Cost No Object Machines and Free Weights, the Best of the Best

[HealthNutMD]

40% pay cut? How many cases do you read per shift?

There are so many different types of radiology jobs. What you describe is more like teleradiology. Anyway, I'm hoping to reduce it to 20-25% cut. Rediculous. Lets just not go there anyway.

[HealthNutMD]

Here is a picture of the Sorinex Donkey Calf which looks interesting:


http://store.sorinex.com/Selectorize...bs_p/dcs-1.htm

[rpark]

Yes that donkey calf looks sweet. But the reason there's a weight bar on top is because you'll need it. I'm a calves guy and easily maxed out another manufacturers donkey calf (very similar) I think it had a 400 lb stack, but I always ende up throwing another 90-135 on top... But theirs didn't have the weight peg. I liked the motion but didn't think the weight stack was near enough.

Here is a picture of the Sorinex Donkey Calf which looks interesting:


http://store.sorinex.com/Selectorize...bs_p/dcs-1.htm

[HealthNutMD]

Yes that donkey calf looks sweet. But the reason there's a weight bar on top is because you'll need it. I'm a calves guy and easily maxed out another manufacturers donkey calf (very similar) I think it had a 400 lb stack, but I always ende up throwing another 90-135 on top... But theirs didn't have the weight peg. I liked the motion but didn't think the weight stack was near enough.

I'm hoping to pick up a donkey calf, and this one seems to be the best available. Agreed on the weight bar, but it is there, so no worries. Hell you could stack (8) 45 lb plates on that weight horn. Either way, I just don't have room right now. I'll be lucky to get these next 4 pieces in a good spot.

[PassinThrough]

Did I miss the what you did like/ didn't like about the Hurricane talk healthnut?

[HealthNutMD]

No, you didn't. I'll get into more detail about that later this week. The short answer is, it depends on what your uses are for the Hurricane. It works just like you see in the videos, and many people seem happy with it. I'm flying out the door right now...

[HealthNutMD]

Regarding the "Hurricane"

I have to say I am thrilled about every single purchase I made exept for the Hurricane. I thought that the long arms were a bit unwieldy and perhaps had a little too much momentum or torque. The other concern was that the starting point for the workouts was the lowest point (The opposite is true for a smith machine for the most part). The problem with exercises using benches, for chest or shoulder presses: the position is either too high or too low for the starting spot. You are limited by the position choices available for the crash bar that the arms rest on. If you start too low, with a lot of heavy weight, you can't get underneath it. If you start too high, you don't get enough prestretch or enough range of motion.

The next problem I ran across was the arc of the motion path. If you look at the previous pictures I posted, look at the side view during decline bench and flat bench: the lever arms start at a negative 30-40 degree angle. As you push up, the motion path pushes outward and away. The motion path for flat bench and decline bench did not feel good at all. Incline press was ok. By the time you get to an incline postion, the motion path starts at about -5 degrees, and the motion path is decent. I also got lucky since the postion of the incline bench and the fixed postions of the hurricane crash bar worked out ok in the sense it wasn' too high or too low... HOWEVER, it still wasn't ideal since starting at the fixed low postion is never ideal!!
I tried shoulder presses from a bench and it really didn't feel that good either. So with my experience, I'd say the Hurricane works lousy with bench work.
You can do squats with the Hurricane as long as you don' mind starting at the low position, unlike a smith machine where you can rack the bar and unrack the bar from a high position. But again, I don't see the point. I also don't like doing one arm bent over rows with it. There are a bunch of other exercises you could do withthe Hurricane, but when it came right down to it: It did nothing well. All of the other machines blew away the Hurricane. To sum it up, the Hurricane is awkward, unweildy, and master of nothing.

I gave my suggestions to Sorinex about improvements: 1) The lever arms need to be movable, up and down, at their mounting position. They need to be on a track of some sort. This will eliminate the problems with arc of motion being fixed at one point. 2) They need to have a way of selecting more postions for that crash bar. The positions need to be in smaller increments. Those two improvements are doable and absolutely neccessary. 3) There is a problem in the sense that you are starting at the low position. They need to make a way to have the bars be able to be mountable from a higher position, like a smith machine in the sense you can start higher. Starting at the low position only just kills this design.

In any case, the Hurricane, in my opinion, had nothing to offer me.



This old internet explorer at work is killing me... I can't make paragraphs easily, I have to guess.

[PassinThrough]

Thanks for the info healthnut.*Defiantly*makes me think twice about it, well that and the 5 grand price tag.

[KBKB]

Thanks for posting your Hurricane review. I appreciate the honesty. Reps.

