Cost No Object: Machines and Free Weights, the Best of the Best. PART 2

[Oxidated]

My Panatta equipment arrived today, one of the biggest trucks I've ever seen, it came directly from Italy packed full of Panatta equipment, I would have loved to take a look at what was left on the truck, but it was so well packed there was no real way to tell.

Just after the truck arrived, 2 guys from Panatta UK closely followed, along with my buddies we moved the 4 machines into my gym, everything went seamlessly.

The quality and finish is superb, the base frames are 2.5"x6", most of the steel bracing/gussets is formed from 38 steel plate. When you try these pieces out in a commercial setting you just don't appreciate how heavily engineered these Panatta machines are.

Once I have everything in place I will take pics.

The gym I used to go to was almost complete with Panatta machines.
Every moment between reps I would look at the machines construction and think to myself: that's clearly overbuilt, why would one unnecessarily bend that huge tubing, that linkage and gas system is redundant... etc.

That was before I knew anything about anything, and got bit by the gym equipment bug.
Now I lust over those Pantta pieces.

I look forward to your pictures. What color are your machines?

[squat802]

+1 on the Fitness Equipment Empire warning. They're way, way overpriced and many of the individuals/gyms I have dealt with had negative experiences with them. I also think it's incredibly unethical that they run auto-flaggers on Craigslist to wipe out gym equipment ads - even from individuals just cleaning out the garage. I guess that's the only way they can keep selling equipment for 4x what the competition is charging with 1/10th the service level commitment.

I couldn't have said it any better myself. I once spoke with the owner of Fitness Empire and when he started bragging about how much profit he makes on sales and sounded proud of how bad he was ripping off his clients was all I needed to hear.....I'm in the fitness equipment biz too but I like to get a good night's sleep every night.

[gym62richard]

The gym I used to go to was almost complete with Panatta machines.
Every moment between reps I would look at the machines construction and think to myself: that's clearly overbuilt, why would one unnecessarily bend that huge tubing, that linkage and gas system is redundant... etc.

That was before I knew anything about anything, and got bit by the gym equipment bug.
Now I lust over those Pantta pieces.

I look forward to your pictures. What color are your machines?

White frames, red moving parts and pads.

I'll try and get the gym straight tonight, I can then take some pics.

[IronGym2005]

Anyone here able to tell me how close the feel is of the old Flex leverage chest press compared to the similar designed Atlantis? I really liked the flex, but came across an Atlantis for sale at a reasonable price. It’s too far to demo, but if it feels like the flex I just might pull the trigger on it. Thanks!

[IronGym2005]

I couldn't have said it any better myself. I once spoke with the owner of Fitness Empire and when he started bragging about how much profit he makes on sales and sounded proud of how bad he was ripping off his clients was all I needed to hear.....I'm in the fitness equipment biz too but I like to get a good night's sleep every night.

Their prices online are crazy! Damn near new prices, or over new on some things that used to sell for $500 all day long. It’s a real shame.

[SmithStreetGym]

Their prices online are crazy! Damn near new prices, or over new on some things that used to sell for $500 all day long. It’s a real shame.

I used them for a Cybex FT a few years back and the service and price was pretty fair. Sounds like they are cashing in on the demand for equipment.

[gym62richard]

A few pics of my new Panatta Equipment.


Panatta Deltoid Press



Panatta Power Squat



Panatta Vertical Chest Press



Panatta High Row

[alexthaman]

A few pics of my new Panatta Equipment.

Just amazing. Congrats on the new pieces. Gotta admit that they look great! You should do a walkthrough video of your home gym setup. You have some amazing stuff in there!! Thanks sharing with us!

[McBrody]

A few pics of my new Panatta Equipment.


Panatta Deltoid Press



Panatta Power Squat



Panatta Vertical Chest Press


Panatta High Row

More pics please.

[EricAtl]

A few pics of my new Panatta Equipment.


Panatta Deltoid Press



Panatta Power Squat



Panatta Vertical Chest Press



Panatta High Row

They look great, enjoy them.

[Rottweiler59]

Panatta looks amazing. Every piece looks amazing. When you say panatta uk can you not get supply from the uk itself. I am interested in a few pieces

[McBrody]

Richard, how does the Panatta Power Squat feel compared to others you may have used?

[gym62richard]

Just amazing. Congrats on the new pieces. Gotta admit that they look great! You should do a walkthrough video of your home gym setup. You have some amazing stuff in there!! Thanks sharing with us!

Thanks, I'mm not sure I have your video making skills lol

More pics please.

Will post more pics when I have time.

They look great, enjoy them.

Thank you Eric, I'll do my best to enjoy them, but I'm not sure enjoyment is the correct word.

[gym62richard]

Panatta looks amazing. Every piece looks amazing. When you say panatta uk can you not get supply from the uk itself. I am interested in a few pieces

When you deal with Panatta, you deal with their UK representative Craig Ingley, I contacted Panatta directly and they put me in touch with Craig. He's actually the conduit between yourself and Panatta and this helps to get over the language barrier, the quote came from Craig, but I paid Panatta directly

They don't keep any stock, everything is built to order, from placing the order to delivery was 12 weeks.

