diergray

What are your favorite pieces of equipment at a gym? My brother is looking at buying a gym and he is interested in new and interesting equipment as well. Any ideas would be appreciated.

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Plan9Senior

Freeweights. The only machine I use is the lat pulldown. Everyting else is freeweights either on the bench, standing up, or in the power rack

So my suggestion would be some nice olympic benches and a nice power rack.

JohnnyRock

If you are looking for a home gym, you can get by with just free weights and benches. But a commercial gym needs much more...A lot of it depends on the target demographic [older people, athletes, women-only, family-oriented, etc.], monthly dues, competition, etc. He may want to take a look at some of the health club industry trade publications and see what gyms are doing before plunking down the money. Or if he has ideas about what type of club he's looking to run, I can give some more detailed answers here [he or you can PM me as well].

Either way, Good Luck!

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jefferson6599

For a commercial gym, I would recommend Hammer Strength products. I worked at a Gold’s in NJ and they were always popular. For a home gym I personally use Body Solid equipment. It’s OK, not the best but very affordable and better then the stuff you would find in a discount store or sporting goods store.

Good Luck.

seizei

I really really love the dip bar. I sometimes growl audibly from the exertion of doing the last rep on it!


oh and a tie is the cable for 1 specific exercise.... kneeling ab curls - holding the double rope attachment behind your head, and curl as much weight in a crunch movement as you can. God that one feels good.

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wannabenakid247

The best in my view is an assisted pull up or press down machine. If that makes any sense. You go up two steps and stand on a platform either holding on to a bar above you (for doing chins) or a waist height bar (for doing tricep/peck presses)
As you have previously slected a weight (e.g. half your body weight) your exercise is assisted. Being a woman and therefore with less upper body strength than a man this is a very handy piece of equipment. Probably quite expensive though.

Spartak

Free weights are so much more better than any machine equivalent, imo.

Although I quiet like the pectoral fly machine, (like a normal pec machine, but with grips in front, so you work it with extended arms), as it works the arm muscles as well as the pecs, also if you reverse it, it does the trapeziums.

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hy_

dumbells do it for me

nash

A suggestion would be the "neck machine." I have no idea what it's proper name is, but I believe it was made by Hammer Strength. The only place I've seen it was at my high school weight room. The university here has one of the top 10 best recreational facilities in the nation but it doesn't have one of these machines. How dissappointing. Oh well. I liked that machine.

bookerV

my favorite stuff is of course the free weights. Hammer Strength is also VERY nice equipment. If i had unlimited funding I would invest in a lot of freeweights, a set of cables which would include the lat pulldown, most of the hammer strength equipment, and a Nautilis 4-way neck machine (which i believe the above poster is referring to).

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Rudel73

I live on the squat rack, best piece of equipment out there