What useful piece of equipment is missing from your gym?

[JohhnyC 2728]

Whilst a lot of gym equipment is unnecessary and aimed at encouraging people (especially woman)  to sign up I do miss a few pieces I have rarely see in gyms  such as nautilus pullover , plate load glute machine (or whatever you call them), rotational abdominal machines such as that old torso rotatary machine, dedicated calf machines etc

I never saw the need for a chest press in all my time at the gym , DB or Barbell press is always superior. Also why buy a pectoral fly and not a pec / rear delt machine instead ?

Most posher gyms now add a load of leg machines (quad extension, ham curl , glute press, hip adductors),  and so on but the weight stack is so low its near pointless unless you're are doing one leg at a time which for things like ham curls is bad for hip alignment

Sure most is unnecessary but it's nice to break it up from the usual free weights routines . 

My gym is fairly new, posh style, clean, half empty due to the high price (double of neighbouring gyms ) but it was set up by a business man rather than a lifter . He has a load of new  life fitness stuff but missing some of the basics like DB that don't go past 30KG and a load of fixed and easystyle fixed barbells (max 30kg), every accessory you can think of like ropes, kettlebells, tyres, medicine balls , heavy bags, .resistance tubes but not a single 4ft straight bar or easybar for curls 

 

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[mrwright 3275]

Girls in yoga pants 

 

[Dingbat 6]

3 hours ago, JohhnyC said:

Whilst a lot of gym equipment is unnecessary and aimed at encouraging people (especially woman)  to sign up I do miss a few pieces I have rarely see in gyms  such as nautilus pullover , plate load glute machine (or whatever you call them), rotational abdominal machines such as that old torso rotatary machine, dedicated calf machines etc

I never saw the need for a chest press in all my time at the gym , DB or Barbell press is always superior. Also why buy a pectoral fly and not a pec / rear delt machine instead ?

Most posher gyms now add a load of leg machines (quad extension, ham curl , glute press, hip adductors),  and so on but the weight stack is so low its near pointless unless you're are doing one leg at a time which for things like ham curls is bad for hip alignment

Sure most is unnecessary but it's nice to break it up from the usual free weights routines . 

My gym is fairly new, posh style, clean, half empty due to the high price (double of neighbouring gyms ) but it was set up by a business man rather than a lifter . He has a load of new  life fitness stuff but missing some of the basics like DB that don't go past 30KG and a load of fixed and easystyle fixed barbells (max 30kg), every accessory you can think of like ropes, kettlebells, tyres, medicine balls , heavy bags, .resistance tubes but not a single 4ft straight bar or easybar for curls 

 

I agree. I’m currently looking for a decent incline, flat and declining bench because I don’t want to buy three different types.

[Kazza61 6753]

Would have loved a good pullover machine in my home gym but they just take up too much room where space is limited. Would probably have to sacrifice two pieces of equipment to get one in.

[Chicken_Boy 347]

Naked curvy chicks.

And a pec dec. We dont have one. Kinda annoying.

We dont have any calf machines either

thankfully my calves are huge enough already

[Pez189 805]

A lying leg curl (or a standing leg curl)

A seated calf raise. 

A hammer pulldown (I really WISH my gym had one of these). 

A lat raise machine (would be nice) 

A torso rotator  

A reversible flye machine (where you can do rear flyes too)

[Philfg 474]

Leg extension, hamstring curl, leg press and I'd be sorted. 

[Chicken_Boy 347]

7 hours ago, JohhnyC said:

 

Most posher gyms now add a load of leg machines (quad extension, ham curl , glute press, hip adductors),  and so on but the weight stack is so low its near pointless

this is partly why i stopped going to commercial gyms

i was literally maxing out all the machines, and im not even that big compared to some other guys on here

i think most commercial gyms are built for cardio bunnies and weekend warriors, not serious lifters

these days, i avoid like the plague

 

[Ares 3348]

A glute ham raise station!

I go to a decently kitted out Pure.. they've got prowlers, turf, bumper plates, deadlift platforms, loads of racks and 900 different machines if you're a bit of a fanny - but not one glute ham raise station. 

I'd like one of those. 

and a gym that's open.

[Zoob1234 100]

11 minutes ago, Ares said:

A glute ham raise station!

I go to a decently kitted out Pure.. they've got prowlers, turf, bumper plates, deadlift platforms, loads of racks and 900 different machines if you're a bit of a fanny - but not one glute ham raise station. 

I'd like one of those. 

and a gym that's open.

Love a glute/ham deck. Trying to do Nordic falls on your own is a pain in the ass. At least if a gym has one of these you can beast your hammys good and proper!!

Would also be useful for the managers in my gym to order in enough pates to match the amounts of squat racks. If we have 4 people squatting/deadlifting heavy then all the plates are gone!! It's a joke.