Richard, how does the Panatta Power Squat feel compared to others you may have used?

To be honest I don't have that much experience with the Power Squat, the only other one I've tried is the Watson version and I only used that on a handful of occasions.

I prefer the strength curve on the Panatta, it's very even right through the movement, The Watson dropped off a little towards the top, I guess this is due the Panatta having a linkage system. The Panatta is super smooth and the. bio-mechanics feel just right.

One minor point and I was made aware here on the forum before I purchased, it is possible to bottom out on the Panatta, particularly when facing forward with the foot plate at it's lowest setting, I have short legs and am a pretty deep squatter, never the less it's something to keep in mind.

The overall quality is higher on the Panatta, particularly the padding, which is significantly better than Watson's, then again I've never before come across equipment with pads/upholstery of this quality.

[Oxidated]

gym62richard,
Excellent selection. Pretty much what I would put on a short list.
Colour scheme is also very nice.

When you get to it, I'm curios to know the difference in weight between that power squat and your barbell squat for a 5-8 rep lift.


Edit:
I had to go to Panatta website for some window shopping and they have some new Pullover pieces that I haven't seen before. Also some nice leg curling pieces.
https://www.panattasport.com/en/product/freeweight.html

[MisterMagoo93]

Damn the Panatta´s look solid. I really like the adjustable back on the deltoid press.

[Asjogren]

A few pics of my new Panatta Equipment.


Panatta Deltoid Press



Panatta Power Squat



Panatta Vertical Chest Press



Panatta High Row

Wow...those pieces look awesome..love the colors..enjoy,! More pics please

[gym62richard]

gym62richard,
Excellent selection. Pretty much what I would put on a short list.
Colour scheme is also very nice.

When you get to it, I'm curios to know the difference in weight between that power squat and your barbell squat for a 5-8 rep lift.


Edit:
I had to go to Panatta website for some window shopping and they have some new Pullover pieces that I haven't seen before. Also some nice leg curling pieces.
https://www.panattasport.com/en/product/freeweight.html

Thank you, I saw the white/red colour combo at FIBO and loved it, I already had red pads on a lot of my equipment, it was a no brainer.

It's difficult to answer your question, I haven't done traditional barbell squats for over 5 years, until about 4 months ago I squatted with an SSB. Chronic Knee and hip issues forced me to rethink the way I train, hence the decision to buy a Power Squat.

These days it's all about pre-hab, fairly light weights and high rep, so far I've only really played around with the Power Squat, facing away from the machine, hack style, I'm probably only using the kind of weight I used on the SSB, 100kg-120kg for 12-15 reps, facing the machine, front squat, I need to load significantly more weight.

[NickThe13th]

Beautiful machines, mind sharing what the cost was per machine to the door?

[C123C]

Just amazing. Congrats on the new pieces. Gotta admit that they look great! You should do a walkthrough video of your home gym setup. You have some amazing stuff in there!! Thanks sharing with us!

GymRichard42 - I echo this. Great pieces and would love to see a walkthrough or even comprehensive gym post with pics and your thoughts on each of these after you have some time with them. Really nice additions here. Enjoy them!

[adawg837]

Could someone in the US that bought Panatta Super Deltoid off one of the recent group buys please PM me with a rough idea on price?

Thanks

[adawg837]

Since all of the Panatta Chest Machines literally destroy any of the old school Nebula (and last I checked people aren't cloning Nebula very well), I don't see why to even bother with Arsenal.

The Panatta Chest, Deltoid, and back machines in the CNO list are magnitudes of order superior. Some of the Panatta I had some custom modifications of course.

HealthNutMD, I read through the original thread completely within the last couple of days and I can see the evolution of your thought process on these Nebula vs Panatta pieces. Thanks for doing all the leg work on this project!

Any idea when the next group buy might be starting up again?

[adawg837]

Two Cross Axes Tech 'salesmen' (one from the chest department and one from the back department), .....dressed in black and grey, .....headed to Concord, CA, .....on a one-way business trip to join Doyle Rich's muscle building team, at Fit Fanatics Gym in Concord, CA.

Just thought that members on the forum might like to know that this is the first shipment of machines to the San Francisco Bay area.

I came across a pretty cool in-depth video where one of Henry's chest machines was used by the famous bodybuilder John Meadows as part of one of his chest workout routine videos on Youtube that he shot a couple of years ago. I can't post links, but you can find it by searching "Ultimate Chest Workout California Edition" on Youtube.

Good luck on your endeavors

[HenryMaag]

Speaking of Henry's machines, for those who may be interested, here are some pictures of the five cross-axes upper body muscle-building machines headed to two different gyms in Europe.

