The Worst Gym Machine Ever?

Off Topic
41

[quote]MartyMonster wrote:
Although the most dangerous one I ever came across was a Smith Machine at Melbourne University. The bitch of a thing was supported off hooks that sat over pins. The trouble was that it was very possible to set up a ‘hair trigger’ situation by just racking the hook to the top of the pin and not all the way over the pin. One slightest tremor and the bar would shake loose and fall like a guillotine. Now imagine that happening while the bar has 60 kg on it. Now imagine some poor shmucks head in the way. The bar smacked into his head just below the nose, it shattered his upper jaw into three pieces…blood and teeth in all directions. A month later it did almost the same thing to another guy.[/quote]

42

[quote]spar4tee wrote:

[quote]X-Factor wrote:

[quote]spar4tee wrote:

[quote]X-Factor wrote:

[quote]spar4tee wrote:
Any Nautilus machine[/quote]

You’re kidding right? Have you ever taken any equipment analysis courses?

Take a look at their 4-bar linkage crunch machine…it has a moving virtual axis that acts the same way the virtual axis does in MOST people performing trunk flexion. It’s an engineering masterpiece as far as gym equipment goes and Tom Purvis is a fucking genius.

Just saying. If you can’t tell me what a cam/moment arm/axis/lever/force angle/pulley is then don’t say anything is shit. You might hate some equipment, but none of it is “shit”, some pretty close…but I can find an efficient use for pretty much anything. LEarn how your body works as a “machine” understand the physics of force application be creative and objective and you’ll find a use…trust me…

Over and Out[/quote]
LOL I guess I’m studying exercise science and physics for nothing. I’ve used some Nautilus machines two years ago, during a trip to central Florida, due to no access to a barbell and man weight. I assessed it as shit because I found the loading potential when “pushing the weight” to be dangerous.

A lot of shear on the joints and origins/insertions and the apparatuses don’t move in harmony with the body. That may be okay with 40lbs … not so much with 300lbs. My assessment was based solely on that experience. My post was made purely in jest anyways … soooo … PMS on someone else … mmkay? Thanks![/quote]

I believe most things on this site begin in jest haha. If you study physics how can you say you sheared an origin/insertion? [/quote]
I was only referring to joints in that regard. I thought about the origins and insertions afterwards but didn’t acknowledge the verb I had used.

[quote]
Unless Nautilus comes equipped with scissors… I’m sure you’re aware of the requirements for creating shear, i.e., directions of force and the most important thing contact surfaces. As us physics guys know however force creates wear, can’t do anything about it…and again, since when was 300lbs always 300lbs when you’re moving it…last time I checked it pretty much never is unless you managed to avoid rotatory motion during exercise…Which machine were you using? [/quote]
I was referring more so to where the loading occurs. Like squatting 600 with a close stance vs a wide one. The apparatus forced me into a wider hand placement and a straight bar path which isn’t very comfortable for me. It greatly disturbed my mechanical integrity, but I feel that way about most machines that I’ve tried. I don’t recall the name of the setup. It had a chest/shoulder press station, leg press station, leg extension/curl station, and a low row/pulldown station. They were arrayed in the shape of a square from what I remember. Not sure if they were adjoined or not. Probably not.

[quote]
I would assess the modern nautilus machines as being a lot more congruent with the movement of MOST people. Hence the reference to the 4-bar linkage and virtual axis movement…did you just disregard that haha?[/quote]
No lol. I make sure to read everything before I post when I intend to make an at least semi-intelligent response. I was focused solely on the reasoning behind my assessment in my previous post.

[quote]
Just curious have you heard much about RTS? If you’re enrolled in what you say you are i’m sure you would love it. A lot of great minds coming out of that place.[/quote]
No, I haven’t. What is it?[/quote]

www.resistancetrainingspecialist.com/rtsmastery.html

43

[quote]spar4tee wrote:
Any Nautilus machine[/quote]

Ever try the Nautilus Pullover? Legendary machine and the best lat pump ever.

44

[quote]Iron Dwarf wrote:

[quote]spar4tee wrote:
Any Nautilus machine[/quote]

Ever try the Nautilus Pullover? Legendary machine and the best lat pump ever.
[/quote]
I’ll give it a go if I spot one.

45

[quote]spar4tee wrote:

[quote]Iron Dwarf wrote:

[quote]spar4tee wrote:
Any Nautilus machine[/quote]

Ever try the Nautilus Pullover? Legendary machine and the best lat pump ever.
[/quote]
I’ll give it a go if I spot one.[/quote]

They’re hard to come by.

46

[quote]Iron Dwarf wrote:

[quote]spar4tee wrote:

[quote]Iron Dwarf wrote:

[quote]spar4tee wrote:
Any Nautilus machine[/quote]

Ever try the Nautilus Pullover? Legendary machine and the best lat pump ever.
[/quote]
I’ll give it a go if I spot one.[/quote]

They’re hard to come by.
[/quote]
Like unicorns and Michael Jackson impersonators?

47

[quote]killerDIRK wrote:
Simple: Anything that is NOT a barbell, dumbell, powertower or Prowler.

Remember the basics brothers ![/quote]

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.

48

[quote]spar4tee wrote:

[quote]Iron Dwarf wrote:

[quote]spar4tee wrote:

[quote]Iron Dwarf wrote:

[quote]spar4tee wrote:
Any Nautilus machine[/quote]

Ever try the Nautilus Pullover? Legendary machine and the best lat pump ever.
[/quote]
I’ll give it a go if I spot one.[/quote]

They’re hard to come by.
[/quote]
Like unicorns and Michael Jackson impersonators?[/quote]

lol

49

There are very few hamstring curl machines out there that are anything more than utterly useless pieces of shit.

