Home Gym Machines World

True strength training equipment is often hard to find in many commercial gyms, and, most people wouldn’t know what the equipment was or how to use it even if they did see it. In this article I’ll give you a brief rundown of some of the more popular pieces of strength training equipment. They can be useful for bodybuilders, powerlifters and those who want specific strength for sports.

Power Rack/Cage

Probably the most useful piece of strength training equipment for any free-weight (barbell and dumbbells) trainee is the power rack. It’s designed to allow the trainee to work out alone in a safe manner.

When bench pressing or squatting, there is always the danger you will drop the weight on yourself in a freak accident or simply reach muscle failure and be unable to get out from under the weight. Neither is a situation you want to risk. Because you work out inside a power rack, it has ‘pins’ set at certain heights you choose as a safety measure, so the bar never falls or moves beyond the height you set the pins at. It’s a great confidence booster, too, as you will feel more able to try heavier weights without so much fear holding you back.

Of course, a power rack also has other uses such as allowing for lifting off the pins, or into the pins, set at certain heights for different ranges of motion and purposes. Not to mention allowing for the capability to attach bands at the top or bottom for various training methods, and of course, with a full-sized power rack you can use them for chin ups/pull ups.

Chains & Bands

People who really know their stuff about strength training know how important chains and bands are, take Westside Barbell, for instance, who make extensive use of them.

In a nutshell, chains and bands can be used to circumvent the “too heavy at the bottom, but too light at the top” phenomenon many people experience by making the load lighter at the bottom and heavier at the top either as the heavy chain ‘de-loads’ as it gradually pours onto the floor and re-loads on the up, or the elastic bands’ resistance increases as it gets stretched evermore towards the top of a lift.

Head Harness

Protecting your spine is crucial, particularly if you are lifting heavy weights or partake in dangerous sports. Exercises such as the dead lift and good mornings will build muscle size and strength to protect the lower back, but most people completely neglect the neck muscles.

Head harnesses allow you to slip a weight plate thorough a chain which you then lift by tilting the head back or forth building strong neck muscles. This piece of strength training equipment is very popular with boxers, as having a strong neck is thought to make a boxer less susceptible to being knocked out.