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Post by Magnus on Dec 17, 2020 2:03:40 GMT
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Post by mr potatohead on Dec 17, 2020 2:16:12 GMT
The 12# shot I have resembles the Blazer Athletic's surface, but I bought it at a flea market for about $5 or less. I've considered looking for a 16#er after reading the posts, but I'm happy with what I do with the 12# so I won't be doing that intentionally. That's why I like flea markets, yard sales, etc, I never know what I'll find.
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brothersteve
Caneguru
He ain't heavy, he's my brother
Posts: 2,241
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Post by brothersteve on Jan 19, 2021 17:40:19 GMT
I have not purchased new exercise equipment in about 30 years. I think since when my gym membership ran out in 1990ish. I invested the money (about $185 at the time) in more equipment to add to what I already had. Along the way I picked up another bench, some dumbell bars, and a rowing type aerobic machine free off Craigslist. This year the boss, my wife, 'allotted' me $100.00 for Christmas. I decided to try and online shop a few things in the last week or so. I want to pump up my pec size, especially upper pec. I found the Ebay auction for a Hydraulic Power Twister and won the bid for $14.50, but it was rejected saying they could not ship to my state (really?). I think it was because the item goes for $30-$85 everyplace else. I then ordered it for $30.64. It looks like a giant hedge clipper. I received it and it works well, but only in positive range, which made me order the coil spring twister ($37.85 that has yet to arrive) and looks just like the power twister but is supposed to also have the negative pushback I am looking for. I also found an ISO 7X for $24.68 which has yet to arrive. I'm curious to see what these are like which is the problem with online shopping as I didn't get to try out in the store like I use to. Will also like to see if they last . I read the hydraulic can leak after 5 months regular use. Total, includes shipping and tax, about $93. I'll keep all posted on what I receive and how they feel. FINALLY received everything by 1/7/2021! To start off, I am the ULTIMATE CHEAPO when it comes to this stuff and totally detest feeling ripped off. Seeing an item for $68 and then finding one for $22 is painful for me. The Hydraulic Power Twister is great. I like the adjustable resistance and the feel is great for me. Nice, even, and smooth. No positive resistance isn't bad and I noticed less soreness than if it pushed back at me. No matter how hard I push it takes it's own time, slower at higher resistance and faster with lower resistance where I can do more reps. Solid steel item and hydraulic good so far. I only use it 1-2 week. The only thing is need to inspect before every workout. Screws coming loose and some paint chipping off. I keep it in a clothing drawer it's that compact. The crushing at just face level is hits where I want as well as the traps and shoulders and some arms. I also use it for biceps, lats, and thigh adducters. Coil spring twister came in after Christmas and is bigger than the hydraulic but looks the same. It's one spring inside the other with a screw at the bottom that adjusts to create the resistance against each other. It's a little squeaky like a brownie Bullworker. The range can be an issue as at the lower resistance there is little range and as you screw it in to higher resistance, the arms widen and you get more range and more resistance. It offers positive and negative resistance which is a great compliment to the hydraulic in that you can try and hold the closes for iso work. Solid steel and feels kinda stiff. Need to keep a good grip on it. It comes with wrist straps, but I don't use as I focus on squeezing the handles very hard to get that in my workout as well. Also compact and fits in closet on lower clothing shelf where I keep my workout clothes. Hope the springs last. I use it with the Hydraulic 1-2 times a week usually as a warm up pumper and final set pumper. ISO 7X! This came late, but is great!. BACKSTORY - I never had a Bullworker (and Macho Power), but remember them in local retail stores Caldor and Nu-Stars in Connecticut in the late 70's. Caldor had them come in just before Thanksgiving of 77' or 78' and never had one open on display. Those were the days where you try it you buy it. You open the package and it's yours. Someone did finally open one before they all sold out and I saw it had green handles. I tried it and it squeaked and thought I broke it and mom would have to buy it. They were pricy too, like $30-$35 back THEN! I had ran out of $ buying gifts for others and at 12 yrs old had limited income. My parents were against exercise for all the myths of the time they grew up with. The next year in I believe the BW 3 with brown handles and cords came