50

I go to Leeds University and they invested massively in a new superfacility with an olympic pool, 200 station gym etc. There is a lot of money wasted though and my vote is definitely for the vibrate plate. Upon further research it is called the : http://www.powerplate.com/uk/media/testimonials and as you can see if backed by both Clint Eastwood and Sting, amongst others.

“In addition to the cardiovascular and resistance equipment, we also have two specialist machines, the first being the Radiant. The Radiant offers a wide range of exercises, but also allows progressions of exercise by increasing the stimulation of the torso stabiliser muscles. The second of the specialist machines is Kinesis One. This incorporates a double weight stack cable system which allows single and independent movements allowing variable resistance freedom of movement.”

I have never used any of the above, nor have I used the “stretching machines” (literally full sized pieces of equipment to assist stretching).

It’s a real shame they didn’t just cut out all that crap and instead invest in olympic plates instead of plates which fall apart, they are paying the price now as 1 1/2 years on almost all the plates are damaged. Could have made a prowler track by removing 20+ cardio stations. The list goes on and on. But damn, they must be a profitable gym (always packed to the brim, 1000s of paying members (the uni is 8k students and they are open to staff/alumni/outsiders too).

51

[quote]belligerent wrote:
There are very few hamstring curl machines out there that are anything more than utterly useless pieces of shit.[/quote]

Surprisingly enough, both of the ones in my gym are pretty good.

My nominee is most ab machines. IME, the majority of them have a very limited range of motion, no stretch whatsoever, encouraging people to use even more weight while working the muscles less.

52

There was a neat one at a local YMCA that was for forearms…it had a pad you rested your elbow on then you grasped basically a dumbbell handle attached to a cable and you rotated it left and right and it lifted a stack of plates…a very rare machine that as to work the rotation of the forearm and the brachialis.
Now my forearms are pretty strong…but shit…I almost ripped my arm off with the pin only two plates deep…I guess 20lbs…and the thing went up to 159 I guess.

I’ll see if I can find a picture online of it…but this was 15 years ago or more and the thing looked old. The padding was that vinyl sparkly kind like they used on old banana seats on kid;s bikes.

53

[quote]hungry4more wrote:

[quote]belligerent wrote:
There are very few hamstring curl machines out there that are anything more than utterly useless pieces of shit.[/quote]

Surprisingly enough, both of the ones in my gym are pretty good.

My nominee is most ab machines. IME, the majority of them have a very limited range of motion, no stretch whatsoever, encouraging people to use even more weight while working the muscles less. [/quote]

Honestly one of the best ab tools I’ve ever seen.

resistancetrainingspecialist.com/product.html?id=81

54

[quote]MartyMonster wrote:
Although the most dangerous one I ever came across was a Smith Machine at Melbourne University. The bitch of a thing was supported off hooks that sat over pins. The trouble was that it was very possible to set up a ‘hair trigger’ situation by just racking the hook to the top of the pin and not all the way over the pin. One slightest tremor and the bar would shake loose and fall like a guillotine. Now imagine that happening while the bar has 60 kg on it. Now imagine some poor shmucks head in the way. The bar smacked into his head just below the nose, it shattered his upper jaw into three pieces…blood and teeth in all directions. A month later it did almost the same thing to another guy.[/quote]

Similarly but worse, the bench at my high school gym has NO hooks where the bar racks. It just has a flat section for the bar to sit. So if the bar is racked and someone nudges it, it would just slide off. And this is what happened at one time onto some girl’s face

55

my gym has these USELESS things against the walls, i cant even describe them, but anyone with half a brain can tell by looking at them that these machines are useless. Hold on let me find a pic.

56


here it is

57

Hammer Strength H-squat. Don’t think it’s the worst, but maybe one of the most overbuilt and ridiculous. What a massive pile of iron to accomplish something as simple as squatting.

58

[quote]cakewalk wrote:

Hammer Strength H-squat. Don’t think it’s the worst, but maybe one of the most overbuilt and ridiculous. What a massive pile of iron to accomplish something as simple as squatting. [/quote]

Damn! I gotta agree.

59

[quote]Maiden3.16 wrote:

[quote]StateOfPsychosis wrote:
Every machine they put in the new gym that was built in the town I’m from. The seat on the machine moves when you perform the movement. I can’t think of the name of the line. There is a dip machine where the seat moves back when you press. They are awkward and stupid. The gym is filled with these machines, yet there is no leg press, no cable row machines, and the standing cable stacks are so light I can use the entire weight stack for push downs and I’m not that strong. [/quote]

HOIST machines. My gym added a shit ton of them a few months ago, and that’s what they are, shit.[/quote]

Lol -_-

Dante would strongly disagree with you my friend

"Some of the best equipment any of you will ever use is some of those HOIST machines if you can set yourself up properly on them…especially that HOIST incline press…if you have a flat upper chest and you are training on that HOIST incline with the stretch it puts you in at the beginning of the movement…you are doing something wrong then. "

60

[quote]cakewalk wrote:

Hammer Strength H-squat. Don’t think it’s the worst, but maybe one of the most overbuilt and ridiculous. What a massive pile of iron to accomplish something as simple as squatting. [/quote]

someone must have spent thousands of hours and millions of dollars to conceptualize, design, prototype and then build and distribute that fucking thing.

JUST TO PUSSY OUT OF SQUATTING!

Fuck.