that holds the weight( could possibly use PVC pipe).When I’m home again(where the R-hyper is)I could get some specific measurements as I threw the plans out.
I was suprised to read your post, I’ve had to improvise on my reverse hypers, and so has everyone else that I know. We’ve all gotten pretty good results from them, what is the specific reason for having to do them on a dedicated bench or not doing them at all?
Coach Davies supports improvising when there is not a dedicated machine.
Try using the Kitchen table. I’ve found this works well but your old lady might get upset. All the other ideas work well. All you need is a platform that is high enough. Anything will do
I have never done reverse hypers on a rev. hyper machine or improvised (I don’t have access to the machine). I have seen people tell Louie Simmons (inventor of the rev hyper)they use a rev hyper that is attached to a selectorized stack and he has told them it is not the same as a rev hyper. I am assuming that with a cable A)the line of pull is different B) you are resisting the weight at all times and wouldn’t be relaxed enough to allow spinal fluid to enter the spine for restoration on the negative C)you would not get the same explosive power out of the movement. If you are a bodybuilder you could probably get some hypertrophy out of improvising with bands, cables etc. but as a powerlifter I do not feel that I would be able to add enough resisitance (safely without a stable machine) to improve my force production. So you can do the improvised version if you want but I don’t waste the time when I know I can choose from other exercises that I can use with proper resistance and safety.
for powerlifting and athletics, you need the ballastic movements. the reverse hyper with its pendulum and straps allows you to get the ballastic movement. I have not been able to do that another way. also, the pendulum pulls your legs underneath you which pulls the vertabra apart allowing fluid to enter. i have not been able to get that movement using bands, dumbbells, ankle weights, or cable machines. that’s part of the restoration and rehab features of the reverse hypers. the best home made reverse hyper had a pendulum made out of chain hanging from a bench laid on a power rack. however, there is no control over its side to side motion.
Alex…Thanks.