Powertec WB-LS what are the 20 exercises ?

[PopeyeFAFL]

For someone who own the Powertec WB-LS, what exactly are the 20 exercises ?

On their poster, they only show 10:

1-Shoulder Press
2-Bench Press
3-Squat
4-Tricep Press
5-Lat Pulldown
6-Leg Extension
7-Ab Crunch
8-Leg Curl
9-Seated Row
10-Arm Curl

So what are the other 10 ?

Thanks in advance.

[Jeraden]

Well I own one, but I can't really tell you. I got no documentation at all with it when I bought it. I had to hunt down a number to call powertec and have them fax me the assembly instructions. Don't have any actual instructions with it, so no idea what they envision all the exercises being. I got the poster in the box that you mention, thats it.

Aside from the ones on your list, I also do shrugs, calf raises, pull ups, and the equivalent of barbell rows on it. So I guess there are at least 4 more.

From that list, I don't use it for arm curls, leg extensions, or seated rows.

I think its a decent machine, but I still supplement with some free-weight exercises.

[PopeyeFAFL]

I sent an E-Mail to the sale department of Powertec to find out what are those 20 exercises they advertized, here is the answer (if you can believe it):

"The 10 you see on the poster Pictured are what it was designed to do, that
20 business is a real stretch".

WOW, Obviously my reply will be:

"So why is your brochure saying ...provides over 20 of the best free weight exercises."

[Brave Bull]

was probably the marketing departments idea to advertise it that way...

question, how much do yall like this machine?

i am considering this, the marcy sm4000 and the universal smith machine that is similar to the sm4000... would really like some hardcore imput...

[C Man]

They probably consider flat, incline, & decline bench presses as 3 different exercises. That's legitimate I think. Throw upright rows into the mix, and 1 armed seated rows as well.

[PopeyeFAFL]

Right now, I cannot say I like the Powertec WB-LS, simply because I don't own one, I'm still looking for something, so far the WB-LS is the one I like best.

As far as any Smith Machine, I will just quote what I read in the Men's Health HOME WORKOUT BIBLE concerning the Smith Machine:

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"We don't know who this Smith guy is, and we don't want to deprive him of his livelihood. That said, we sure don't care much for this machine. In fact, if we were the kings of the fitness universe, we'd banish these barbell-on-rails devices from any health club that would have us as members.

We're doubly dubious about people having these things in their homes. It's not that they're dangerous (though we do believe that, over time, they can lead to pattern-overload injuries, which we'll explain in a moment). The problem is that they're too safe.

A barbell normally travels not only up and down but also forward and back. That's the way your body naturally lifts the thing. You never move a weight straight up and down, like a piston. But that's exactly how a Smith machine forces your muscle to move - up and down, with no back and forth.

While we'll concede that a Smith machine can help you build some muscle and improve your strength, we're pretty skeptical about the usefulness of that muscle and strength. There aren't any real-life activities that require moving a counterbalanced object up and down on a pair of rails. And we have to wonder whether the unnatural movement might even inhibit your ability to move heavy objects in a three-dimensional world.

Pattern overload, mentioned above, is another concern. Say you do only one exercise for your shoulders - overhead barbell presses - and you do them only on a Smith machine. That means you work them at the exact same angle each time you enter the gym. If anything about that angle rubs them the wrong way, you're screwed.

Of course, you can say the same thing about a multistation home gym. In fact, a Smith machine may offer you some alternatives the multistation doesn't. Since you use your own bench with the Smith, you can alter angles regularly on chest presses, easing the strain on your shoulders" (end of quote).

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Now I do find that Men's Health HOME WORKOUT BIBLE a no-nonsense book, since they even have a section showing you how to be fit without any equipment (so they don't advocate fancy equipment, but they are in favor of dumbbells and barbell, other things as well).

So for me a Smith machine is not too much on my radar screen (but again, I never did strength training, so I know nothing, but from what I read from people I respect, doesn't not give me a good impression of a Smith machine).

So I'm left with either a bench alone with dumbbells or a bench with dumbbells and eventually a cage to do squat the safe way, or perhaps a Powertec WB-LS, which in my opinion is the closest thing to true free weight (much more than machine with weight stack & pulley) but with complete safety when pushing to failure on the last reps. It is also done in a small footprint and you can push all those steel arms away and use the bench (which give you lots of ajustment from what I can see) with dumbbells as well. The price is also reasonable.

I hope this help.

[Dinotrainer]

I don't own the Powertec WB LS anymore,but I did for more than 2 years before selling it to a neighbor. With some imagination, you can come up with way more than 20 exercises although most will be subtle variations of the 10 that are on the chart. Close grip bench press with the squat attachment,seated presses to the front without back support, any exercise thats done on the press arm but using a parallel grip etc.(I actually put handles on the parallel parts of the press arms). You could go on and on with this. By the way I've been reading all of the posts on the leverage vs free weight issue and I haven't seen anyone mention the one method of training with leverage equipment that clearly produces results: two up,one down negatives. You raise the weight with 2 arms and then lower it down with just one. Other than that,I"ll stick with my power rack.