[grumpytude]

thanks for you input on the hurricane, much appreciated. It was a consideration of mine, but so was a good smith machine, I guess I am leaning towards the smith machine right now. Some hammer stuff would be nice- but can't see fitting it in. Do you like the starting point of the hammer strength machines- since they too start at their lowest point?

[HealthNutMD]

thanks for you input on the hurricane, much appreciated. It was a consideration of mine, but so was a good smith machine, I guess I am leaning towards the smith machine right now. Some hammer stuff would be nice- but can't see fitting it in. Do you like the starting point of the hammer strength machines- since they too start at their lowest point?

Some people try to say that one of the weaknesses of Hammer Strength is the lack of ability to adjust pre-stretch. But thank-fully, Hammer Strength seems to have just enough pre-stretch buillt in. Its most likely that my body type works well with hammer strength. Their Horizontal Iso Lateral bench press hass those two fixed arms that give a fixed starting postion with more than adequate pre-stretch. In fact, you often go to gyms where people put 10 or 25 lb plates under the support arms of the bench since the starting postion might be a little low. Either way, I love the Horizontal Iso-lateral Bench plate loaded piece from Hammer Strength and as you can see somewhere in this thread it is one of the pieces I own. It just goes to show how bad the Hurricane is for doing bench work. The vertical bench presses from Hammer Strength are just 'ok' in my opinion. Like anything, it depends on the piece of Hammer Strength you are talking about. As another person commented earlier, I like the standard mid row best, followed by the high row. Not as big of a fan of the remaining Hammer Rows. In any case, the benches are optomized for the hammer strength machine. The Hurricane is not optimized in any regard. In fact, I've tried to explain why it is just simply not a good machine with bench work.

[OutKlast]

To sum it up, the Hurricane is awkward, unweildy, and master of nothing.

I saw that coming a mile away. I figured that was going to be your reason for getting rid of the Hurricane. When you've got a gym full of hand picked machines because they offer the best feel and range of motion any sort of "all-in-one" machine is going to feel off. It's the same reason I suggest you skip a 3D smith, its the same thing, does lots of things not very well.

On that note, Magnum Fitness has what I think would be a nice alternative to the Hurricane for those space challenged people.

The offer a "Jammer Arm" attachment that attaches to their power racks. It looks like you could do similar movements with the exception of squats. Not to mention you could get a custom power rack, jammer arms, and a commercial bench from Magnum and you will have still spent less then what the Hurricane costs.





You do still have the same problem as far as starting at the bottom of the movement. But at least its an open backed design and you can move it up or down the power rack to get it to a better position.

[HealthNutMD]

The good aspect is that it opened a lot of space and also eliminated me having to worry about putting a bench in and out of that area of the hurricane as well. It also made me appreciate dumbells and that really nice Atlantis 3 way bench! I ordered those previously mentioned 4 machines on Monday, so I'm really excited about getting those in to make for a complete gym experience. Strive is supposed to be working faster now also. They had some positive changes there. The owners are also directly involved with sales now. The only thing I am waiting to hear about is a modification to the Strive rotary torso. They said they could add a couple of plates to it, however, I think it might be easier for them to just use the heavier 265 weight stack that they use with other selectorized machines. I'm hoping the custom charge is less than the $500.00 custom charge to add two plates. If they just swap weight stacks, the won't need to make a custom 'stem'. I'm hoping they come back and say 300.00 to swap to the heavier stack, or something less than $500.00. I think I remember the standard stack of 165 lb being adequate, but I was exhausted from demoing so much equipment, I can't recall 100%. I'd rather just have more weight on it to be sure.

At this point I can just sit back and take my time now. I don't know what else I can demo, and I don't know of any other companies that exist that haven't been brought up in this thread. I suppose I'll get some kettlebells in the near future. I'd always like to demo the Power Lift Plate Loaded stuff and Legend Plate Loaded stuff, and perhaps some of the Rogers Athletic Pendulum stuff.... its just hard to do. I guess I'm at the point now that I can lay back and just take my time--always keeping an eye out for new stuff or stuff I missed. The main focus is going to be on saving for a house and trying to build a gym room.

[giowuu]

What's your plan for the house?

[harrisg83]

I'm hoping to pick up a donkey calf, and this one seems to be the best available. Agreed on the weight bar, but it is there, so no worries. Hell you could stack (8) 45 lb plates on that weight horn. Either way, I just don't have room right now. I'll be lucky to get these next 4 pieces in a good spot.

Just received a quote from Sorinex for their donkey calf. *They want over $4,000 for the piece with delivery to New Jersey.

[HealthNutMD]

Just received a quote from Sorinex for their donkey calf. *They want over $4,000 for the piece with delivery to New Jersey.

Hmmmm... Well, if you call back and say you are a gym it might help land a discount of 5%. Even then that is only $175.00 off but it should cost no more than $3900.00 shipped.

