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Hammer Strength Machine - Picking Up Where Free Weights Fail

Author: Dane C. Fletcher
Date Posted: January 19, 2009

Free weights are wonderful tools when it comes to training chest. The barbell, used in flat, decline, and incline bench presses, is the foundation for nearly all of the championship chests we see today. Bench pressing provides the pectorals, shoulders, and triceps with plenty of stimulation for growth. Dumbbells are highly useful as well, allowing for strength development, but also the development of stabilizer muscles. They also allow you to utilize a greater range of motion, and go 'deeper' on many motions. However, there is a point in some workouts where free weights fail to be useful, and may often become dangerous when used with enough weight to adequately stimulate the pectorals to grow. That is when Hammer Strength machines become useful. Let's check out some of their useful features!

Variety

You can select Hammer Strength machines that simulate the exact arc and direction of the flat, incline, and decline bench presses. Additionally, you can move between the various machines and find different machines that present various grips and angles on the same movement.

Safety

Have you ever visited youtube.com and searched for weightlifting accidents? Give it a shot sometime. It's very likely you'll be both terrified and amused at the same time. Many of the brutal accidents which are viewable are directly related to irresponsible form or lifting too much weight. However, some accidents do occur due to muscle failure, an injury, or failure to balance. Hammer Strength machines present the added bonus of being able to fail at any time with zero risk of injury. It's important to use free weights in the beginning of your workout. But as the muscle group fatigues and you wish to continue training, the risk of dropping a weight increases greatly. Using a machine takes away all risk of injury!

Balance

When you're moving a barbell with 2 or 3 plates per side, your primary focus is usually upon balancing it while you push. You can move the weight up at any pace, but if you stop balancing it for even a moment, it's likely you're about to be on a stretcher header to the emergency room! Hammer strength machines require no balance to lift. You just push the weight with everything you have, and let the muscles take a complete beating. Balance is taken care of by the machine. All you have to do is show up with your brute strength!

Down-the-Rack

Training to failure is wonderful for making muscular gains. When bench pressing, it can be pretty hard to reduce the weight when training on your own. You'd have to stand up, remove collars and weight from each side, reset collars, then lay back down and complete more reps. When using hammer strength machines, it's as simple as repositioning a pin, something that can be done from your seated pressing position, with little to no disruption of your training set. Toss in the safety factor (who wants to train to failure with a loaded barbell over your head?) and you begin to see another reason why Hammer Strength machines are just so popular.

About The Author

Dane Fletcher is the world's most prolific bodybuilding and fitness expert and is currently the executive editor for BodybuildingToday. If you are looking for more bodybuilding tips or information on weight training, or supplementation, please visit http://www.BodybuildingToday.com, the bodybuilding and fitness authority site with hundreds of articles available FREE to help you meet your goals.

Article Source: JKD Street Combat - online collection of bodybuilding articles.

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