The four blue and grey machines (a C-2000 Cross Axes Chest Press, a S-1000 Cross Axes Shoulder Press, a B-2000 Cross Axes Pulldown, and a B-4000 Cross Axes Vertical Row) are headed to Stephan Entian's Sportworkstatt in Meschede, Germany and the other red and gold machine (a C-3000 Cross Axes Incline Press) is going to join with a B-2000 Cross Axes Pulldown Machine already at the Purzel brother's DAS GYM in Vienna, Austria.

I know that my machines may look a lot different from other manufacturer's machines, and that they only end up selling to other people that think like me when it comes to muscle-building; but I am managing to sell a few machines here and there.

[RF2727]

How do you guys feel about the Nautilis Glute Drive? I've never had the opportunity to try one but I have heard good things and am interested in adding it to my gym.

[HealthNutMD]

Damn the Panatta´s look solid. I really like the adjustable back on the deltoid press.

I came up with the adjustable seat modification so that the seat can also be adjusted back and forth. Did they not offer that option to you?

I've been super busy between dealing with the permitting place and getting ready to break ground. Typical local government moving slow as dirt and lazy as hell, its so hard to get a final permit approved.... hopeful to break ground in Jan, but most likely Feb.

It has been an overwhelming year, I think for all of us.

I plan to go to Panatta again in Fall of next year. They have a ton of new machines coming out at the end of this year.

[gym62richard]

I came up with the adjustable seat modification so that the seat can also be adjusted back and forth. Did they not offer that option to you?

I've been super busy between dealing with the permitting place and getting ready to break ground. Typical local government moving slow as dirt and lazy as hell, its so hard to get a final permit approved.... hopeful to break ground in Jan, but most likely Feb.

It has been an overwhelming year, I think for all of us.

I plan to go to Panatta again in Fall of next year. They have a ton of new machines coming out at the end of this year.

They didn't offer the option of the sliding seat, I completely forgot to add the mod when I placed my order, despite not having a sliding seat I'm completely delighted with the deltoid press, when you eulogised about it I thought, well these things are subjective, but you were absolutely correct.

To be perfectly honest my favourite piece is the vertical chest, I've never used a chest machine that comes close, it' completely eliminates any front delt involvement, a truly great machine.

I feel your frustration, in the construction arm of my company we deal with local government on a daily basis, certainly here in the UK covid has slowed down the construction regulation process, getting licences / permits etc approved just takes longer and it was time consuming before the pandemic started.

[Nunez912]

Hey all

I am looking to open a small private training facility next year in London UK April 2021 hopefully. I have been scrolling through this thread like a nerd. So helpful this thread!

In regards to pivot leg presses. Seems like the Panatta Leg Bridge is highly regarded as the best. I have emailed them for a quote so will await response.

I was also looking at Freemotion plate loaded leg press. Has anyone had experience with the Freemotion plate loaded leg press? What does it feel like compared to the Cybex?

It looks like like the Cybex squat press but you can adjust the seat. Interesting as I emailed freemotion for more info. They said the freemotion plate loaded leg press was designed by Roy Simonson who designed the Cybex squat press.

Also I just discovered Primal Strength ISO incline leg press (UK brand) which looks very interesting! Unfortunately I cant copy the link. But its pivot looks like a neat design and has huge loading capacity.

I would highly appreciate everyones thoughts and opinions. I have been extensively researching kit and what I can get my hands on (within budget)

Thanks again

[McBrody]

Also I just discovered Primal Strength ISO incline leg press (UK brand) which looks very interesting! Unfortunately I cant copy the link. But its pivot looks like a neat design and has huge loading capacity.

I would highly appreciate everyones thoughts and opinions. I have been extensively researching kit and what I can get my hands on (within budget)

Thanks again

Primal Strength ISO incline leg press https://primalstrength.com/primal-st...ine-leg-press/

[gym62richard]

Hey all

I am looking to open a small private training facility next year in London UK April 2021 hopefully. I have been scrolling through this thread like a nerd. So helpful this thread!

In regards to pivot leg presses. Seems like the Panatta Leg Bridge is highly regarded as the best. I have emailed them for a quote so will await response.

I was also looking at Freemotion plate loaded leg press. Has anyone had experience with the Freemotion plate loaded leg press? What does it feel like compared to the Cybex?

It looks like like the Cybex squat press but you can adjust the seat. Interesting as I emailed freemotion for more info. They said the freemotion plate loaded leg press was designed by Roy Simonson who designed the Cybex squat press.

Also I just discovered Primal Strength ISO incline leg press (UK brand) which looks very interesting! Unfortunately I cant copy the link. But its pivot looks like a neat design and has huge loading capacity.

I would highly appreciate everyones thoughts and opinions. I have been extensively researching kit and what I can get my hands on (within budget)

Thanks again

The Primal Strength leg press looks okay, but without trying it out it's difficult to give an opinion, with a straightforward 45 degree leg press they tend to be very similar when it comes to commercial quality units, but leverage units I like to try them out, particularly with something like the Primal piece.

The Panatta leg press is excellent, I hope to bring one into my gym before too long, I had 4 Panatta machines delivered at the beginning of November, great company to deal with, there UK rep Craig Ingley is very helpful and they were offering some great deals earlier in the year.