By the way, for shipping those two pieces from Strive, they came back with a shipping cost of 800.00 (total, not each) for both pieces. Gotta love Life Fitness though, only $243.00 for shipping and inside delivery for a hammer strength piece. But those companies get big breaks from the van line they use for getting the whole contract. They can also take 2 weeks to deliver it, but it is half the price and inside delivery... and a great job.

That Sorinex donkey calf machine looks good, I'd pick it up at $4,000.00. I might even do that if for some reason I can fit it. The funny thing is that I don't see anyone else making one these days. I don't even see another choice... Not that it matters, I can't see a better choice anyway, looks awesome.


There has to be something wrong with the forum software. When I hit the paragraph key, it only makes a space when editing. Anyone else having this problem when you edit posts or create new replies?

[HealthNutMD]

What's your plan for the house?

Keep saving money so I can buy a house. Hopefully I can build an 1800+ square foot room, preferrably '40 x 50' or '40 x 60'

[giowuu]

Keep saving money so I can buy a house. Hopefully I can build an 1800+ square foot room, preferrably '40 x 50' or '40 x 60'

You should buy a house by the ocean and then build the room with glass walls so you get a nice ocean view while lifting. Imagine deadlifting against a furious rain storm of the atlantic ocean - that's always been my dream.

[HealthNutMD]

You should buy a house by the ocean and then build the room with glass walls so you get a nice ocean view while lifting. Imagine deadlifting against a furious rain storm of the atlantic ocean - that's always been my dream.

Sure, that does sound awesome :-) It would be great to have glass walls for two walls and mirrored walls on the other two walls... and maybe some sky lights. I need to find a professional and athletic woman to help make this dream come true.

[HealthNutMD]

One of my friends reminded me I don't really need one of my couches... I'm thinking of getting the Sorinex Donkey calf, Strive Bicep curl, and Strive Deltiod raise next. Hmmm....

[OutKlast]

One of my friends reminded me I don't really need one of my couches... I'm thinking of getting the Sorinex Donkey calf, Strive Bicep curl, and Strive Deltiod raise next. Hmmm....

How may pieces do you have at this point? I thought you already had a bicep machine?

I'd skip the Donkey calf, but that's because I hate that position. Also, doesn't that seem a bit redundant or overkill for a calf workout? Don't you have a Sorinex seat calf raise/tibia and a standing calf raise? You could also do straight barbell calf work with a calf block. Seems like plenty for a supporting muscle. That doesn't even count the secondary workout the calf gets doing regular leg work.

[HealthNutMD]

How may pieces do you have at this point? I thought you already had a bicep machine?

I'd skip the Donkey calf, but that's because I hate that position. Also, doesn't that seem a bit redundant or overkill for a calf workout? Don't you have a Sorinex seat calf raise/tibia and a standing calf raise? You could also do straight barbell calf work with a calf block. Seems like plenty for a supporting muscle. That doesn't even count the secondary workout the calf gets doing regular leg work.

I always liked the donkey calf raises I've used at Gold's gym and gyms that had them over the years. Although you don't really see them much anymore. You are correct though that it would be my 4th calf machine: I currently have the standing Atlantis Calf Raise, the Sorinex seated calf, and the soon to arrive Free Motion calf machine.

One of our BB Forum members is raving about his Strive Bicep curl and how he likes it much more than his Hammer Strength Bicep curl. Personally, I wanted both (since before I started this thread) anyway, so I'm going to cave-in and get the Strive Bicep curl. His comments pushed me over the edge. I think it will work great for supersets to have the Strive bicep curl and the Hammer Strength Bicep curl side by side.

[HealthNutMD]

The Legend Strength LeverEDGE Seated Bicep Curl is going for 1734.00 + shipping on EBAY from Christian's Fitness Factory on EBAY. It does take a different approach being Iso-lateral. Surprisingly the Hammer Strength is not Iso-lateral now that I think about it. In any case, I don't have an interst in the LeverEdge bicep curl, but since I'm doing some more looking around today, thought I'd post that.


http://cgi.ebay.com/Legend-Strength-...19087760524919

[HealthNutMD]

Anyway, I think a lot of people are a fan of the Strive Bicep Curl.


http://www.strivefit.com/strivefit/p...p101/index.htm

Why is this forum software jacked up? The paragraphs don't show up while making posts, they only make spaces.