out again in the fall and I was ready to buy BUT was skeptical when I saw the one that had been opened and the cords were ripped off it. I felt it was a 'cheap' and would not last and the price had gone up as well by $5.00. The squeaking also made me think it would not last AND the fact that this was the BW 3 - what was wrong with 1 & 2? The shelf they were on was just outside the back room warehouse doorway where salesmen were coming in and out of. My mom came to get me and asked a passing salesman about them. He was about 32 and not in what could called good shape and said he used it. He wasn't Arnold so I decided to 'pass' and opted to wait to save more and bought a weight set and bench, but always thought of what could have been. More newer types came out in following years like the X5 which was now almost all plastic and with fabric straps and a lower power meter of 110 (vs the mighty 165 on the brownie or 180 on the Macho Power!) along with an even HIGHER price tag (GASP!). Nu-Stars had them all out for sale (even the tensolator, at the same boxed prices!) on a low shelf unboxed - they looked like display pieces never sold and I tried them out there. I found they all squeaked. All about the same strength, and followed them through the years casually and all the versions/variations to the present. Oddly, even though the stock always sold out, I only remember one guy in high school a year younger who said he used the X5 in the summer of 84'. He definitely looked better. I've spent ALOT of time reviewing videos and reviews and forum posts (mostly this forum from about 10 years ago) from all over and really enjoy them. Some guys have incredible collections, all of which prompted me to purchase a brownie Bullworker 3 off ebay. Got it for a total of just under $46 (shipping is killer now a days - hope Biden can fix that !) and it just came 5 days ago. Great condition, seems minimally used and came with a BW old bag (which I don't really care about). It's THE ONE I was thinking of buying when they came out in 78' or 79'.....like a long lost relative. Same old squeak I heard from years ago, not bad, but it's there. On the bathroom scale it is ALMOST as strong (about 84 lbs) as my brand new 7X (88 lbs), which feels strong. These are good strengths for me for workout purposes. LOVE the compact nature and the push/pull variety. The 3 warm-up/cool down exercises are what I include as part of my leg/cardio program - which also includes step ups, jumping jacks, squat thrusts (burpees sans pushups), shadow boxing with straight lefts and rights (1's & 2's), and an amateur wrestling sit out drill (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K96PNnEMqJ4 as fast as can like this at 1:06 www.dailymotion.com/video/x4aprm) all done in circuit fashion for 15-20 minutes. The 7X -I tried the exercises in the instructions for a 2 weeks as a break-in and liked the feel except for the double bicep behind head compression, rear low compression behind butt, the arms straight out just overhead compression, and thigh adducter exercises which all hurt a bit in shoulders/hip and I can barely compress. I do them isometrically only. I like the option of making up my own angles to push and pull to my needs. I think I may perform exercises differently than most in that prior to executing I am already tensing all muscles like a DVR style when doing isotonic or isometric. This creates stability and when I perform isotonically reps in the 10-25 range I get a good pump in 1 set, but use different exercises for angle variety to same muscle, so comes to 3 or so exercises per muscle. I do all exercises on all apparatus slowly - not super slow though. I do these about 2-3x/week isotonically and about 2x/week isometrically, no holds for more than 7 seconds. The equipment itself is good, hope it lasts. Smoother feel than the BW and no squeak. It does seem like the BW gets going easier and the 7X has more tension from the start - maybe because the BW is used and the only signs of wear on the meter is in the 60 - 90 range. The straps are strong even though they are not like the steel cords. I put the soft portions of velcro on each side of the middle grab areas I use as they are folding a little and wound with electrical tape to give a kind of flat handle. The handles do not feel as sturdy/strong as the BW and the gromets the straps go through the handles seem like can cause fraying or crack, but I tried to remedy by covering like I read Bruce had done with his leather lamination (Thanks Bruce!). Seeing how they evolved over 40+ years, I think the single best item for me would have been the Heavy Duty X5 with red on straps for both range and power or a Bully Xtreme if they still sold them. The diet is the challenging part. We'll see what happens. Either way, great feel on all these with the 7X and BW being my main items for overall upper body.
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