Anybody have a Roman Chair or Glute Ham Station in their Home Gym??

[BamaDave]

I'm think about buying one of these. The prices are all over the place. Body Solid and similar manufacturers of home gym equipment have models that are under $200. I was wondering whether anybody has something like this and what they thought about it.

[Alcoholiday]

i like my GHR from midwest barbell. it was cheap and works well. The problem you'll probably have with all of the cheaper ones, is that the padding isn't very good. You'll need to put some more foam on top of it, or towels, and duct tape it around the pad. You also want to make sure there is a footplate there to perform GHRs.

Are you looking to perform ghrs or back raises on it or what? I think it's difficult to perform raises in my ghr, but i never really do them anyway.

[BamaDave]

I mostly would like to do GHR's. But something that I could use for multiple exercises would be best. I'm thinking about buying something for GHR's or a pulley system, since I still don't have one of those.

[Alcoholiday]

i personally think GHRs are one of the best ways to build your hamstrings and get stronger. It also doesn't put the stress on your shoulders like other exercises where you have to use a bar. Since i got one, my squat and deadlift only went up, and significantly. I think it's far superior to a pulley system if you're going to pay the money. I would go with a GHR.

[BamaDave]

That's what I was thinking as well. I've always been able to sub other exercises for pulley work pretty easily and haven't really missed having one.

[Mahler]

Dave,
I have a Roman Chair from Body Solid. It was about $175 and is a quality piece of equipment.

[BamaDave]

Thanks, John. That's probably the one I was looking at. My power rack and incline bench are Body Solid and have been good pieces of equipment for me for years.

[BamaDave]

What do you guys think about this (the machine part, although the blonde attachment is very nice as well!)??



The price is within my budget. It looks like it could be used for a number of exercises, and I like the foot plate on the end. It looks more like a GHR machine than some other Roman Chair/ Hyper Extension Machines in the economy/budget price range for home gyms.

http://www.yukon-fitness.com/Merchan...tegory_Code=UB

[OldGuy]

Very similar to the GHR station in the gym I go to. Wish they had the blonde too.

[BamaDave]

This one looks pretty good as well:



It's adjustable from 45 degrees to parallel. But I can't tell whether you can do true GHR's on it?? It's labeled as a hyperextension machine. The only GHR's I've ever done have been jerry-rigged attempts on my weight bench with my feet hooked under a weighted bar.

[OldGuy]

I'm not sure about that one. I know you can do them on the first one you put up. You can shorten the distance the plate is from the pad for the GHR's.

[Bill2380]

Both look better than the pool table I use.

[Alcoholiday]

i think jay nolan had the yukon fitness one in his gym for his church. He uses it. Honestly, i would go with the GHR from midwest. You'll like it, and it's within your budget. I've heard that the other back raises like the one you posted, you need to weigh the backs down if you are using any sort of weight, or if you weigh enough.

[Alcoholiday]

here is my GHR after i put extra padding on it.

[Frank.S]

Do you guys really think the pad design on the GHR is all that important like elitefts wants us to think? Ive always wondered this. I suck at the GHRs, I should do them more I think.

[Alcoholiday]

eh, kind of. I haven't tried to GHR from elite so i don't know. I think the important thing is that with a lot of cheaper GHRs, the pad is uncomfortable. Plus, i think the pad and footplate are wider with elite's. I think midwest's is a good alternative though. I can't see paying double the price i paid for my midwest one.

[BamaDave]

The Midwest Barbell GHR is $279, which is out of my budget for now, although that's the cheapest I have seen for a machine specifically labeled a GHR. The thing I can't tell with the Yukon version or the other one I posted is whether you can move the footholds close enough to the pads for GHR's.

I might just buy Bill's pool table!

[bigDman]

the first one looks good. Try new york barbell there stuff is pretty cheap, but if you order from them call it in and make sure they have what you want in stock

[Alcoholiday]

NYBB is the same stuff as midwest. exact same, except you're dealing with susan rather than the people over at NYBB.

The advantage of midwest is that shipping is included in that price. it's not for the pieces you're looking at.