I know they get some stick, but a decent hex/trap bar would be a good addition too. Nice to throw in some dead variations every now and again.

[Seppuku71 1266]

7 hours ago, JohhnyC said:

Whilst a lot of gym equipment is unnecessary and aimed at encouraging people (especially woman)  to sign up I do miss a few pieces I have rarely see in gyms  such as nautilus pullover , 

 

 

 

Name drop time - i once had an hour long chat with Arthur Jones, the inventor of Nautilus.

To answer your question though, i like the look of those plate loading leaverage overhead press machines. I was looking into getting a new trap bar, one of the rackable ones from Strength Shop, mainly for overhead pressing. Maybe some atlas stones to play around with too.

[Bensif 1893]

Ours is fairly kit. I’ve been quite diligent in what we have bought and we have things like;

Pendulum squat

plate loaded hip thrust / Glute drive

Pin loaded calf extension

Sissy squat

Chest supported t bar row 

Dumbbells over 50kg (uncommon in London)

Proper safety bar

Spider cambered bar

etc

Little bits that are a bit rarer but people do want. We have all the standard stuff too and all our kit is life / hammer plus a few cybex pieces.

I just ask our members each month what’s needed and then short list stuff. This I hope will build loyalty.

[Ares 3348]

4 hours ago, Zoob1234 said:

Trying to do Nordic falls on your own is a pain in the ass. 

Broken nose and/ or wrist waiting to happen 

[Zoob1234 100]

12 minutes ago, Ares said:

Broken nose and/ or wrist waiting to happen 

Hahaha yeah. Not going to lie, when I first started doing them I was not landing softly. Annoyingly they do help with sprinting, so have kept them in the routine.

[D 4 Damage 694]

9 hours ago, mrwright said:

Girls in yoga pants 

 

Could hire a brass to ponce round in your garage while you train, problem solved

[JohhnyC 2728]

17 hours ago, Seppuku71 said:

Name drop time - i once had an hour long chat with Arthur Jones, the inventor of Nautilus.

he was ahead of his time that guy, it's a very underrated exercise in my view 

 

17 hours ago, Bensif said:

I just ask our members each month what’s needed and then short list stuff. This I hope will build loyalty.

that's excellent service, I guess it's hard to balance the the business financial aspect with the requirements of members . If a gym is oriented towards both men and women then some  requirements will be different for both sexes. If 0.5% of members are using 60kg+ dumbbells its hard to justify buying them 

 

18 hours ago, Chicken_Boy said:

i think most commercial gyms are built for cardio bunnies and weekend warriors, not serious lifters

that's how the make the money though, due in there 5 days a week means more cost for hot water , wear and tear on equipment  and so on, makes the place look full etc. 

 

[\/\/ 50]

45 degree leg press.

 

[Tonysco 958]

Either a matt wenning belt squat or a good morning machine. 

 

[safc49 1200]

Leg press

[PaulNe 185]

My home gym is missing a spotter and somebody to wipe my brow

[EpicSquats 6554]

On 1/13/2021 at 9:16 AM, Kazza61 said:

Would have loved a good pullover machine in my home gym but they just take up too much room where space is limited. Would probably have to sacrifice two pieces of equipment to get one in.

I bought a pullover machine from China 2 years ago. Unfortunately I bought the wrong type and ended up producing 3000 jumpers before I realised what happened. I ended up giving the jumpers away to the charity shop. It was a lesson learned. Always ask about the product before you buy.

[Shergar 680]

Our gym is very well equipped but a piece I do miss from years ago and would love to use again is the iron cross machine.

Danny.

[Bensif 1893]

4 hours ago, JohhnyC said:

 

that's excellent service, I guess it's hard to balance the the business financial aspect with the requirements of members . If a gym is oriented towards both men and women then some  requirements will be different for both sexes. If 0.5% of members are using 60kg+ dumbbells its hard to justify buying them . 

 

Yeah it can be, although we already had them! The requests don’t tend to vary that much surprisingly and people aren’t usually that specific.

Eg both women and men previously asked us if we could get a ‘bum machine’. So we bought two.

You do get the occasional specific request, like with the donkey calf raise. The same guy that asked for this also asked if we could get a belt squat. I love both those machines but most people won’t care if we do or don’t have it.

In this climate though it’s hard to know what to do. Double down and hope or pull back.

[Pez189 805]

2 minutes ago, Bensif said:

Eg both women and men previously asked us if we could get a ‘bum machine’. So we bought two.

You have two @js77’s in there?  

[Kazza61 6753]

41 minutes ago, Shergar said:

Our gym is very well equipped but a piece I do miss from years ago and would love to use again is the iron cross machine.

Danny.

For making German medals of honour?