Are those Hammer Strength chest machines worthwhile for hypertrophy?

[mba6411]

@knowledgeisnotignorant I wouldn’t try to get a stretch on the incline hammer strength. The machine is designed to be harder in the short and the resistance falls off a ton in the lengthened. A smith press is more mid range biased. Basically include both to train the muscle in different ways.

 

[jp73]

@knowledgeisnotignorant Yep. Switch it up. Use free weights sometimes, and machines sometimes.

Free weights are good as you need to engage your whole core to balance. And machines are good because you can go to absolute failure safely.

This is why i don't really mind when the gym is busy. Gives me an excuse to switch up my exercises depending on what is free.

 

[johntristan]

@knowledgeisnotignorant They're 10 times better than barbell bench for me.

My pecs started growing as soon as I ditched barbells and started benching dumbbells and pressing in the hammer machine. Those machines also allow you to do those extra few reps that would kill you on a barbell bench. Easy to do drop sets too. Just gotta find one that fits your anatomy.

I love benching with dumbbells but they can be a pain to set up and at my gym there's always some jerkoff stealing a dumbbell to do some dumb shit.

 

[ajak]

@knowledgeisnotignorant ye they goog

 

[helen2002]

@knowledgeisnotignorant Yes, this style of machine will be the absolute best you can do for chest development. It maximises ROM and stability, every other option has a downside in some way.