[Jeraden]

I've had mine for a year and my opinion is mostly positive. One of the main reasons I went with it was that I have fairly low ceilings in my basement and most power racks were too tall. I'm not really good at writing detailed reviews, so I'll just say in general I'm happy with it. There is only one complaint I have with it - there isn't enough range of motion in the lat pull down mechanism. If you are tall and have long arms, it kind of tops out before you get it all the way down. I've gotten used to it though, so it doesn't bother me as much as it first did. One other minor complaint - the attachment point for the low pulley is partially blocked by the top of the seat when its folded down, so it actually limits some of the usefulness of the low pulley.

Depending on what exercises you like to do, I think you still need to supplement with free weights. I guess technically you can do everything on the machine if you are creative enough, but I think some are just too awkward. Here's a rundown of my workout and which exercises I do on the powertec vs. free weights (this isn't really my order of doing them):

Chest/Bicep/Ab Day -
Flat Bench - powertec
Incline Bench - powertec
Decline Bench - powertec
all bicep exercises - free weights
flies - free weights
Abs - I use a separate decline bench for abs, but you can use the powertec one also.

Back/Tricep Day -
Pullups - powertec (you can do pullups on it, both normal and wide, not sure if technically you should, but I've found it supports my weight by putting the lat pull down bar in the holder at the top)
Lat Pulldowns - powertec
Deadlifts - free weights - you might be able to do these on the powertec, I've never actually tried
Barbell rows - I used to do these on the powertec, but I recently switched to free weights as it seemed just as easy and effective.
Tricep pressdowns - powertec
other tricep exercises - free weights
*you can do overhead tricep extensions using the low pulley, but its just kind of awkward for various reasons - now that I think about it, I might try it again though because I've been getting some elbow pain in some of the free weight tricep exercises I've been doing.

Legs/Shoulders day -
Squats - powertec
Leg curls - powertec (although I rotate between leg curls and stiff-leg deadlifts on free weights)
Leg extensions - powertec, although I read these aren't good for your knees, so I stopped doing them
Calf Raises - powertec (can also do seated calf raises on it with a bit of creativity, which I do occasionally)
Shoulder Press - powertec
Side Lateral raises - free weights
Rear deltoid raisses - free weights
Shrugs - powertec

One exercise I wish I could do on it is dips. If you try using the press mechanism to do dips on, it starts creaking loudly and making unhealthy noises, so I've stayed away from that. I was initially worried pullups were going to break the lat bar holders off, but they seem pretty sturdy, so no problems there. If you count up the number of exercises I used it for, thats 14 total and I don't use the low pulley at all.

In general its a pretty sturdy machine. I've only really been working out hard for a year, but my lifts have gone up pretty significantly while using it. So far I don't think I'm really missing out too much by using this over a power rack, although I occasionally do wish I had gotten one instead. Its possible since I'm still kind of new that eventually the machine will limit my progress, but for the time being I'm still satisfied with what it offers.

[PopeyeFAFL]

So after that guy at Powertec answered me the way he did, I E-Mail him saying:

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Thanks for your answer, but I have a hard time relating this to your
corporate brochure, who says:

"The WB-LS Workbench Leverage System provides OVER 20 of the best free
weight exercises in leverage...."

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His answer, this time:

Sorry-but I deal in reality

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So for those of you who had to do business with them (for a missing something or other problems), are they always that difficult ?

Thanks in advance.

[PopeyeFAFL]

I just came back from a fitness equipment store near by and they turn out to be the Powertec distributor for this part of the country I'm in, great since I might buy the Powertec WB-LS.

They had an WB-LS (black instead of yellow, but they told me I can get it yellow if I want), now what is strange, is the fact that WB-LS didn't have a pulley below the bench on that diagonal steel member, instead a welded extension with another welded square hollow tube monted vertically.

Also that machine didn't have any provision on both side for storing unused weight plates.

Now I'm wondering, since that doesn't look like the WB-LS picture on their site or in the brochure I got from them this week, could it be:

1- The latest version of the WB-LS with even less feature on it ?

Just find a photo of it:

http://www.fitness-depot.net/detail....ODUCT_ID=wb-ls

Did any of you saw this version of the WB-LS ?

Previous photo:

http://www.fitnessfactoryoutlet.com/...meGyms/42.html

Thanks in advance.

[s8163j]

Hey Popeye,

I saw that machine, in yellow, over a year ago.
Powertec has made subtle changes to their machines over the years. That machine you saw is an older version of the WB-LS. The current version looks just like the one on the website now.

[big58]

I called to order my powertec super gym on friday, and they said there not selling it untell maybe the end of next month. Its on there site, catalog, and video now, so I asked what was up with that? They said they just want to see how many people try to order it to see if thy should sell it or not. I have spent two weeks deciding on it and when i finally decide, and get excited about it, they tell me its not for sell! a little bs in my opion.