[HealthNutMD]

Hey HealthnutMD, Any chance you could tell me if you think the Atlantis Pivot Leg Press could be disassembled to fit through a 29" door opening? I've been quoted a couple leg pieces from Atlantis but the won't say whether or not they could be disassembled to put in my basement. I don't have any turns or other issues, just a 29" doorway to deal with. The stairwell opens up to 33" or 34" if I recall, so I just need to be able to shimmy it through the doorway. Atlantis will only ship the units fully assembled so they don't get damaged during shipping. It looks like the moving leg press part could come off, but I can't tell from their pictures if the weight pegs come off or what the width is at the widest point of the equipment that can't be removed and reinstalled. Thanks, Bob

Yosi Knecht says, "Without the weight storage horns the unit is 29 and 1/8th inches wide"

[rpark]

Yosi Knecht says, "Without the weight storage horns the unit is 29 and 1/8th inches wide"

Thanks. *To date, I still hadn't heard back from my rep. *I was about to order a cybex unit, then thought I might slip over to Strive and try their leg press unit before committing.

Regarding the Sorinex donkey calf... how does the diamond plated foot work? *Most of the calve units I've used have the sand paper type adhesive footing. *I don't recall using any with the diamond plate footing. *Just curious. *

WTF, how did I put all these ****? *

[HealthNutMD]

Thanks. *To date, I still hadn't heard back from my rep. *I was about to order a cybex unit, then thought I might slip over to Strive and try their leg press unit before committing. Regarding the Sorinex donkey calf... how does the diamond plated foot work? *Most of the calve units I've used have the sand paper type adhesive footing. *I don't recall using any with the diamond plate footing. *Just curious. *

This forum software is jacked up. I can't make paragraphs show up while making a post. They only make spaces when hitting the enter key. The paragraphs show up when submit, but you can't make them show up when posting. Anyway, the diamond foot plates work great. They are on the awesome seated calf/tibia machine as well:





Yea, the Strive plate loaded leg press is nice also. It is definitely in the top tier. I'd take the Pivot press with band attachments as my next choice though.

[RBLOCK]

Regarding the "Hurricane"

I have to say I am thrilled about every single purchase I made exept for the Hurricane. I thought that the long arms were a bit unwieldy and perhaps had a little too much momentum or torque. The other concern was that the starting point for the workouts was the lowest point (The opposite is true for a smith machine for the most part). The problem with exercises using benches, for chest or shoulder presses: the position is either too high or too low for the starting spot. You are limited by the position choices available for the crash bar that the arms rest on. If you start too low, with a lot of heavy weight, you can't get underneath it. If you start too high, you don't get enough prestretch or enough range of motion.

The next problem I ran across was the arc of the motion path. If you look at the previous pictures I posted, look at the side view during decline bench and flat bench: the lever arms start at a negative 30-40 degree angle. As you push up, the motion path pushes outward and away. The motion path for flat bench and decline bench did not feel good at all. Incline press was ok. By the time you get to an incline postion, the motion path starts at about -5 degrees, and the motion path is decent. I also got lucky since the postion of the incline bench and the fixed postions of the hurricane crash bar worked out ok in the sense it wasn' too high or too low... HOWEVER, it still wasn't ideal since starting at the fixed low postion is never ideal!!
I tried shoulder presses from a bench and it really didn't feel that good either. So with my experience, I'd say the Hurricane works lousy with bench work.
You can do squats with the Hurricane as long as you don' mind starting at the low position, unlike a smith machine where you can rack the bar and unrack the bar from a high position. But again, I don't see the point. I also don't like doing one arm bent over rows with it. There are a bunch of other exercises you could do withthe Hurricane, but when it came right down to it: It did nothing well. All of the other machines blew away the Hurricane. To sum it up, the Hurricane is awkward, unweildy, and master of nothing.

I gave my suggestions to Sorinex about improvements: 1) The lever arms need to be movable, up and down, at their mounting position. They need to be on a track of some sort. This will eliminate the problems with arc of motion being fixed at one point. 2) They need to have a way of selecting more postions for that crash bar. The positions need to be in smaller increments. Those two improvements are doable and absolutely neccessary. 3) There is a problem in the sense that you are starting at the low position. They need to make a way to have the bars be able to be mountable from a higher position, like a smith machine in the sense you can start higher. Starting at the low position only just kills this design.

In any case, the Hurricane, in my opinion, had nothing to offer me.



This old internet explorer at work is killing me... I can't make paragraphs easily, I have to guess.

I have to disagree here, I'm really thrilled with mine. You can vary the resistance curve with the band attachments if that's a concern, and starting at the lowest point of the ROM is something that the Hurricane has in common with many of the Hammer pieces you've got.*

[HealthNutMD]

This forum software is jacked up since the update. Are they aware of the problems?

[HealthNutMD]

Which of these two pieces would you rather have assuming the cost is free, but you could only have one or the other:


http://www.legendfitness.com/product...ress_6006.aspx






Or



http://www.lifefitness.com/commercia...enchpress.html